The movie revolves around the lives of three friends, Kabir (Abhay Deol), Imran (Farhan Akhtar) and Arjun (Hritik Roshan). They call themselves the three musketeers. Thick friends they were, who drifted apart, as friends normally do.
The movie begins on a very “aww” note as Kabir proposes marriage to Natasha (played by Kalki) in a rather funny setting. She accepts and that’s the end of Kabir’s so called freedom.
Like all Bachelors, he too decides to do a guy thing, a bachelor trip, to Spain, with his best friends, Arjun and Imran.
Arjun, a jet set market analyst is loathe to give up on his important assignments, but Kabir blackmails him into coming along. That’s where the movie really begins.
This movie has won accolades for cinematography, and not without reason. Yes, Spain is a beautiful country, but I have to applaud the way it has been shot. Every frame called out to the photographer in me. Every moment in those rugged mountains, at the lips of the sea, every setting sun made me want to be there, in real time, experiencing the immense beauty of nature this movie so beautifully captured. It was an apt portrayal of “zindagi”, Life at its best.
So the friends have a pact of performing stunts, anything at all, a surprise, and one each from the three friends. It is their way of discovering themselves and overcoming their fear. I will not go into the details of what happens thereafter in technical or review terms.
I want to talk about what this movie did for me. To me.
It gripped me. It dazed me. It made me want to cry and then jump with joy, all in a matter of seconds.
They go for deep water diving. Arjun is afraid of water. That’s where Laila (Katrina) makes an entry. She breathes confidence into him. She takes him deep into the bowels of the sea. The corals, the stark contrast of the orange fish against the yellow of the corals and the turquoise of the sea make your heart stop. The sheer magnitude of beauty at that depth blows the mind away. Arjun overcomes his fear. For the first time, there are tears of happiness in his eyes. He forgets work, money and luxuries, he concentrates on himself.That’s when this poem is recited in the background, as the waves crash.
“Pighle neelam sa behta ye sama,
neeli neeli si khamoshiyan,
na kahin hai zameen na kahin aasmaan,
sarsaraati hui tehniyaan pattiyaan,
keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
bas main hoon, meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan, aur main... sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya.”
Self discovery. In silence, in the horizon where there is no way to differentiate where sea ends and the sky begins. In that silence, you hear yourself; no one exists, but you. You have found yourself. You now know you exist. I felt like I had discovered myself, as I watched the sea and sky blend into one another, the only sound was that of the water, in turmoil as the coils inside my mind relaxed and let go. I smiled. That was the impact it created.
The next stunt is sky diving. Imran,a poet. The limitless sky is his fear. He is afraid of being a bird. Here there is no Katrina to teach him to forget his limits, but a rather comic instructor.
When at last he does dive off the plane, there was a collective gasp in the cinema hall. The jigsaw of earth lay below him as he flew around in the sky. This scene is again commendably shot as the three of them frolic like kids in the clouds. They join hands, form the circle of life.
At that moment, I wanted to be inside that circle, I wanted the power to fly. I wanted to feel the music of the blowing wind.
Soon after this, Imran meets his estranged father, Salman (Naseeruddin) and discovers why his mother hid his true parentage all these years from him. This is a beautiful part of the movie, which teaches us that everything in life happens for a reason and no matter what happens, family stands by us, friends stand by us. That sadness is an inherent part of everyone’s life. And only after experiencing sadness do we discover what happiness truly is.
The last stunt, the most difficult of all, is the fear all humans feel. The fear of death.
While bulls are let loose in a tight alley, Arjun, Kabir and Imran promise one another, that should they get out of this alive, they would live the life they deserve, fearless. The kings of their own rights.
Whether they live or not, is for you to watch and find out.
The movie ends with another beautiful recitation:
“Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna seekho
Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna seekho
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein
Har ek pal ek naya samaa dekhiye
Jo apni aankhon mein hayraniyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum “
We are alive as long as we dream, we are alive as long as there is thrill.So many times in life, we forget to live.We let work rule our lives. We think money is the pursuit to happiness. Zindagi na milegi dobara is a not just about scenic beauty of a country, it is a saga of the intricacies that make life. It is a lesson that life must be lived, now, in the present. To the fullest. We become slaves to worldly possessions that don’t matter while ignoring the little joys such as love, companionship and watching the stars unfurl their light in the night sky.
All I want to say is, watch it, go with an open heart, an open mind. I learned so much, maybe so will you.
This movie is not just a movie, but an experience.
