Blame it on the Akhtar siblings.
Thats right.When two highly talented siblings collaborate on a movie project, the leaast you expect is a film that makes sense.One that has a well-knit story, a strong script, great dialogues[after all they are Javed Akhtar's progeny] and competent acting.Of course good music and fabulous locales are an added bonus.
It seems the director of the highly original "Luck by chance" decided to concentrate on good music and fabulous locales;the rest obviously took a back seat.
The result-a two and a half hour "reality show- road trip" with three guys and a few babes who join them once in a while.Give me a break guys, if I wanted to watch a "Visit Spain" show , I would choose a one hour program on "Doscovery Travel and Living"[or TLC as it is called these days] Atleast their shows are honest and dont pretend to be something they are not.
This movie didnt work for me.And I have not even started comparing it to "Dil chahta hai" ,which was a dream debut for Farhan Akhtar, the director.Why, if DCH was a Mozart symphony, ZNMD(the movie,not the music) is like an electronic synthesizer 'symphony' from the Mozart of Madras.And we all know who sells more albums in India-its definitely not the Viennese composer.
So what went wrong with ZNMD?Lets take a long, hard look ..
Acting-
Hrithik Roshan-Hmmmmmmm,lets make him take his shirt off, dance a bit, romance Katrina..that'll bring in the masses/Come on, Farhan, you got a superlative performance out of Hrithik in 'Lakshya',surely you could have utilized his talent better?
Abhay Deol- Whats the protagonist of Dev D and Manorama six feet under doing ,potraying a weak, simpering idiot?Just doesnt seem right.
Farhan Akhtar-Zoya gave him a Luck by chance, he was great in 'Karthik calling Karthik and Rock on.Alas, a few funny lines and a few tears does not a great performance make.
Kalki Koechlin-seems a misfit as a bitchy ,possessive girlfriend.Although she tries her best to be disliked, and succeeds.
Well, look who is the surprise package of the film-its Katrina Kaif!Never before has she palyed any character with such effortless ease.Maybe its because the character is close to her real-life persona,maybe its because we have zero expectations from her as an actress?
You put Naseeruddin Shah and Dipti Naval in the cast, teh least you expect is that they will get a few decent scenes.No such luck-while Naseer was rewarded with 2 scenes, poor Dipti got 2 short phone conversations,thats it.
Story- three guys on a road trip overcome their fears and discover themselves on the way[yawn!how can you stretch it over 2 and a half hours?]
Script-Hrithik takes off shirt, Hrithik dances, Farhan and Abhay dance too, they have a few drinks, they pick up some babes, some bull fighting, some sky diving, some deep sea diving.
Dialogues-I,Farhan Akhtar, am the dialogue writer of this film and I also play the funny man.Ergo, I get the best lines, the rest be damned.
Direction,editing-whats that?Let them have a ball-the audience loves watching good looking womn and men get dirty in a tomato fight,besides doing other fun things.Watch the beautiful people and dont complain abut getting your money's worth.
If this movie is supposed to represent the spirit of the youth, heaven help us,for the movie is vacuous ,empty and soul- less.The characters are never established ,they have no depth.The movie simply lacks a strong core.
I strongly urge Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar,if they ever get to read this, to go back to 'Dil Chahta Hai' and 'Luck by Chance' and to remember that its the story ,script and strong characters that make a movie, not stars, not locales or good music.You take out the soul from a movie and you got nothing.And thats what you take home form this movie-nothing.What a waste of the combined talents of the cast ,director,music directors,the cinematographer.What a pity.
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