10 Years of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: What could the sequel potentially offer us?

The cast of `Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara`. Picture Courtesy/AFP

‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' isn't just a film about three friends and an elaborate, expensive road trip to Spain for three weeks. It isn't just a bachelor party for a man who's about to get hitched sooner than he expected. Zoya Akhtar's emotions aren't superficial or surface-level. She dives into the emotional complexities of her protagonists and gives them conflicts one could comfortably relate to. Forget the canvas, focus on the conflicts.

This is a film where the stunning locales of Spain are retained in the mind but so is the messiness of the people we meet. Our three musketeers- Imran (Farhan Akhtar), Kabir (Abhay Deol), and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) head off for a trip that change all three of them in some way or the other. Talking about the man who's getting hitched, life seems perfect for him. He loves his fiancée Natasha (Kalki Koechlin), they indulge in some cute PDA on their laptops despite being in the same room, and the first shot of the film is him proposing to her and she breaks into laughter since his knee's hurting.

Akhtar has other plans. She revisits their lives post-interval and we know what the truth is. The first glimpse of friction in their relationship begins the moment Kabir flies with his friends. Things take a turn for the worse when Laila (Katrina Kaif) joins them and Natasha senses an affair between her about to be husband and this free-spirited junkie. As the film and the road trip progress, we realise Natasha has changed. Kabir begins to sense the same too, and after a point, he feels suffocated. And in a flashback, we are told he never proposed to her in the first place. The scene makes us laugh, but both of them are left confused and speechless.

Finally, Kabir, on the brink of death, confesses he doesn't want to marry her. He's free from all his guilt. One down, two to go. Imran has father issues, he's not ready to come to terms with the truth behind his true identity. His real father stays in Spain too, was this one of the reasons for him travelling to the country and not just his friend's bachelor's trip? When he meets Naseeruddin Shah, who abandoned him and his mother, he isn't angry, he just sits and listens to his explanation (which is at first moralistic). He breaks down a moment later and leaves, asking him to say sorry only when he feels it from the heart.

He also senses he may have hurt his friend and says sorry to him, and this time, from the heart. He doesn't have to wait till he faces death to resolve his issues and conflicts. His story reaches the happy ending mark first. Now on to the man with the brooding aura and subdued emotions. Meet Arjun, who derives pleasure out of receiving fat paychecks and is a financial broker in London. He refuses to accompany his friends to Spain for a reason that's revealed little later in the film. Imran, his friend, snatched his girlfriend from him and the blame is then shifted on the girl by Kabir. Arjun lashes out and then pacifies.

But his issues are far from over. A stunning underwater scene makes him forget his turmoil and tensions and as he comes out, the tears come out too. This is a machine who finally realises he was human all along. Personally, Laila's reason to drive all the way to just plant a kiss on Arjun's lips wasn't just her love for him, but also drive away all the squabbles between Natasha and Kabir. She achieves both successfully. And in the end, Arjun says if he comes alive out of running with the bulls, he'll quit his job and travel to Morocco with Laila. ‘I'll be with her and I'll live," he says.

The film ends with the frame freezing on the three friends running and letting all go. Fans have been demanding a sequel for long. What could possibly be the idea for Part 2? What is left for Zoya Akhtar to explore in their friendship and their respective romances? Maybe show a little more of Natasha and Kabir. Maybe show us her reaction from Part 1 when he refuses to marry her. Or how about a trip to Maldives featuring Laila, her friend Nuria, and Natasha? That's been Bollywood's go-to place amid the pandemic and we can have another film on female bonding and fantasies, with the girls having a ball but also taking all the precautions and maintaining social distancing. After all, we only live once!

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