12 years of ZNMD: Take a trip back to Spain with 'mentally sick bwoys' Hrithik, Abhay and Farhan

It's been 12 years since Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was released, a film that explained the importance of conversation. A journey to Spain that explored the meaning of broken bonds, pretentious happiness and the need to heal things. Let's take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about Zoya Akhtar's crazy and adventurous trip (Facts Source-IMDB)

Updated On: 2023-07-15 03:21 PM IST

Compiled by : Shachi Chaturvedi

ZNMD is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar

The film stars Abhay Deol, Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtan in pivotal roles

The movie also stars Katrina Kaif in a pivotal role

Katrina Kaif's introduction scene was shot on a nude beach. The production crew had to continually request people to move out of the frame.

The film was enlisted as a case study in Marketing Management Courses in Spain colleges

Hrithik said that it was his then-wife Sussane who pushed and convinced him to do this film. Hence her name appears in the acknowledgements at the start

The title of the film is derived from a song in 2008 film 'Rock On!'

The mayor of the town Alájar, Andalucia features in the song 'Senorita'

Zoya Akhtar wanted to cast Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role but both declined

Poetry recited by Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) throughout the movie was written by his father 

Post the release, several tomatina-themed events were organized across India

As a part of the promotions, the cast took an actual road trip from Mumbai to Delhi via Gujarat and Rajasthan

The film was initially titled 'Running With The Bulls'

Anupam Kher played the role of Imran's (Farhan Akhtar) adoptive father (referred to throughout the film as Faisal or Abu) in a flashback scene that was cut from the final film

The Spanish song that plays while the three are in the car (SUV) on the way to Costa Brava is "Será mejor" by Muchachito Bombo Infierno

'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara''s initial title was 'Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara'

Interestingly, the words 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' were there in the lyrics of the title song of Farhan's previous movie 'Rock On'. Further, there's a song called 'Dil Dhadakne Do' in ZNMD which was the next movie by Zoya and Farhan!

The La Tomatina festival shown in the movie was re-created in Buñol, Valencia, Spain with almost 16 tons of tomatoes specially flown in from Portugal

Mr Dubey (the Teacher with funny English) who is mentioned in the movie by the lead characters, was actually Farhan Akhtar's teacher from a school in real life

In the long scene where everyone is packing and leaving for the airport, the passport in which Mumbai Airport Immigration stamp is done is that of Bobby Deol and we can partially see his visa for Spain as well (timestamp 13.12)

The name game the trio play during the movie was first shown in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) 

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