A movie that made us say MOSHI MOSHI to a new perspective on life: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

   Written by, Aysha Mehzabin and Nafisa Nahar

I have always been interested in poetry and cinema and this movie is a perfect blend of both. The poetry is blended in a visual art form and made it a classic. The movie directed by Zoya Akhter was released in 2011. This movie revolves around three friends from college who decide to go on a trip to Spain. This journey turns out to be a life changing experience for them and us as an audience.

The beauty of ZNMD

 This movie gave us some life lessons but beside those the movie is full of beautiful poems recited by Farhan Akhter also the cinematography was on another level. I remember watching it for the first time when I was really young and I grew an interest in traveling. I wish to wander around in different places around the world, maybe on a road trip with my friends, experiencing scenic views one day.

FRIENDSHIP?It's not that complicated

The three main characters are Kabir, Imran and Arjun, who portrays the childlike innocence of some friendships. We see that Imran and Arjun had a fallout years before the trip but things never got resolved between them and  just when they thought that they lost a friend, they connected on a deeper level, fought, showed their anger and hugged it out during the trip. Furthermore, one of the characters called Kabir maintained such a great bonding with his love interest even after calling off their wedding and it really was an ice breaker of adult friendship. So, friendships don't need to be so concrete as we supposed.

Take the Leap: First step towards changing perception

On this trip they decide on going for adventurous sports to face their fears. They went scuba diving, skydiving and pamplona bull run as the destination to conquer  each of their fears. Every time they experienced one of these risky sports and came back from the face of death, they realized that Zindagi na milegi dobara (you only live once) and along with them we understood the importance of being fully alive at each and every moment of life. Yes, maybe we didn't go on a full blown Europe tour but the characters and storyline were engaging enough for us to relate to them on some level.

But as the plot grows we see that heights or water wasn't the fear they needed to face, it's the mental block and trauma that they needed to overcome in order to be fully free. When Imran met his father we realized as an audience that we run away from reality until we take the leap and it's a matter of seconds to change our perception of what we fear. 

 Another character Arjun, a workaholic meets his love interest named Laila, who was basically a guidebook of “How To Live Your Life To The Fullest” convinced us to prioritize and make time for things that makes us genuinely happy.My most favorite scene from this film is when two of them lay under the stars and Arjun realizes all he was missing out in his life for only running after money. It was an eye opener for all of us.

On the whole, ZNMD is not only a movie about friendship, love or taking “EXPENSIVE” road trips. It's about the simplicity of friendship, accepting reality by facing one's fears and prioritizing living life.