Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(ZNMD) is the archetypal Hindi film, which is precisely why it becomes extremely predictable and mildly entertaining. At a time when filmmakers dealing with the lives of youth are coming up with brash, bold and realistic works to woo the audience, ZNMD is a bit too dated to excite and too humdrum to engage. For example, our boys in ZNMD play the same word game to reveal each other’s woes which Rahul and Anjali played in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, more than a decade ago. It can be easily said that the film is hinged on its star cast; it’s not a bad deal to watch when the trio of boys one is talking about is a formidable one—the irresistible combination of charm, intelligence and wit in Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol. The girls, though sidelined, manage to look pretty too. Those are not the things one would ideally want to write about, but one is not left with much choice when the film doesn’t have anything new to offer in terms of the story and the way it is told. Arjun (Roshan), Kabir (Deol) and Imran (Akhtar) are friends from college who had promised each other to go on a trip together where each one of them would choose an adventure sport and the other two will have to comply. So they venture to Spain, and the next thing you know is that Arjun is hydrophobic and Imran is acrophobic. What happens then? Of course they go deep-sea diving and paragliding together and conquer their fears. And when an attractive Laila (Katrina Kaif) is the diving instructor, one of the boys has to fall in love with her inevitably. In the climax of the film, the trio conquers the biggest fear of all death.

Besides these pathological fears, each boy is facing a real-life demon too. Imran wants to track down his biological father who is an artist in Spain, Kabir is grappling with the possibility of a ‘forced’ love-marriage and a nagging wife-to-be, and Arjun is a workaholic financial broker who has always valued money over everything else. Like any feel-good Hindi film; our boys resolve their conflicts in the end, their lives are transformed, everybody gets what they want, they are all united with their love, and live happily ever after!  Life is fairly simple, devoid of multiple layers or tones and the motto of the film is: ‘seize the day my friend’! Regrettably, that does begin to sound shallow as one approaches the end of the film.

There are a few moments in the film which could have been evocative, but somehow fail to have the desired effect: like the one when the three friends come together and hold hands in the sky while in a state of free fall during paragliding. The space between realism and melodrama is a risky one to explore, when one wants to appeal to a certain audience one succeeds, more often than not, by clearly taking sides.

Could it be that the idea of touring Spain came first to the filmmaker and subsequently the story of the film? In the course of the film, this thought crosses one’s mind often. There is everything in the film that Spain Tourism would want to promote: The famous foot-stomping Flamenco dance performance in the song ‘Senorita’, the fun-filled tomatina festival, and the fiery Bull Run that Spain is known for. At times, they don’t even add to the narrative; but the narrative seems an addition to what could have been a fun promotional video for Spain Tourism! Isn’t that taking cinema-tourism to the next level?

Watch ZNMD for its exotic locales and the chemistry between the likeable boys of Hindi cinema. Also, a few dexterous shots of deep-sea diving and paragliding, if that is what excites you. If you are looking for something original or emotive, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara may not be the best bet.