Highly interesting, even if unoriginal.. Review on Zinda

Sanjay Gupta, is one director whose movies I have generally enjoyed, yes even the much maligned Kaante, primarily because of his sense of shot taki and style...I believe that this guy can do brilliant stuff if given the right script, and with the lack of originality, sometimes its better to watch a good copy rather than watching moronic Darshan stuff over and over, although of course the credit should be given to the source....

Hey everyone, im back and thought of doing a writeup on one of the more interesting movies of the year, and although its a little late in the day, I hope it makes for interesting reading.. Having said that, lets go on to the review

Plot:

Most of you will be be familiar with the plot, so lets suffice it to say that it revolves around the abduction and imprisonment of engineer Balajeet Roy (Sanjay Dutt) for 14 years into a small dingy black room, after he comes to Bangkok to start a life with his wife Nisha (Celina Jaitely). What happens after he is set free, how he answers the questions to his life and what part Rohit Chopra (John Abraham)and Jenny (Lara Dutta) play in his journey forms the rest of the plot.

Notable Scenes:

All of Sanjay Dutts scenes in the black room.

The picturisation of the song "yeh Hai Meri Kahani"

The picturisation of the song "Zinda Hoon Main" which is a one take fight scene (Mindblowingly done)

The intermission

The interaction between John Abraham and Sanjay Dutt

The culmination to the tale, where the motivation for the villains part comes through and the climax.

Pros:

1.Firstly, the story was genuinely different and by the end of the movie, you get such a shock you dont know who was right and who was wrong.

2.The locations and cinematography was just brilliant, well shot and made the city and movie seem in sync in terms of mood

3.The performances and lack of loose links in the story, while the story may be over hte top, they have unfolded it in a very convincing manner.

Cons:

1. Its inconcievable that Sanjay Dutt, would become so invincible just by watching the tv and practising in the prison, when he comes out, he is nigh unstoppable, like a monster.

   
   




2. John Abraham looks a tad young for the role of Rohit.

   
   




3. The person who used to feed Sanjay Dutt wore the same pair of shoes for 14 years, thats a bit surprising to me.

   
   




4. The use of expletives, hard language and very violent scenes may turn off the family audience and in fact though the end has been changed from the original due to severe explicitness of nature, I doubt most families would like to see the events in the climax, this is definitely not a family film and for kids.

   
   

Direction:

Sanjay Gupta in my view has always been a competent and stylish director, but I believe he should start making something original because half the credit for his work goes due to his unabashed plagiarism. Still he is an innovator of progressive cinema just by his camerawork as witnessed in the early 90's with Aatish, I doubt a more stylish movie has come keeping demand the technological limitations of the time then. Here too he doesnt disappoint with his technicians and sho takin setting the mood for a very sombre and dark movie.

Performances:

Celina Jaitely gets no scope, the point of having her in the movie is still a mystery, even if for eye candy, there was none.

Mahesh Manjrekar does well and isnt irritating after a long time, though his role is limited, he does well with the material.

Lara Dutta in my opinion is turning int oa good actress post No Entry, and while she doesnt have any scope here, she does all right and comes across as convincing rather than irritating, which a lot of actresses have the tendency to be when emoting fear.

John Abraham, while I said he looked a bit young for the part, was extremely convincing even though he isnt the most capable actor around. The reason I say this is because I felt his facial expressions were lacking a bit, but overall his body language and demeanour was quite convincing in his portrayal of the cold blooded businessman. Good to see he has the guts to pick up and do something unconventional.

But the soul of the movie, the one who carries the movie on his shoulders, is Sanjay Dutt. Those who said he is no versatile enough and cant act in varied roles, should watch him in this movie. The portrayal of a happy man to a psychotic madman, is done amazingly and its a treat to watch him in a role that suits his age too. This is one performance which should be noticed irrespective of the box office fate, and he should at least be nominated, thats how good I feel he has been, just his expressions throughout and specially in the climax are just mindblowing.

Conclusively, I feel that while families might not be comfortable with this kind of cinema, it is nevertheless an amazing watch and worthwhile if one wishes to see something different, and of course the next time somebody cribs bout life being a bh, just show them this movie, im sure they might just stop cribbing ;-)

Itd be great to hear your feedback on this review, so ill wait for your rrc's

till next time,

have fun

faraz