Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Life style of upper middle class youth of our country is pasteurized well in this film. Three friends– Kabir, Arjun and Imran – and their interactions with Laila and Natasha form the backbone of the film.

Kabir stands for the Epimethean spirit of temperament – duty, loyalty and belonging - willing to sacrifice personal choice for the sake of others.

Imran portraits the Dionysian temperament – fun, humor, joy- live dangerously but have fun at all time. Every humorous person is covering up some personal tragedy. They are seen as fun loving persons without any serious outlook in life, but the truth is they are the most serious people; they have masked their serious issues with jokes and humor. Humor is the only way through which they can relate and tolerate the tragic nature of life. Funny guys are actually crying through laughter.

Arjun is Promethean in every sense of the word – feels the world has wronged against him, he is out there to prove a point, it is money you value, let me have it more than you can dream of. He is the over achiever, willing to let go relationships for the sake of success in his career.

Their friendship is not like the veer and jay of sholay – who are willing to kill or to die for the sake of friendship- it is a modern day friendship – it is OK to fall in love with the friend’s girl friend. They care for one another in a practical manner, idealism is kept far away, their relationship is fragile yet strong, betrayal is present yet loyalty overrides the equation.

The film is a journey of these three friends with different temperament discovering the need of opposite side of their temperament, in order to reach the required balance in their life. The film agrees with the dictum of Buddha, “Virtue lies in the middle.”

The statement, “Live in the present” is promoted in the film. But one has to take it with care and concern. Living only in the present, can be dangerous. It is also the core of criminals’ and drug addicts’ personality structure. One need to sincerely plan for the future, but should not be obsessed with it. Not at all worrying about future and past will eventually land you up in a prison or in some kind of asylum.