Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, is it overated?

Don't get me wrong, I love the film, I've watched it many times, and laugh just as hard each time. But while it may be a fun film to watch I don't necessarily feel that its quality matches with the hype it gets.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a 2011 film directed by Zoya Akhtar starring Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. It features the story of 3 childhood friends who go on a bachelor's trip to Spain they planned many years ago. On the trip they will do three activities each of them has planned in order to face their fears.
It was a critical and commercial success on its release since becoming a cult hit.

Let me start off by explaining one of my main annoyances of the movie. Arjun Saluja. Seriously, he was one of the most arrogant and rude main characters I have ever seen. His entire obsession with money and clapping himself on the back for earning a few more pounds than your average person was not fun to watch at all. Also every time he made fun of Imran for not being rich, yeah total mood killer. And yes we are later shown his reason for making money his priority in life, but that just seemed like an easy way to make his character "deep" for me. It felt like the typical oh no he's like this because this happened with him now pity him. His entire character development also felt forced and fake, something we're supposed to believe just because that's what's shown.

Same can be said about Imran and his father. We are again shown an extreme character, this time as a jokester. And to make this jokester venerable and deep, we get another sob backstory. While the problem is not with the characters and them having sad backstories, it's with their past and present not feeling related. The two phases of both the characters life don't seem to match up with each other and so seem like two different parts forced to connect to make them three dimensional characters.

Another thing I'd like to address is how Imran and Arjun's phobias were dealt with. Phobias are a serious problem, and cannot be overcome in just a few days of training. Both with Arjun's aquaphobia and Imran's acrophobia, we are made to believe that they got over their fears in a few days, when that is not possible. You're telling me a guy who never learnt to swim due to fear can suddenly scubadive in a week.

The entire film somehow did not feel realistic or even relatable. It always seemed a bit glamorous and gave a vibe of eliteness. This was very contradictory to what the storyline was supposed to be, childhood friends going on a trip.

Like I said earlier, i love the film. It's still hilarious and yet through provoking. It is definitely a film I would watch a hundred times and not get bored. It's understandable why it is such a popular film and has millions of fans. The characters of Imran, Kabir and Laila are one of my favorites. I love Laila's take on living life fully and spontaneously. The film has some seriously well written moments and Zoya Akhtar's direction was fantastic. Also can't forget those beautiful poems written by Javed Akhtar.

" Seize the day my friend. Pehle is din ko poori tarah jiyo, phir chaalis ke bare mein sochna."

- Laila