Why is ZNMD not an ESCAPIST Cinema?!

NG Reflections: Why is ZNMD not an ESCAPIST Cinema! A Final Summation!

There occurs a very peculiar moment in every cinematic space where there happens to be a cinema that does not dwell on the core-issues with gravity,not because it couldn't and was escapist,but because it chooses to incorporate the issues not as some bland digestive enzyme syrup but as a tasteful concoction.Thus it carves out a path where it deals with some harsh truths but willingly does not allow them to get manifested in full force,rather it conjuncts them with the outer forces of nature,viz. the land,air and water,and allows them a trajectory where they come out not as stagnant issues but get expressed in the most dynamic of forms!!

ZNMD is highly metaphorical.One cannot say that ZNMD suffers from the a distorted sense of internal angst and one just cannot maul the expression either. The fact is that one needs to distinguish between the angst of a Bachchan and a Hrithik.The space in which they operate is entirely different.The angst ridden face of Bachchan cooled itself by a means of revolution against the society.In the present ultra-materialistic world,where values are just samples of mirages and principles are highly situational,the angst of the three protagonists which itself is of an introverted nature gets expressed by a cycle where the outlet is the vent through which the fear sublimates,the medium being the land,air and water!! Now one cannot argue for the absence of substantial truth in the movie.Truth is in abundant,just that the expression has been given a contemporary treatment.There are no moments of extreme display of emotion because the range has never been the issue at hand,rather the depth has been.There is a scene where Hrithik slaps Farhan for throwing his phone.Mark the expression of a hurt of past[Farhan involving with Hrithik's girlfriend] using an alibi of the present,i.e.Farhan throwing the phone!! Did Farhan flare up his nose or weep incessantly??? No,he didn't because the metrosexual youth of today knows not only how to react but also to respond.Farhan could have reacted,entered some sort of face saving verbal debate with Hrithik..but he chose to respond by just a few expressions of unnerved disposition and a picturesque face that spoke thousand words.Zoya never attempts to make the characters interact,she always allows the audience to understand and interpret,thus weaving them into the mood for cinema!!Such scenes directly stand for the transition that has taken place in the social arena of Indian sensibilities.And the truth here is not in the visible concerns,rather it is in how those concern fit in the contemporary times in the life of a protagonist.One needs to understand that one cannot perceive such a film from a rigid point of view,one needs to see it from various points and changing the focus,thereby determining the best place for oneself.

Zoya has just not taken the most basic inner conflicts as the core issue here.One just simply cannot degrade the movie as likes of Rangan have done by judging it with spectacles of reality. One first needs to determine what is the reality they are looking for.The reality of conflicts or the reality of expression of conflicts!! In a road-trip movie where the dynamic forces are at play,one cannot expect the inner conflicts to be grave,that is asking the whole movie to be out of sync with its purpose.Yes,the way the conflicts clash with the ambiance is depicted in the most prudent manner by Zoya because she allows each character to develop a separate space where the interaction is four pronged'with oneself,with the natural ambiance,with the other protagonists and finally with the audience!! When have you seen a more vivid display of such overlapping spaces where there is a plethora of emotions at stake,but wait,the emotion never forms the core of the movie,rather the way those emotions are settled or un-nerved forms the flow of the movie. The only other film this year that evokes similar concerns is Dhobhi Ghat. There also the emotions are at stake but the emotion and the expression both share almost equal percentage of the narration,expression less as the movie was an endearing attempt at depicting the strangulation of emotions!! Katrina calls deep sea diving meditation clearly signifying the tone that the movie wants to set.The movie is not preaching on various methods to get rid of issues in life,it is merely saying 'Hey Guys,Serious Issues in life can be taken care of in myriad ways!' I do not think one should have a problem reading that.One cannot expect ZNMD to be an issue based film where the narration is about the unfolding of the issue as the movie distinctly does not want to set that tone.The movie traces a few issues of three men,watches them closely as they feel liberated,and does not make any effort to pass any judgement on them,rather it leaves them open to the audience for interpretation.One cannot call such a violently interactive movie to be a fail just because the violence got expressed in a soothing manner.

Lastly, i am of a perfect opinion that ZNMD sets the correct contemporary platform where the truth depicted is more in the exploration of various facets of the soul and not in showing the stagnancy of it.The best feature of the movie is that the ambiance is rapidly changing and the inner self of protagonists is also undergoing a slow metsmorphosis..this relative motion if perceived with contemporary spectacles will yield the most perfect view ever. There is nothing pre-ordained here,everything occurs here in a class that one needs to understand psychologically before deciphering the complexities of the movie. An urban class movie cannot be judged by the parameters of a middle-class sensibility.I ma not exemplifying the class difference,i am just putting forth a view that to understand the taste of Italian food,you would certainly not sit in Punjabi Dhaba and vice-versa!! This movie sets a very strong socio-political context to be discussed.It tells very clearly about the changing times using the examples of three men and also sets a forth a vision for what the future has en-stored!! The bondages that this movie enters is not a contract with the social aspects of cinema but it is more like a fluid agreement where it does not desire to be vocal and emphatic,but just wants to be introverted and thoughtful!! No crimes in that!!