Zinda

I expected to see this movie sooooooooooo much since I had heard of it.And it satisfied me more than my expectation. One of the most powerful element in this movie is the secret why John locked Sanju Baba.That’s why the film makers struggled to cover its story and I really urge you not to try to know more than I tell you.However, after knowing all the plots for my reckless curiosity which drove me to seek the movie, I appreciated it a lot.It has more than just shocking story, but deep implication about human nature rather like myths.So I do recommend to see it more than twice, for you can’t fully understand its deep meaning overwhelmed with its shocking ending, if you see it only one time.

Set on the backyards of Bangkok, the film narrates the ups and downs of Balajeet Roy’s (Sanjay Dutt) life. He expects a lot from this city. Although, he knows that the place is crime-torn, he tries to adjust with the environment in this home-away from home. In the beginning, it is a good sailing. He leads a happy married life with his wife Nisha (Celina Jaitley). He thinks that everything will go the way it is going on throughout his life.

First, good news knocks at their door that he is going to become a proud father. But nobody knows that something unexpected is stored for them in the next moment. Some people take captive of Balajeet for the reason best known to them. He is kept inside a dark room for long 14 years. Nobody, even his wife Nisha knows where Balajeet is. He is in a complete isolation from his house, friends, society and moreover his beloved wife.

The film narrates how pregnant Nisha spends his life without her husband in a strange Bangkok city. And how Balajeet leads a woeful life inside the dark cell for long 14 years. There are lots of ‘tries and failures’, emotion, drama and tragedy in this film, as Balajeet keeps on trying to come out of that hell. In the process, Sanjay Dutta is changed into a different species - a man like an animal.

I’m making the story of the film sound ridiculous, but only to point out that while Zinda should have been a ridiculous story, Sanjay pulls it of brilliantly. He sets up an elaborate set of circumstances in which dozens of characters--although mostly the two primary characters--come to be consumed with hatred for each other. The suffering of the other matters more to each man than his own happiness. Finally, both men come to hate themselves, as well as their respective nemeses. For the most part, these characters are psychologically realistic and the story emotionally compelling

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The opening is so simple. A man is kidnapped and held against his will for 14 years, the solitude slowly driving him mad. There is little exposition or backstory. Gupta instead hits the ground running and lets the story unfold to the audience as it unfolds to the lead character, And what a story it is.

Zinda differs from Musafir and Kaante in that it has a much more serious emotional core. Zinda is the definitive revenge film. It’s about a guy who gets revenge on a guy for getting revenge on him. He also takes revenge on all of the henchmen of the main guy, but the henchmen get their revenge, too. Then he gets revenge back on the henchmen. Just when the first guy is about to get revenge on the second guy, the second guy gets revenge on him, as do the henchmen. No problem, because the first guy has his revenge.

Sanjay is a deft director, able to convey scenes of raw emotion, raw fury, and pure pain. The characters of Zinda are tragic and flawed, and it is what makes this film so compelling. Gupta is unflinching, showing the moments where most filmmakers would look the other way. There’s something satisfying about a movie that takes so many chances and pulls most of them off. There were so many places where this film could have gone wrong. So many times where the controversial material could have overplayed. The kind of twists and plot turns that could derail a filmmaker of lesser ability. Gupta came out swinging, like Sanjay Dutt with a claw hammer.

Final credits

Associate Director : Jasmeet Dhodi