Sanjay F. Gupta, a renowned feature and ad film cinematographer has shot the film. In order to catch an edgy cinematic feel, the film has been shot in the Super 16 format. This format has helped enable the use of sharp wide-angle lenses up to 5.6 mm. The framing and lensing involved has been of a classicaly stylized nature, keeping with the theme of the film.
The visual texture and tone of the film is gritty with desaturated greys, with a stark and minimalist colour palette employed throughout. The primary colour of the film is grey, red and yellow.
The busy city life of Bangkok during the day, alternated with the neon lit nightlife has been used to create an exciting celluloid backdrop to the action.
From the section the visual treatment at the official website of Zinda the film
I remember when going in to see Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, I had come back more than a wee bit disappointed. Good movie and all that, my primary worry was that Bhansali had robbed the world of cinema of an amazing title. The movie had to be very very dark to deserve such a title. I mean, I shall forever remember TerminatorII as a dark shade of neon blue, or Swordfish as a filtered yellow, Seven as a dark, dirty grey, but Black, hey Black had to be a masterpiece. Even back in B-School, it was with trepidition that someone would use white on a black background for a presentation. It was just so much more dangerous to deal with. You had to be completely prepared..with everything!
I remember as soon as I was out of the theatre, I had told everyone who cared to listen, and even those who didn’t, that I want to make a movie titled Black. I had started with a first opening scene too.
A hazy opening shot with coughing being heard in the background. Heart rendering coughing the guts out. A face, stubble and tired, large bags below the eyes scoop down in front of the camera to wash his face, and coughs more, very very tired. The visual was never to be that important. The sounds were supposed to be.
Sanjay Gupta has taken that movie, MY Black, and rendered it in a visual tone as I wanted to in an aural context. Zinda is a stunning palette. Before I absolutely start gushing all over the movie (I have just been too excited since I have seen the movie), let me get this clear first and straight through. I do not like or appreciate that Sanjay Gupta copies his movies frame-by-frame, or that he recruits some lame assed dialogue writer which makes me flinch with every passing minute (it is not often that I utter out aloud, every time someone on the screen says something totally inane and sacrilegious to the perfect visual spectacle. I kept screaming out, ’’Fck Fck, shut up shut up shut up’’, through out most of the inane mouthings. I mean really, it would be amazing to watch ALL Sanjay Gupta movies on mute), and there are ten thousand and one holes in the movie as well (Just HOW does one react when one receives an anonymous phone call? Do you or do you not look back at the screen? Do you or do you not try to check a redial once?), but let me say this out loud. I am a closet admirer of Sanjay Gupta .
I curse his movie renting library, hope fervently that his movies flop so that this does not encourage other movie makers to start on with all the classics all over again in a remixed version, yet I never miss his movies! I saw Reservoir Dogs(and the script, if you are looking in for inspiration) much after I saw Kaante, and by then I knew the story came from the above and the swagger from The Usual Suspects (and the script, for more inspiration) and yet, and just yet, I still love Kaante. Love enough to buy an original cd and see it more than once. Somehow the way the movie has been shot, the inimitable walk of the six back from the prison just somehow defines Sanjay Gupta.
Zinda goes more than a few steps beyond (yes, I am deliberately not talking about Musafir. It pains). It is supposed to be a scene-by-scene remake of Old Boy(trailer attached. Review 1, Review 2. ). Even the website of Zinda seems a direct lift off of the original, not to mention the faint idea of the haunting music alongside. If one would sift through the stills of the movie, one can understand where every single frame’s reference comes from.
Despite all of that, I have been stunned by the graininess of Zinda, I was more involved with the movie in the theatre than any movie I can remember in a long long time. Trying to be critical at every stage and yet the rendering was just about perfect. Even the sway of Lara Dutta’s bu*tt in her jeans as she walks back to the taxi is just perfect. Raj Zutshi’s gold capped grin is perfect. And best of all, just beating every single scene in hindi cinema for a long long time is the one where in Dutt’s character returns to his prison and just starts slaying left right and centre. And the evil grin when he finds more on the lift. Ooh that was delicious. I couldn’t have thought of it, or rendered it better. I mean, even Lara Dutta’s bra as she is tortured is jussst right. And of course, black.
The camera is adjusted according to the moods of the moment. You can see the graininess of Lara’s face and the un-evenness of her features when it so demands. When she has to be seen as hot, her perfect curves automatically move into smooth focus. As John Abraham speaks, half of his face lies in darkness. The teeth are just as dirty and yellowed when they are about to be pulled out.
Sukanya Verma in her review mentions
Truth be told, you have to be angry, demented, numb, a Sanjay Dutt fan or a movie reviewer to be able to enjoy Zinda
I couldn’t agree more. Though I do not agree with her analysis of Dutt being superlative in this caper. He could have been better. Much Much better.
This movie made me shake off my stupor and for a brief moment even reminded me of my state while I was watching 8mm.I so desperately wish Zinda was much more unapologetic. That it would shut up more. That it wouldn’t end in climaxes which are as soppy as this one. That someone would not shoot scenes where the villain screams ’’Your daughter is getting faaaaaaaaaack(he doesn’t quite complete the word, the screaming NOOOOOOOO of the suddenly loving and gushing father drowns it)’’. That someone would go read and understand Jim Collins when he says, ’’Good is the enemy of great. And it is the precise reason why there is so few great in the world.’’
For now, I think it’s an amazing experience to soak in. Till you get to see Old Boy, that is! Old Boy, with all it’s gross violence won the Grand Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Quentin Tarantino was the head of the jury. No wonder :)
(https://theevilp.blogspot.com/2006/01/zinda-gushing-review.html)