It sounds like a conflicting view of perfect life with no conflict, no dilemmas, no upheavals. What one thinks or seeks is ones own problem and world around or environment is not responsible for its fulfillment and hence cannot be judged for its contribution.If one must take responsibility, then one must take the onus to accept the environment and people around as they are. One cannot judge them by the beliefs and thoughts of ones own. The idea of judging with the lens of ones own world view, will lead to conclusions of us versus them. The environment is neither the enabler nor the hindrance, it is what life has offered to one. We will always strive to have it changed and be the enabler, but not everyone is created to be equal and cannot be judged by the values of another. We may tend to categorize thinking as an advanced way of living and feeling as a primitive way. Thats the rationality of a thinker that looks down upon an un-understood being, going with motions of life with inane sense of feeling rather than thinking. That’s shear bigotry of the thinker.

I wanted to write about the reasons for Zindagi Na Mile Dobara not having a sequel. But the What If thought is exactly the dilemma characters go through in front of our eyes and for a change they embrace it instead of judging it. 

Zindagi Na Mile Dobara will not have a sequel. Yes, one can believe about the notion of meeting Kabir, Imran and Roshan again once they are further into their lives, considering only one of them got married and a road-trip can always be refresher and reminder of the time spent together. I was wrong, Zindagi is not about Desires as I wrote the other day, it is in fact also not even about being innocent. Though I do not have a name for it now it is definitely not about acting mature but yet about maturity. Kabir, Imran and Roshan even if are three individuals, Zindagi is about us or me or you, about a person. We may be in different phases of our lives and develop our notion of logical sense and what it takes to be a rational being.

Zindagi is about heart and emotions. One cannot call the emotions experienced by heart and the soul as desires. It will be like calling the diving experience as “Nasha” by Arjun (Hrithik), just too negative word to describe the experience and rightly corrected by Laila (Katrina). Desires too bring the negative connotation or feel as they seem like something one wants and indulgences in. Hindu Mythology gave the term of Kama and gave a space of it in ones life. Mythology believes in its notion of living by actions and uses the three goals of life as practicing Dharma, seeking Artha and managing Kama. But Dharma, Artha and Kama are again all notions of the logical being to slot ones actions. Where does that leave space for soul as amalgamation of emotions experienced in ones life. May be it is written about in some Vedic texts, as I have a limited knowledge on it. Reading interpretation of Mahabharata definitely does not make me an expert.

Zindagi in an essence reminds us of what it feels like feeling emotions. The feeling of joy, feeling of being happy, feeling of sadness, feeling an heart ache, feeling of being afraid, feeling of scared, feeling of concern, feeling of love, feeling of insecurity, feeling of regret, feeling of jealousy, feeling of passion, feeling of anger, feeling of hate and feeling of excitement and exhilaration.

Zindagi has the road-trip and all its characters intertwined into a good script that can be enjoyed on its own. Than it has layers of philosophy on living ones own life. Yes there are layers, you can peel each of them and discover the wonder what creativity can achieve. Making the viewer appreciate the obvious and then feel the layer within to go deeper, thats what Zindagi is about. Each of the characters represent a state ones life may be in, Kabir (risk free naturally moving from one state to another), Roshan (having a plan and focussed on it), Imran (carefree but troubled), Natasha (seeking a dream but wanting a companion) and Laila (leading life by what it offers).

Think about your own life for a second, is it not one of the life states you have been once before or even today. At least for me at this age it is definitely true. It matches to the age of the characters since growing older may bring new life state not yet found for me and even for Zoya and Reema the writers. But then when being in those life states what we do matters. We see reason and some how or the other, land on the three goals of kama, artha and dharma.Zindagi tells you that there is another goal in life, the goal to feel and experience the emotions. It also tries to show a way to understand, enjoy and handle the experience, but that may definitely differ for you and me. The result of our actions is what we end up judging oneself by and thats where Zindagi gives us hope and belief not to do that.

One may not know or think where life can lead one to, one cannot even fully plan it, but having the openness and uneasiness to keep exploring will lead to experiencing of emotions. What happens to responsibilities and desires and how they find space in one’s life, even Zindagi does not answer that, but it offers the idea of emotional living while still thinking.

I will write more about the characters and how each of them, yes even Natasha offered us a view of handling the life state we are at, purely going by emotions. In some ways it also highlights the cliche of the idea that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus since living by emotions comes easy for Natasha and Laila while Kabir, Arjun and Imran are still delving in depths of what life has to offer.