10 years of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’: Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti on their epic road movie

Was the film starring Abhay Deol, Farhan Akthar and Hrithik Roshan a spiritual sequel to ‘Dil Chahta Hai’? Why was the movie set in Spain? Will we ever know what happened to the characters’ relationships? A decade after its release, we find out

Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) turns 10 today. The film can be seen as a spiritual successor of her younger sibling Farhan’s Dil Chahta Hai (DCH), which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this August. Both films are about three affluent best friends, their conflicts and their interpersonal relationship. Both feature the pranks of an all-guys trio. But unlike Dil..., ZNMD, starring Abhay Deol, Farhan Akthar and Hrithik Roshan, unpacks the drama through a journey, becoming a road movie. Farhan includes a largely cheerful road-trip to Goa in Dil..., but Zoya attempts to make Spain an integral part of her film — the adventures and experiences there profoundly change its protagonists. In fact, it was a trip to Spain, and not Dil... that inspired Zoya and her co-writer Reema Kagti to make ZNMD. The duo, in a conversation with The Hindu, look back at what they admit to be their most fun-filled project till date. .