Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by splintercell 1379 days ago
> “Zindagi Na milega dubara”

Yeah this movie was made for a very specific audience going through a certain age and point in life, ('buddy road movie' but made for Indian millennials) hardly a great work of art.

First it was 'Dil Chahta Hai', when the Indian millennials were of college age or around that time. A movie about three friends hanging out and dreaming of the future they will have with the kind of partners they would hope to be with.

'Zindagi Na milega dobara' is about a early-mid career Indian millennials facing marriage, work issues. It's not a bad movie but the popularity and greatness of it comes from it being apropos for Indian millennials.

On the top of that there is a 'class' thing going on here, where RRR's target audience is a different class, and have an Inglorious Bastard style experience. Just like 'Dil Chahta Hai'/'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' are for the educated millennials class.

1 comments

I appreciate your comment and insight. But I’m an American Gen-Xer and I enjoyed Zindagi Na Milega Dobara very much. So it can appeal to other people too.

For other folks reading I always recommend Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) as the Bollywood movie to start with. It’s a bit silly and over the top (especially the fight sequences) but it has a lot of heart. I miss old Bollywood movies like this that actually had lots of singing and dancing. And it set a record for most Filmfare awards won when it came out so critics obviously liked it too.

Sometimes I wish people would talk about really old Bollywood too. Old Devdas, Barsaat, etc. There are some great movies there. I like Satyajit Ray a lot too (I know he isn’t Bollywood) but I wish people could see greatness in old Bollywood as well. I just rewatched Guide recently for example. Still a good movie.