Sick Product of a Sick System

Expected more

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Zinda surprisingly has a very less rating on IMDb. The primary reason is the inevitable comparisons with the original and another reason is the hatred toward Sanjay Gupta for copying almost every scene from the original unofficially. Truly, even I felt I was watching the original itself. Sanjay Dutt is the film's saving grace who compelled me to sit through despite being a highly unoriginal work.Sanjay Gupta's direction is fabulous and can do wonders if given a solid, original script pertaining to his repertoire. He maintains a very dark mood throughout, much darker than the original, with minimal lighting and excessive use of black and gray. The gloomy lighting can be unpleasant at times but it was a commendable experiment. The screenplay is filled with enormous loopholes and doesn't tend to cover them up with any other good thing. Those Indians have seen Oldboy and those who haven't will be equally surprised with the ending as Sanjay deviates from the original and, at the same time, tries to make it hard-hitting. He fails miserably with the latter as the end appears far less convincing than the original.Comparisons aside, John's character is much younger than Dutt's and is super-rich. Applying some simple math, this is not possible. John hasn't acted bad, no two opinions on that, but only if he had a well etched character. Lara Dutta seems to be a super-rich cabbie in those costumes. Was she meant for comic relief or glam quotient – don't know but she irritating throughout. Background score is a straight lift from the original at places. One piece in the very last scene is from Chinese film "Warriors of Heaven and Earth"'s 'Lord An's Empire' composed by A. R. Rahman. The piece is used in the trailers too.Now what's good in the film is a very new and innovative presentation we Indians have never seen. The basic subject matter itself is new. We did have revenge dramas in the past, but the kind where romance and clichés take a front seat throughout and then an atrocious fight with the villain which pops out of nowhere in the end. Zinda is miles away and ahead of these kinds of films. It takes Indian cinema to a whole new level but the unoriginality relegates it. Songs are thankfully original except that Vishal-Shekhar recycle a riff from their own 'Rabba' of "Musafir". Zinda Hoon Main features in three different versions and is an instant winner. Shibani Kashyap's high pitch zingy vocals are impressive. Strings compose the year's best song "Yeh Hai Meri Kahani". Lyrics of all the songs are phenomenal.The best part of the original was the shocking end and the offensive theme which is all cut in Zinda and that makes it less remarkable. It is an enjoyable film but leaves space for questions and plot holes.6.5/10

I do not understand why many people are saying that it is a terrible movie... Even though it is based on the Oldboy story, Zinda is quite good. It was shot well, the acting is not bad, either... I would expect better from Sanjay Dutt when I consider his past but I think John Abraham did a very good job in this movie. He proved that he is not only the looks but he can act as well... I agree that Oldboy was an excellent movie, maybe one of the best of its kind but we shouldn't judge Zinda by comparing it to the masterpiece. Try to see the good in this movie... Think of it, what if this movie had an original script or what if it was shot before Oldboy, would you still say it was a bad movie? I doubt it... It may not be as good as the original but it does not deserve 4.5 out of 10. I would say it is a 6 but I voted 7 just to keep the average a little higher and not spoil the truth by giving it a 10... By the way, the hammer fight scene in the corridor was lame, especially the knife on Sanjay Dutt's back looked as if it was added later on but still I wouldn't call it that bad, it was more than an average movie... And I liked how they turned the story to fit the Indian culture where you don't even see lovers kissing in movies that often... Oldboy's having sex with the daughter story was turned into a clever way for a Bollywood movie, in my opinion selling the virginity of the girl was a brilliant idea... Also Oldboy's siblings having sex was converted to another good story where young Balajeet said he slept with Neema... I recommend all the commenters to be reasonable and rate the movies without prejudices...

"Well the movie would be something different ".......dats what I thought while watching the trailers and when you are a John Abraham fan........then you cant miss dis........well....the story starts like this Balajeet ROY(SANJAY) is a cool dude who meets his friend(Mahesh) and shifts out from his home turf.....India......ready to *beep* wife Celina.........but things go bad......when all of a sudden Bala is kidnapped and put in a "well furnished" room for god damn 15 years.....without any explanation he is released.....and then is asked by a stranger to find out how is he related to him..............within 4 days...............all he will die.....................The movie moves on ......on a pace......that one desires......the action sequences however do not fulfill to the need of the script......but still the movie is what I call good.........And considering John's exquisite power-packed performance......this movie rocks...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An 8/10 from me..........

... I totally agree with the previous comments, how can someone copy shameless a good movie AND took out the best scenes and best story elements? Oldboy is definitely one of the best movies (that's why it's good story copied that often), but when I try to copy something than I try to IMPROVE the copy, not to omit the best things! I'm sure the good voting only were given by people who didn't see the original movie.Please watch Oldboy - you will not waste your time. I really don't understand this Bollywood "Hype", bad actors, bad cinematography and a copied or other well known story - it's always the same. Finally I only recommend you to spend this 116 minutes of your valueable life with other things than watching this movie!