The women of ZNMD!

Just realising weren’t the women tweaked to suit the men’s preferences? Rohini (Arjun/Hrithik’s ex) and Natasha are shown to be anxious in relationships. When their partners don’t take care of the relationship these girls seek answers. Natasha mistakes the ring Kabir gets for his mom to be for her which clearly meant she was being lead on by a confused Kabir. She even asks him are you sure when he proposes and he says yes. He doesn’t accept he was leading her on until his friends challenge him. Same with Rohini who is Arjun’s ex. She only expects him to take time from his work and concentrate on the relationship. The very same thing which Laila also tells him. The only difference being Laila tells him in an oh very sweetly way because well she is a detached person. She is detached from everyone else but herself. What if she also asked Arjun to not participate in the bull’s race as it was too dangerous. Funnily she is never shown at the time of the race because may be a girl cheering for her man participating in a life threatening race is kinda weird.

But the point is that while ZNMD is a great film cinematically or from a life’s perspective but it doesnt portray women from a woman’s lens. The girls who are shown problematic are actually real. And the one who is projected as a green flag is probably too unreal. This is so very opposite to other zoya akhtar films like dil dhadakne do which portrays shefali shah, PC and Anushka in such a real light.

The Zindagi one was made with HR fans in mind . The film is all about his looks and the aesthetics of Spain. Tomatoes ,sunsets bulls etc It's a ' commercial movie ' that masquerades as something deeper. Made for Indians with a newly acquired taste so you don't see any typical song and dance routines but keeping the women real would have been pushing it lol. It was a buddy movie for men. If you're a woman who thinks HR is pretty you might enjoy it otherwise it's a boys club drama.

Hrithiks character was actually a red flag. If I remember the fight with his girlfriend, she just wanted his time. She was upset that he cancelled their trip without telling her, her birthday is not important to him. He sucked when it came to work life balance. He said he bought an appartment for both of them to live happily when he actually bought it for show off and so that he could call high profile clients home. When Katrina told him to live life now he believed her but didn't follow the same when his girlfriend was asking for it.

That was the cool girl era. And it ended with Gone Girl.

I thought Hrithik was indeed presented as a red flag? I don’t remember the movie glorifying him. He was shown as an uptight workaholic who has not a single bone of fun or enjoyment in his body?In fact Farhan was the one who was glorified as some kind of a smart ass but it’s another thing that he turned out to be the most annoying character for me.

All of them were shown as anxious and unsure of their relationships. Not just the women?