''Zinda'' (English: ''Alive'') is a 2006 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language neo-noir

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

starring

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

, John Abraham, Lara Dutta and Celina Jaitly. The film was directed by Sanjay Gupta and also wrote the film along with Suresh Nair.

Vishal–Shekhar Vishal–Shekhar are an Indian music composer, production, singing and songwriting duo consisting of Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani from Mumbai. Known predominantly for their work as music composers in Hindi cinema, Vishal–Shekhar have a ...

composed the film's thematic music, and background music composed by Sanjoy Chowdhury. It was released in India on 13 January 2006. ''Zinda'' has been identified as an unauthorised remake of the South Korean film '' Oldboy'' (an official adaptation of the Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

'' Old Boy''). Show East, the producers of ''Oldboy'', who had already sold the

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...

rights to DreamWorks in 2004, initially expressed legal concerns but no legal action was taken as the studio had shut down.

Plot

Software engineer Balajeet "Bala" Roy (

), is happily married to Nisha Roy ( Celina Jaitly), with whom he is going to have a baby. But before Nisha let Bala know about her pregnancy, he is captured by unseen assailants and imprisoned in a cell, After one year, Bala gets a visit from Nisha to find out that she was brutally murdered. Bala is kept in total isolation for 14 years without knowing who imprisoned him and why. While in captivity, he practices martial arts which he learns after watching it on the television, with the intention of using it against the people who captured him. He is finally released, again without explanation, and sets out for revenge. He befriends a

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

taxi driver named Jenny ( Lara Dutta), who helps him track his kidnappers. Bala tracks down the restaurant that served him food during his entire captivity and follows a delivery moped to his captors. Bala discovers that he was held in a private prison where people can pay to have others incarcerated. Bala tortures the owner Wong Foo ( Rajendranath Zutshi) for answers by plucking out his teeth with a

claw hammer A claw hammer is a hammer primarily used in carpentry for driving nails into or pulling them from wood. Historically, a claw hammer has been associated with woodworking, but is also used in general applications. It is not suitable for heavy ...

; he then finds out he was imprisoned for "talking too much", and fights his way out of the building. Bala is injured during the fight, but a mysterious hooded man saves him and takes him to a taxi. The hooded man turns out to be Rohit Chopra ( John Abraham). Soon Wong Foo kidnaps Jenny and tortures her. He threatens to remove Bala's teeth with his own clawhammer but is interrupted by Rohit. Bala takes refuge with Jenny, and they have sex. Bala is informed that his daughter is alive. Bala's friend Joy ( Mahesh Manjrekar) is killed, and Bala learns that his kidnapper is none other than Rohit. Rohit reveals his reason for kidnapping Bala. They went to high school together, where Bala had lusted after Rohit's elder sister Reema (Alisha Baig). After Reema rejected him, Bala spreads a false rumour that she was a whore. She became the laughing stock of their school and committed suicide by setting herself on fire. Rohit blamed Bala for her death and engineered his imprisonment as revenge. Rohit tells Bala that he killed Nisha, and sent his daughter, who is now 14, to a brothel. Bala beats Rohit up and knocks him off of a balcony, but grabs his hand and pleads with him to tell him where his daughter is. Defiantly, Rohit lets go of Bala's hand and falls to his death. Bala then kills Rohit's goons and Wong Foo. In the end, Bala learns that his daughter is safe; and Rohit had lied to him about selling her to a brothel to torment him. He finds her sitting on a riverbank, and goes to meet her. He happily lives with his daughter.

Cast

* John Abraham as Rohit chopra *

as Balajeet "Bala" Roy * Celina Jaitly as Nisha Roy * Mahesh Manjrekar as Joy Fernandes * Lara Dutta as Jenny Singh * Rajendranath Zutshi as Woo Fong (as Raj Zutshi) * Alisha Baig as Reema Chopra

Reception

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, although John Abraham and

were singled out for praise. Bollywood Mantra praised the film saying, "''Zinda'' is a film that appears to be the darkest movie ever by Sanjay Gupta. A hard-hitting flick shot in Bangkok, it tells you a story never told before on the Indian screen. And to make Sanjay Gupta's imagination come alive, who else but Sanjay Dutt is roped in to play the lead role. One of the most challenging roles ever by the deadly Dutt, it is sure to haunt you long after the screening is over". Narbir Gosal of PlanetBollywood.com gave the film a rating of 7.5/10, praising the performances by

and John Abraham, while criticising the fact that much of the dialogue and story was copied from '' Oldboy''. Futuremovies.com gave the film 6/10 and said, "Technically and style-wise ''Zinda'' is flawless", and praised Dutt's performance, saying "it is probably the pinnacle of his career". Subhash K Jha gave it 2.5/5 and stated that "the film belongs to Sanjay Dutt.... If the adventure-action genre in Hindi cinema needed a wake-up call, this is it". Nikhil Kumar of Apunkachoice.com gave the film 0.5/5 stars, saying "Sanjay Gupta's movie ''Zinda'' works primarily because of its gripping, although unoriginal, story and a noteworthy acting performance by its frontman Sanjay Dutt".

Awards

;

52nd Filmfare Awards The 52nd Fair One Filmfare Awards ceremony, presented by The Times Group and Fair One, was one of India's most prestigious awards ceremonies, honoring the best Bollywood films of 2006. It took place on 17 February 2007 at the Yash Raj Studios, ...

: Won * Best Villain – John Abraham

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by duo

and released by T-Series. * "Ye Hai Meri Kahani" – Strings * "Zinda Hoon Main" –

Shibani Kashyap Shibani Kashyap is an Indian singer who works in the Bollywood film industry. She has judged the reality singing show '' Bathroom Singer''. Kashyap achieved fame by singing the signature tune of the AIR FM channel of All India Radio and Amul I ...

* "Har Saans" – Krishna Beura & Abrar-ul-Haq * "Kya Main Zinda Hoon" – Shibani Kashyap * "Maula" –

Vinod Rathod Vinod Rathod (born 12 September 1962) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Bollywood films. Rathod is the son of late classical musician, Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod. Music career His career started when Usha Khanna after listeni ...

* "Zinda Hoon Main Y" –

* "Chal Rahi Hai Saanse" –

Kailash Kher Kailash Kher (born 7 July 1973) is an Indian music composer and singer. He sings songs with a music style influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music. He was inspired by the classical musicians' Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Hridaynath Ma ...

* "Har Saans (Black Mamba Mix)" – Krishna Beura * "Ye Hai Meri Kahani (K Rap Mix)" — Strings &

Jamie xx James Thomas Smith (born 28 October 1988), known professionally as Jamie xx, is an English musician, DJ, record producer and remixer. He is known for both his solo work and as a member of the English indie pop band The xx. He has been described ...

* "Kabhi Muskura ke" -

Similarities with ''Oldboy''

At a November 2005 press conference, representatives of Show East, the production company that released '' Oldboy'', expressed concern ''Zinda'' was similar to their film, and said they were investigating the similarities. They noted that at the time, they did not have the final version of ''Zinda'' available to compare ''Oldboy'' with. They stated that if they found there was "strong similarity between the two ilms, they would be contacting their lawyers." ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'' reviewer

Sudhish Kamath Sudhish Kamath is an Indian film critic working with the daily newspaper ''The Hindu'' and also an Independent filmmaker. He started working as a Chief reporter with a tabloid called Metro Ads in 1995. Then, from 1997, he worked for A.M.Plus, t ...

and Planet Bollywood reviewer Narbir Gosal both note in their reviews of ''Zinda'' that they found the two films to be very similar in terms of plot, as well as in the depiction of specific scenes.

References

External links

* * Zinda a
Extramovies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinda (Film) 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s mystery thriller films 2006 films Indian neo-noir films Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar Films scored by Strings Indian films about revenge Films about suicide Indian nonlinear narrative films Films shot in Thailand Live-action films based on manga Indian mystery thriller films Indian action thriller films Films about kidnapping in India Indian remakes of South Korean films Films involved in plagiarism controversies Films directed by Sanjay Gupta 2006 action thriller films