Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai   Producer: Manjeet Maan Director: Manoj Punj Starring: Gurdas Maan, Tabu, Ashish Vidyarthi and Rajit Kapoor Music: Anand Raj Anand and Hemant Parashar Lyrics: Dev Kholi, Nida Fazli, Suraj Sanim and Sham Balkar Genre: Emotional Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 04 October 2002 Reviewed by: Abid  - Rating: 6.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai’s story revolves around the three characters Amar (Gurdas Maan), Shalu (Tabu) and Gul (Ashish Vidyarthi). Amar is a nightclub singer, Shalu a street walker (who is also an alcoholic) but as expected has heart of gold, frequents the same bar/club as Amar. Gul Baloch has a mentally disturbed daughter who can only be cured by Amar´s singing for it gives her the ease and piece of mind. He plans to kidnap Amar so that his daughter can have that hope.

Amar and Shalu learn of his intended actions and run off to Himachal Pradesh to lead a simple life to escape from Gul Baloch but destiny has some other plans for them as the film moves towards its climax on the top of a moving train.

While intriguing in parts and unique in some sense, the film suffers badly on account of a bad script. It appears writer Manoj Punj wanted to package everything and create an "all in one", however he has ended up with "none".

Cinematically, however, the film has been shot with style, staying away from foreign locales and still catching breath taking scenery of beauty like those of the Himachal Hills (Manali).

In regards to the musical score by Anand Raj Anand, the title song is pleasing but the best is "Yara Dildara Ve" picturized in an emotive sequence between Amar and Shalu. “Ishq Kiya to Jana" is just about ok and "Tum Gaye" suffers from bad vocals by Manjeet Maan.

The film is a mixed bag in terms of performances. Tabu is brilliant as usual, yet she seems out of place as the film pales in comparison to her earlier masterpieces Chandni Bar, Filhaal or Astitva. Gurdas Maan looks like a misfit as a middle aged jilted lover but tries his best to save a badly scripted movie. Ashish Vidyarthi goes over the top with too much hamming.

In terms of box office returns, the movie will most likely not succeed in India except maybe East Punjab (due to Maan) however in the overseas territory the movie is likely to do better as the NRI´S, particularly the Punjabi community, did have expectations for the movie. In film watching sense the film is worth the look for die hard Gurdas Maan fans and of course the elite fan followers of Tabu.