As the decade-defining movie completes 10 years, we give you some exciting trivia about its making.

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A decade of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: A look back at the making of the new-age buddy road movie

Team CE

Updated:9th Jan, 2021 at 3:57 PM

When the script was written by Farhan in 2007, he was going to direct the film with Shah Rukh, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi. Shah Rukh later dropped out and Hrithik was signed for his role.

When the script was written by Farhan in 2007, he was going to direct the film with Shah Rukh, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi. Shah Rukh later dropped out and Hrithik was signed for his role.

As a part of the promotions, the cast took an actual road trip from Mumbai to Delhi via Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Imran played by Farhan has a fear of skydiving in the film but in real life he's a certified skydiver and Hrithik is a certified scuba diver but his character is afraid of water.

Katrina Kaif's introduction scene on the beach was shot on a nude beach. The production crew had to continuously request people to move out of the frame.

The mayor of the town Alájar, Andalucia features in the song 'Senorita'.

Hrithik said that it was his then wife Sussane who pushed and convinced him to do this film. Hence her name appears in the acknowledgements at the start.

The film is enlisted as a case study in Marketing Management Courses in Spain colleges.

The La Tomatina festival shown in the movie was re-created in Buñol, Valencia, Spain with almost 16 tons of tomatoes specially flown in from Portugal.

The crew and the cast of the movie were present in Spain during the football finals in 2010 and got to see the country's historic win.

Nasiruddin shah played the role of Imran's (Farhan Akhtar) adoptive father (referred throughout the film as Faisal or Abu) in a flashback scene that was cut from the final film.

Zoya Akhtar wanted to cast Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role but both declined.

The title of the film is derived from a song in 2008 film 'Rock On!' which was also produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.

The film was first titled as 'zindagi milegi na dobara', but it was changed to ' zindagi na milegi dobara' after Javed Akhtar pointed out that it is the right form of sentence.

Mr. Dubey (the Teacher with funny English) who is mentioned in the movie by the lead characters, was actually Farhan Akhtar's teacher from school in real life. He recently passed away.

The film was initially titled 'Running With The Bulls', after the yearly event in Spain.

The Spanish song that plays while the three are in the car (SUV) on the way to Costa Brava is 'Será mejor' by Muchachito Bombo Infierno.

Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) recited poetry throughout the movie, his father Javed Akhtar wrote them.

The name game the trio play during the movie was first shown in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998).

According to Zoya Akthar,the scuba diving,sky diving, and the running of the bulls scenes were the only scenes that were story boarded.

ZNDM was filmed in Spain, India, Egypt, and the United Kingdom on a budget of Rs 550 million.

The release was initially planned for 27 May 2011 but technical problems with post-production work led to the release being postponed to 24 June and again to 15 July.

The film had a worldwide release in 1,800 screens and was a critical and commercial success that grossed Rs 1.53 billion overall.

Zoya Akhtar, Farhan, and Reema Kagti completed the scripting in three months.

A special poem inspired by a fan's poem was written for Katrina Kaif's character after she was cast in the movie.

The first choice for the location was Mexico, but was later changed to Spain because the climax features the running of bulls and Zoya wanted a country that blended history, culture, and sports.

Initially, the producers wanted Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor to play two of the three leads, but they declined without specifying a reason.

For the role of Laila, Zoya wanted someone with an accent who would be willing to scuba dive, and was a half-Indian and half-Caucasian woman. Katrina was cast after several auditions.

Spanish actress Ariadna Cabrol was chosen for the role of Nuria because Zoya liked her work in the 2009 Spanish film Eloïse's Lover.

Zoya had wanted to work with Kalki Koechlin ever since seeing her in Dev.D; she felt Kalki would suit the character of Natasha because she had 'the sense of comedy, but not over the top'

Cinematographer Carlos Catalan, who had worked with Zoya on Luck by Chance, wanted all three lead actors to appear tanned because he 'didn't want everything glossed over.'

A scene involving a kiss between Roshan and Kaif was filmed despite the couple's reluctance to do so

The climax of the film, which features the Running of the bulls, was filmed at Pamplona.

Composer trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, who had worked with Farhan Akhtar in Rock On!! and Karthik Calling Karthik, composed the soundtrack for the film.

The composers engaged María del Mar Fernández, a Spanish flamenco singer, to perform the vocals on 'Señorita'; her film-singing debut.

Senorita is also the singing debut of Abhay Deol, who sang it along with the other lead actors Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar.

The trailer of the film was revealed with the prints of Salman Khan's Ready,

The film's trailer was watched over 55 million times within 48 hours of its release, a record at the time.

Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani visited Facebook India to promote the film.

It is believed that British Auto manufacturer Land Rover — which is now owned by Tata Motors — sponsored the Land Rover Discovery driven by the cast members during the trip.

A mobile video game based on Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and the La Tomatina festival was released by Jump Games on 19 July 2011 for popular mobile operating systems.

A special screening of the film was held at the residence of Shah Rukh Khan. The event was attended by several celebrities, including the film's cast and crew.

Shiv Sena criticised this screening event because it was held three days after the 2011 Mumbai bombings.

Shiv Sena criticised the event because it was held three days after the 2011 Mumbai bombings

The makers donated the collections of the film from around 10 theatres in Mumbai to the Maharashtra government as a mark of charity to the victims of the bombings.

On 24 March 2012, ZNMD was screened at Bucks New University in High Wycombe, England.

In India, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was released alongside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. It opened exceptionally well in the multiplexes.

PETA objected to the bull-running scene and sought support from fans via their Twitter page to ban the film.

Spanish-American artist Charo sent a letter to Zoya Akhtar on behalf of PETA asking her to remove all of the scenes related to the running of the bulls.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara won two awards at the 59th National Film Awards in the Best Audiography and Best Choreography categories.

Following the film's release, Zoya Akhtar said she had an idea of making a sequel to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; she said, 'I might or may not make a sequel. It all depends on the right content.'

In an interview, Hrithik said the plot of the sequel could be set five/six years after the events depicted in ZNMD and that the characters would be older and would have a reason to go on another trip.

Farhan Akhtar later said there was 'no necessity' for a sequel.

In 2013, Zoya Akhtar expressed interest in writing for the sequel after completing the filming of her next project, Dil Dhadakne Do, which was released in June 2015.

Zoya, in 2019, said, 'Honestly, people want a second movie of ZNMD, but I think the best franchise (for a sequel) would either be Luck By Chance or Dil Dhadakne Do.'

All lyrics were written by by Javed Akhtar

Post the release, several tomatina themed events were organized across India.

Both ZNMD and Dil Dhadakne Do contain a song of the same nane (Dil Dhadakne Do). Both are directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan's Excel Entertainment.

Spain's tourism saw a sharp spike of approximately 65% after the film’s release.

Here a few more memorable snapshots from the movie..

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