The release of
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was initially scheduled for 27 May 2011, but was postponed to 24 June 2011 and again to 15 July 2011. It was released in 1,800 screens worldwide. A special screening of the film was held at the residence of
Shah Rukh Khan on 16 July, on the occasion of Kaif's birthday. The event was attended by several celebrities, including the film's cast and crew. The far-right political party
Shiv Sena criticised the event because it was held three days after the
2011 Mumbai bombings. The producers of the film 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. The film was released on DVD on 30 August 2011. It is available in
Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo formats with English and Arabic subtitles. The film is also available on
Blu-ray disc. Later on, the film was made available in both
Netflix and
Amazon Prime Video.
Critical reception Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara garnered widespread acclaim from critics who praised its direction, story, screenplay, music,
dark humor, cinematography and performances of the ensemble cast. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 18 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7 out of 10.
Pratim D. Gupta of
The Telegraph called
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara "a beautifully scripted journey of catharsis" and praised director Zoya Akhtar for being "fearless in the way she shoots". In his review for
Hindustan Times, Mayank Shekhar gave the film four stars praised the film as "a game-changer for Hindi films since
Dil Chahta Hai (2001), and wrote, "What you take home are memorable, amusing moments of three truly adventurous amigos we've all grown up with. And will continue to." Shivesh Kumar of
IndiaWeekly awarded the film 4 stars.
Taran Adarsh of
Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5/5, calling it a film for "a more evolved, mature and cinema-literate audience that's geared up to embrace and support newer genres of cinema".
Nikhat Kazmi of
The Times of India gave the film 3.5/5 stars and lauded its lead performances; "If Abhay is the anchor of the group, Farhan's funster role is full of beans and Hrithik's metamorphosis from uptight, money-minded stock broker to carefree vagabond is a class act". S. Chatterjee of
NDTV, gave the film 3/5 stars and said its philosophy is quite old; he praised Zoya Akhtar's direction, stating, "Zoya Akhtar, by investing the tale with a delightful lightness of touch and dollops of gentle wit, brings a degree of freshness to bear upon the plot". Shaikh Ayaz of
Rediff rated the film 3.5/5 stars and wrote that Zoya Akhtar had put together a familiar plot but the film's fresh energy is entertaining. He wrote, "Akhtar's invigorating characters pump in fresh energy into a film that could have been strictly mediocre". Kaveree Bamzai of
India Today also praised for Akhtar's direction and said, "By the time I finished watching Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara I was convinced that no one can make a romance as beautifully as a woman", giving the film 4 stars. Subhash K Jha rated
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara 3.5/5 and wrote; "Zoya, God bless her aesthetics, sucks us into the beauty of the moment, not giving us any reason to believe that life's most precious truths are swathed in squalor". Blessy Chettiar of
DNA India praised the music and Farhan Akhtar's acting as highlights of the film, saying, "For all this, the storywriters use heavy doses of symbolism. Deep-sea diving at Costa Brava, sky-diving in Sevilla and the San Fermin bull run in Pamplona, not to forget the Tomatina festival in Buñol, where Arjun finally lets go. Fears are drowned, let open in the sky and finally at the mercy of raging bulls", giving it 3 stars.
Rajeev Masand of
CNN-IBN stated, "
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara takes the light-hearted tone of a fun, all-boys road trip through Spain to give you a deep and heartfelt message on why we should live life by seizing the moment and following our hearts". He also praised the performances, highlighting them as one of the main positives of the film, but also said the film's length "sucks some fun of out of the ride" and gave a rating of 3.5 stars.
Raja Sen of
Rediff said the film "tried too hard to be cool" and gave it 1.5/5 stars. Sudhish Kamath of
The Hindu said "Zoya Akhtar's second outing as a director is way more filmi than her first about the film industry. This one only pretends to be real. It's not." Ryan Gilbey of
The Guardian was broadly positive about the film; he wrote, "It's still playing to full houses, and you can see why. Slick it may be. But tourist board employees representing the various Spanish cities flattered in the movie are not the only ones who will come out grinning", and that he found the film "stubbornly un-macho" for a buddy film.
The National reviewer Kaleem Aftab, in his 4-star review wrote; "Throwing together road trip, romcom and buddy-buddy action in a single picture may sound like an ill-conceived masala mash-up, but like any good dish, the ingredients are blended together with affection to create one of the best feel-good movies of the year".
Box office In India,
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara came in second on release behind
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. It opened well in the multiplexes; the occupancy ranged from 70 to 100 per cent, despite receiving an average opening in single-screen cinemas except in the
metro cities. The film grossed in its opening three-day weekend, and a net total of on the third day. After ten days of worldwide showings it grossed . In 17 days, it grossed over in India. With no significant competition other than
Singham,
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara remained in second place at the box office for four weeks after its release. It was one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2011 in India and internationally; it was declared a blockbuster in India and in overseas territories. Outside India,
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara grossed in three days, which made it the biggest opening for an Indian film in 2011. The film reached top-twenty lists in the US and UK. It grossed
£896,289 in UK,
US$3,103,656 in the US,
AU$387,384 in Australia and
NZ$136,380 in New Zealand. As of January 2012, the film has grossed $7.25 million overseas. The film grossed worldwide, surpassing the
worldwide gross of Roshan's
Dhoom 2 (2006) and becoming the ninth-highest worldwide grossing Bollywood film of all time as of October 2011.
Controversies After the release of
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, animal rights organisation
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) objected to the bull-running scene and sought support from fans via their Twitter page to ban the film. PETA spokesperson Poorva Joshipura spoke about the event and said, "We will now be contacting the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Central Board of Film Certification to take action". The film's producer Ritesh Sidhwani said, "We had submitted all the papers to the Animal Welfare Board India that stated that none of the animals were injured or hurt in any way and only then, the censor board cleared the movie. We are only showing the culture of Spain." 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. == Accolades ==