Fifteen years after its release, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is still described, in almost every recap and clip compilation, as the Bollywood film where three actors “ran with the bulls” in Pamplona. That framing is close enough for a trailer, but it is not what a production record shows. Contemporaneous reporting from the 2010 shoot, corroborated independently by two separate news wires at the time, describes the animals used for the film’s climactic scene as specially trained and handler controlled, brought in specifically so they would not “go rogue” around three of Bollywood’s most recognizable leading men. That is a meaningfully different thing than the unmanaged, unpredictable herd that runs loose through Pamplona’s streets every July.
The gap matters because this one scene did more to shape how Indians picture the Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Pamplona bull run than anything else connected to the festival. It sent tens of thousands of new visitors toward Spain, built a tourism partnership between two governments, and turned a nine day Navarrese religious festival into shorthand for a Bollywood bucket list moment. Understanding what was actually filmed, and what wasn’t, is the difference between appreciating a well made movie scene and mistaking it for documentary footage of the real encierro.
This account draws on Wikipedia’s sourced production history (itself traced back to contemporaneous Indian trade press), two independent 2010 wire reports on the Spain shoot, and the perspective of a site written and reviewed by people who have actually run the route the film was shot on.
What Was Actually Filmed in Pamplona
Principal photography for Zoya Akhtar’s film ran from June to December 2010 across the United Kingdom, Egypt, Mumbai, and multiple locations in Spain, including Barcelona, Buñol, Andalusia, and Pamplona. The Pamplona sequence, the film’s climax, was shot on location in the city in July 2010, with Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, and Abhay Deol dressed in the traditional red and white worn during Sanfermines.
Two separate news wires covering the shoot at the time, one syndicated through India TV and credited to PTI, the other through The Siasat Daily and credited to agency copy, both trace back to an original Mumbai Mid Day report and both include the same production detail: the bulls used in the actors’ scenes had trainers working with them so the animals would not “go rogue.” That single line is the whole story. It confirms real animals were used, on location, in Pamplona, which is more than some productions manage. It also confirms those animals were not the live, unmanaged herd of the actual encierro, which by design has no trainers and no handlers once the rocket signals the run has started.
The production also brought in a dedicated stunt coordinator, Miguel Pedregosa, along with several credited Spanish stunt performers and doubles, standard practice for a sequence built around three lead actors and fast moving animals. Cinematographer Carlos Catalan, who had worked with Zoya Akhtar on her earlier film Luck by Chance, deliberately kept the cast visibly tanned through the Spain shoot. He said later he did not want the film “glossed over” and wanted the Spain sequences to look lived in rather than like a tourism advertisement, a small detail that says a lot about how carefully the film’s realism was constructed rather than simply captured.
Why the Scene Is in the Film at All
The bull run isn’t an isolated set piece. In the film’s structure, the three lifelong friends, Arjun, Kabir, and Imran, each pick one activity meant to confront a personal fear, and the group commits to completing all three together: deep sea diving off the Costa Brava, skydiving in Seville, and the Pamplona bull run, which is Imran’s choice. It also becomes the backdrop for the story’s other major subplot: Kabir’s confession that he never actually meant to propose to his fiancée, and his decision, made mid scene, to be honest with her rather than go through with a wedding he doesn’t want. The emotional climax and the physical one land in the same few minutes of screen time.
Indian film critics noticed the same layering at the time. Reviewing the film for DNA India on release, Blessy Chettiar wrote that the three set pieces double as symbolism, describing how “fears are drowned, let open in the sky and finally at the mercy of raging bulls,” with the Pamplona sequence positioned as the moment the character finally lets go completely. That critical reading is a large part of why the sequence has stayed so memorable fifteen years later, independent of how it was actually shot: it isn’t just an adventure travel highlight reel, it’s the scene the film built its entire emotional arc toward closing on.
The PETA Backlash the Scene Triggered
The bull running scene did not pass without controversy. After the film’s release, the animal rights organization PETA publicly objected to the sequence and campaigned on social media for the film to be pulled, with a PETA spokesperson stating the organization intended to contact India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification. Producer Ritesh Sidhwani responded that the production had submitted documentation to the Animal Welfare Board of India confirming no animals were injured during filming, and described the scene as a depiction of Spanish culture rather than an endorsement of it. Spanish American entertainer Charo also wrote to Zoya Akhtar on PETA’s behalf, asking that the bull running material be cut.
The film was released unedited, and the studio’s animal welfare paperwork was never publicly disputed. What makes the episode worth including here isn’t who was right. It’s that the objection came from an adversarial source with every incentive to minimize the film’s claims, not from the studio’s own marketing, and PETA’s complaint was about the presence and treatment of real bulls on camera, not a suspicion that the footage was faked. That is independent, if unintentional, confirmation that the scene involved genuine animals on a real Pamplona street, filmed under the handler controlled conditions described above rather than through a digital composite. The same tension between spectacle and animal welfare that PETA raised about a two minute film scene is, unsurprisingly, the same tension that follows the actual encierro every July, on a very different scale and without a stunt coordinator involved.
The Tourism Numbers Behind the “Bollywood Effect”
Within roughly a year of the film’s 2011 release, the number of Indian visitors to Spain nearly doubled, commonly reported at around 60,000 arrivals in 2012, a figure that climbed to approximately 85,000 by 2015. Industry reporting at the time described the jump as more than a 65 percent increase in Indian tourism to Spain in the years immediately following release. Turespaña, Spain’s national tourism promotion agency, worked with the production during filming, suggesting locations, assisting with permits, and negotiating hotel and transport arrangements, though it did not directly finance the movie. India’s then ambassador to Spain, Vikram Misri, credited the film with making Spain a household name for Indian travelers.
The two countries signed a film co-production agreement the following year, and Lonely Planet published a Spain travel guide aimed specifically at the Indian market in 2013. The effect was significant enough that it has since been studied in academic film tourism literature examining how a single production reshaped middle class Indian travelers’ image of Spain as an adventure destination rather than a purely historic or romantic one. Encierro’s own overview of bull running in film and pop culture covers this “Bollywood effect” in more depth. The short version here is that a two minute scene, shot with trained animals under a stunt coordinator’s supervision, is directly responsible for a measurable, sustained shift in who shows up in Pamplona every July, and in how the Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Pamplona bull run scene specifically gets referenced by Indian visitors long before they see the real thing.
Is a Sequel Actually Coming?
Talk of a sequel has followed Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara since almost immediately after release, and most of it has gone nowhere. Zoya Akhtar floated the idea in 2011, then said within months there were no active plans. Hrithik Roshan suggested in a later interview the story could pick up five or six years on. Akhtar expressed renewed interest in 2013, after finishing her next film, and by 2019 she said she considered other projects, not ZNMD, her strongest sequel candidates.
As of 2026, that has changed, though not officially. Indian trade press, originating with a Mid Day report and picked up by multiple outlets, describes Akhtar as having locked a first draft of a sequel that follows Arjun, Kabir, and Imran into their forties, dealing with changed friendships and unfinished ambitions rather than repeating the original’s road trip structure. One trade source is quoted saying the sequel “would only happen if it had something new to say.” None of this is a studio announcement. There is no confirmed cast attachment and no production start date, and Akhtar is currently finishing work on an unrelated production, Dahaad 2, before any sequel shoot could begin. Readers should treat this as a live, developing story rather than a settled fact, and the safest current answer is that a sequel is in early development, not in production.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the bull run in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara real?
Real animals were used and filmed on location in Pamplona in July 2010, but contemporaneous production reports confirm the bulls were specially trained and worked with handlers so they would not behave unpredictably around the actors. That is different from the live, unmanaged herd that runs during the actual San Fermin festival, where no handlers are present once the run begins.
Did Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara increase tourism to Spain?
Yes. Indian visitor numbers to Spain nearly doubled within about a year of the film’s 2011 release, reaching roughly 60,000 arrivals in 2012 and climbing to approximately 85,000 by 2015, according to figures widely reported at the time and credited in part to Turespana’s collaboration with the production.
Is there a Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara 2?
Not officially, as of 2026. Indian trade press reports that director Zoya Akhtar has completed a first draft of a sequel script, but there has been no studio confirmation, no confirmed cast, and no announced production start date.
Where was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara filmed?
The film shot across the United Kingdom, Egypt, Mumbai, and multiple locations in Spain, including Barcelona, Bunol, Andalusia, and Pamplona, where the climactic bull running sequence was filmed on location in July 2010.
Every article on the Encierro blog is authored or reviewed by active bull runners with direct experience in Pamplona.