If I try to capture all the thoughts it provoked, I will probably get tired and stop mid way, considering that it's a three hours plus movie! More importantly, the thoughts are so linked with each other, that I will probably get lost if I try to untangle them. So I will keep aside several interesting lines of thought for now - the loneliness of friendless hearts; the comfort of money in tough times; the sheer siliness of people who get into something without thinking it through; the instinctive intelligence of elders - and focus on the most obvious aspect - the characters and motivations of the leads, SRK and Rani, who are unfaithful to their spouses.
No act has one single emotion behind it. Not even two, I would argue. Multiple is usually the case. But one or two of those emotions are usually the trigger or the driver of the act. Amongst the rabble of emotions that SRK and Rani feel (or rather, appear to feel), which of those really drive them?
In softer moments, I would say - romance and a bit of madness (for our poets have taught us that they go together). They are stuck in marriages that they dont want, their relationships are degenerating by the day...they meet, they connect, they fall in love, they go through pain. One accepts that what they did was wrong, but somehow inevitable as well. And who can resist the lure of true love. These thoughts are picked up well by the movie itself, that crafts a sufiana feel to their romance, amidst a New York that encourages it.
Thankfully, the movie has its harsher moments, as do I. Its not important to look at the "what" to understand something, but instead ask the "why". Why are they in marriages where there wasn't love to start with? Why are they getting bitter and angry with their spouses (who, by the way, actually love them)? Why don't they recognise the connection at the start itself and deal with it? Why do they pretend as if the other needs them instead of admitting that they need the other? Why dont they stop when they feel they are doing something wrong? Why are they always upset and dissatisfied - when they were married, when they were having an affair, when they got divorced? There are plenty of more "whys" but the answer's pretty clear - weakness. No, I would not count stupidity or selfishness or roving eyes as the prime emotion. It all boils down to the way you deal with situations in your life, and if you respond weakly, you just wreak havoc, in your and everyone else's lives.
These characters seemed to have done just that - responded weakly to conflict ior pain ridden situations that really required frankness and self awareness and communication and decision. When they got married, when they went through a disaster, when the spouse grew distant, when they started a secret relationship...basically, all through.
In this weakness, I believe, lies the root of all other evils that afflicts them helplessly. For they are helpless as they watch their inner weakness drive them to be untrue, to be cruel, to be self absorbed. And unless they are highly unintelligent, they will watch, sooner or later. This destruction of self must be as obvious to them as it is to any other rational person. And this self image is the price they pay for the lack of strength, the lack of courage.
And this is where I find my stand somewhere between the soft and the harsh. I dont feel for the emptiness in their lives that drove them outside commitment; neither do I look down upon them for the selfishness and cruelty they display. I just feel compassion and sadness for this price they pay - the blow to the most precious of commodities, self respect.
And yes, who can really avoid falling in love? To me, thats the biggest change this symbolises in me...from the black & white approach I used to have earlier, I am now in that grey zone. The heart wants what the heart wants. No force on earth can fight it.
No comments:
Post a Comment