Dil Chahta Hai - An Ode to Friendship

Recently, while channel surfing, I stumbled upon one of my all-time favorite Hindi movies “Dil Chahta Hai” (DCH) and while I was re-watching it for the umpteenth time, I went on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Can’t believe it’s been almost 15 years since this cult movie came out? Time really flies, doesn’t it??

Anyway, DCH is one of the most important films to come out of Bollywood and it came out at the perfect time too. The new millennium had just started and it was a time of incredible change, for me and for all of us belonging to Gen X. Full of energy, enthusiasm and millions of dreams in our eyes, fresh out of college, we were going to change the world.

The Internet had just made its advent in India and boy, was it slowww!!

Only RICH people had mobile phones, which were really huge “compass boxes” and charged Rs. 17 per minute for incoming calls. 

The “pager” was THE gadget of choice and most people who wanted to feel important carried one. 

In the future, the cellular phone technology will become cheaper and every person will own a mobile phone. The “pager” will die, leaving no trace of its existence.

The first mall in Mumbai, Crossroads, had just come up in the up-market Pedder Road/Haji Ali locality and McDonalds, KFC, Domino’s and Pizza hut had exactly 1 outlet in the financial capital of India.

Multiplexes were unheard of and hence, I and my friends watched “Dil Chahta Hai” in a regular single-screen theater.

I don’t believe 9/11 had happened yet. But it would in the next few months and thus, change the course of the history of the world.

We were the new generation – Gen X - the first generation of all these sweeping, mind-blowing changes happening in the world, the catalysts between the old world and the new world. 

And that was the time of “Dil Chahta Hai”, a movie which was made especially for us – the Gen X’ers.

The feelings and ideas we lived by can be summed up by one of the memorable quotes from the movie by Aakash (played brilliantly by Aamir Khan). On the College graduation party, he gets up on stage and says “Now, I am going to sing a song titled Naukari Paane ke Sau Tareeke (100 ways to get a job)” There is dead silence on the dance-floor and everyone starts murmuring, at which, he chuckles and says “Relax Guys, I was just joking. Who the hell cares where we land up?”

There was loud applause from the young crowd in the theatre at this dialogue and rightly so.

Our parents and the previous generation had been brought up in the era of the License Raj in India, wide-spread corruption in the job market, the horrors of the emergency still hanging low and the slow economic growth. Finding a job after graduation was a biggest apprehension for them. Talented, highly-educated students ended up working at lower end jobs as office assistants and clerks. Some never got any jobs and languished; their talents wasted.

We were the first generation for whom the jobs were already available, like a red carpet. We never had to go searching for them, they came searching for us. This was primarily because of the advancements of the IT and BPO industry in India, which provided employment and paid good money to the youth of the new millennium. We were young. Life was cool. We worked hard on the weekdays and partied harder on the weekends and danced through the night in the clubs and discos chanting our Anthem “Koi Kahe, Kehta Rahe, Kitan bhi humko Diwana”!!

Anyway, back to DCH. The directorial Debut of the genius, Farhan Akhtar (who would in the future reveal his talent as an actor, singer, music composer, song-writer et al), DCH is the story of 3 friends - Akash, Sameer and Sid, best buddies whose life changes as time passes. Interestingly, I saw the movie with two of my best buddies and although we were too young to realize it at that time, time really did move on and all of us did change in some small and big ways.

The movie is told in an extended flashback, where Sameer and Sid are in the hospital, meeting each other after a few years and they start sharing memories.

One of their earliest memory is where they spontaneously start a Water / Color fight with each other. The scene shows the incredible closeness they have as friends and we realize that they are childhood friends. Such closeness can only be between childhood or school friends, because that is the only time when friendships were formed without any motives, compulsions, biases or prejudices. We just become friends with random people and the friendship builds stronger as time passes. It is the first true form of friendship based on pure love. Just like the characters in the movie, I am sure all of us have fooled around with our childhood friends, throwing color, ink, water etc. on each other. In fact in the case of me and my friends, we even threw each other. :-D

As the movie progresses, we see the characteristics of each of the 3 friends. Akash is a practical, but happy-go-lucky, fun guy. He does not have a girlfriend and does not believe in love. He wants to live life on his own terms, without any hassles of girlfriends and such.

Sameer is the romantic but goofy guy. He falls with love with every other girl he sees and ends up in difficult and often hilarious situations.

Sid is the sensitive, brooding artist. He is a thinker and a philosopher. In one scene, he shows his paintings to his new neighbor, Tara, who observes that all of his paintings have a theme of quite introspection. “All the windows are closed. The eyes of the figure in the painting are shut. No one knows what’s behind, what is hidden inside. You stay with all the people, all your friends, but no one knows you who you really are” she says. Sid is blown away. Tara is the first person who understands him and he promptly falls in love with her. So what if she is a middle-aged divorcee.  Love is blind, they say.

Then, one fine sunny day, they get up and go to Goa. Just like that, no plans, no thought, no commitments and they have the time of their lives. They are young, they are free and they have their whole life ahead of them. They can do what they like, live how they like.

It’s just the thing that best friends do, isn't it?. There is a weird thrill, an enchantment in just getting up and going where the road might lead. “Life is what happens when you were busy making other plans”, John Lennon said and if you have your friends to share that life, those moments with, it’s the icing on the cake.

While they are in Goa, at one time, they are silently watching the faraway sea. Sid looks at a ship in a distance and starts speaking aloud about the transient nature of time and life. “Someday”, he says “We will drift apart. We meet everyday today, but in the future, we might not meet for years. Just like the ship travelling on the waves of time.” Akash interrupts him and says “Nothing is going to change. We are friends now and will always remain so.”

This scene is the most poignant and iconic scenes in the movie. It’s a scene that is the essence of DCH and is at the heart of the film. It’s a scene that reflects reality to such a huge extent that it is a stroke of pure genius.

Well, let me explain. At the time when we first watched the movie, this scene was just another one of the various interesting and nice scene to look at. I don’t think I ever got into the philosophical or metaphorical meaning of this scene, until I watched it again recently.

This time, I realized the importance of that scene. Life really is transient. As life progresses second-by-second, minute-by-minute, month-by-month and year-by-year, we meet various people. If we are lucky, some of them become our friends and hold an important place in our lives. But as time passes, we drift apart from them. Work, responsibility, ambition and commitments take the front stage and friendship slowly slips into the background. Like the ship in that scene, we move on, away from the shore, but we still stay connected, in the words of Akash "we are friends and will always be". We miss those good times spent together and cherish the memories in our hearts, like pearls in an oyster. Those times which will never come back, but remain etched in the corners of our mind and our soul. 

Even in the movie, eventually, Akash, Sameer and Sid do fall apart. Akash and Sid have a vicious fight, leaving Sameer in the midst. Akash moves to Australia. Sid goes off for his future education to becomes a painter and Sid remains in the city.

The movie now shifts focus to Akash and his life in Australia, where he meets Shalini (Priety Zinta, looking so gorgeous, she instantly became every guys dream girl). 

Salini and Akash hit off instantly and Shalini tries to change Akash’s views about love.

Another interesting scene is the one in the Sydney Opera House, where Shalini and Akash go to watch the Opera “Troilus and Cressida” (the Bollywood version :-)). In the Opera, Troilus is killed and when he goes to heaven, he asks the ‘Angel of Death’ for one last moment of life to see his lover, Cressida. At this point, Shalini asks Akash to close his eyes and think of the person for whom he would want a moment of life, even after death. It’s an overwhelming moment and Akash closes his eyes. In the next few seconds, his whole life flashes past him and finally he sees Shalini standing in the empty theater, looking enchanting and gorgeous. She is the person he will like to live for even after death. She is the person he loves and the realization hits him like a brick.

This scene is one of the most brilliant scenes ever composed in any movie, in my humble opinion. The scene is not only brilliant technically, what with the opera music playing in the background, the camera-work etc., but it also beautifully shows the true meaning of love, of family, of your wife or girlfriend or lover and the most important things in life, which are not material things, but the people you love, for whom you would like to live on, even after death.

The movie veers towards a predictable finale, where both Akash and Sameer get the girls that they fell in love with and eventually, even Sid finds a true love. The movie ends with the catchy “Dil Chahta Hai” tune and you end up feeling wonderful. Two and Half hours spent well!!

Re-watching DCH was like a trip back in time for me and that is why it continues to be one of my favorite movies, even if I have seen it so many times. I know I will watch it umpteen times more and always come back feeling good and nostalgic. Maybe as time passes, the ideas and themes of the movie will reveal new meaning to me and I will find newer ways to appreciate it.

DCH is an ode to life, love and most of all to friendship. And isn’t it really friendship in any relationship that gives real meaning to that relationship? 

The Bird and The Boy

So, Birdman won the big prize last night. And frankly, I was not expecting it. I was rooting for Boyhood and my heart sobbed when it did not win.

So I decided to do my own comparative analysis:

The Bird -

I watched Birdman with awe at the technical brilliance of its roving camera, the continuously beating drum in the back-ground like the very heart and soul of the movie, the brilliant performances by Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and my favorite, Ed Norton.

Birdman is the story of a man who was once famous and successful, but in today’s fast-paced world he is no longer “relevant” (as noted by one of the characters in the movie). He is trying to find his place and his lost glory and is trying to connect with his audience one last time, while handling other issues like insecurity about himself, his daughter and a “mad birdman” conscience continuously blabbering into his brain.

It is a brilliant premise flawlessly executed, but at the end of the day it was the story of Hollywood and of one actor trying to find his place.

Somehow, I could not relate to it. In spite of all its path-breaking brilliance, I could not connect to the Bird.

The Boy -

Boyhood on the other hand starts with that haunting Coldplay song – “Yellow”, with 6-year old Mason looking into the sky, thinking (as we know later) about how Wasps are born. In that one scene, you are instantly bonded to the movie, its premise, its story and its protagonist – Mason. Because you as a child have also done similar things.

Over the next 2.5 hours, you watch as Mason grows from that 6-year old quiet, shy boy to a young adult gone to college and on the verge of finding an identify for himself.

On the way, he has struggled with his mother’s multiple divorces, his strict step-fathers, the break-up with his girlfriend, experimenting with drugs and alcohol and finally finding his calling.

It’s a story that all of us have gone through and could easily relate to. It’s a story that is inspiring, awesome, brilliant and at the same time, commonplace.

While Mason is the focus of the movie, we also watch all the other characters grow old not just on screen, but in real life. We watch with fascination, as Mason’s real father (Ethan Hawke) grows older and matures as an individual. We watch as Patricia Arquette, Mason’s mother in the movie, grows from a single-mother with two small kids trying to make ends meet to an older lady who cries her heart out, when Mason is preparing to leave for college. 

Boyhood is a film about the sweep of time, that relentless presence in human life which is constantly changing all of us, one micro-second at a time.

The film is about the fact that nothing remains the same over the course of a life-time. People change, situations change, circumstances change and the change is always for the better.

And the final scene where Mason goes hiking in a park with his friends and they talk about how the moment seizes you, instead of you seizing the moment. That’s is the scene which stays with you far after the movie is over and the lights are turned out.

The Bird vs. the Boy

So, yes, Birdman won the Oscars, but years from now, when I grow older, I know I will be watching Boyhood for the umpteenth time.

A tribute to Kishore Kumar

A friend once said that when you are happy you listen to the music, but when you are sad you listen to the lyrics/song.

This is probably most true about Kishoreda's songs.

Recently there was a lot of buzz on my Watsapp groups around Kishore Kumar and when I checked online, I found that it was the maestro's 85^th Birthday (on 4th Aug).

Being an eternal fan of Kishorda, I got on to Youtube and played a few of my all-time favorite Kishoreda songs,

• Kuch toh log kahenge from Amar Prem
• Chingari koi bhadke from Amar Prem again (this movie has some of the best songs EVER. Each one is a gem), and
• O Saathi Re from Mukaddar ka Sikandar

And I got thinking “What is it about Kishoreda and sad songs? We keep listening to them and loose ourselves. It seems like he has never sang any other songs except sad songs.”

Being the versatile artist that he was, he has definitely sang all kinds of songs. Who can forget the perfect melody (and the yodeling) in “Mere Sapno ki Rani kab aayegi tu”, the rain-drenched romanticism of “Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhagi si”, the hilariously funny and absolutely crazy “Ek Chatur Naar” and that old party/picnic favorite “Dekha na hai re socha na”.

But beyond all those romantic songs, the funny songs and the crazy songs, it is Kishoreda’s sad songs that have made an immense impact on me and on a lot of other fans.

In fact, some of his romantic songs sound hauntingly sad. Take for example, “Hame tumse pyaar kitna”, “Chukar mere mann ko” or my favourite “Phir wohi raat hai”. These songs touch some chord deep on the heart and although, these are romantic songs and pictured as such, they feel sad and longing.

It is some kind of a deep hurting poignancy that his voice brings to these songs and that elevates the song to a whole new level.

Listening to Kishoreda's songs makes you realize the true value of love, even if you have not lost it. These songs sometimes are about the unfairness of life and the helplessness of man in the face of circumstances. But I think THAT, exactly, is what gives us the strength to carry on too. As one song goes “Hum kyon shikwa kare jhootha, kya hua jo dil toota” or other one “Ek raah Ruk gayi, toh aur jud gayi, main muda to saath-saath raah mud gayi”.

Kishoreda lives on in our lives, minds and senses through his music. And why we can’t forget him is as much because of his versatility and genius as because, maybe, like all of us (lesser mortals) he was probably a very sad man.

Within all the despair, all the sorrow and all the heart-break, life is still wonderful. Just like Kishordas songs.

Thank you Kishoreda for the music. I know you are yodeling away into a dense forest somewhere in the minds of fans.

Oldboy

Before I watched Oldboy, I had read rave reviews on the internet. I knew that this path-breaking Korean movie enjoyed a cult status and there was no self-respecting movie aficionado who will pass this movie unnoticed.

The story of a regular guy imprisoned for 15 years for no reason at all and his saga of bloody revenge when he gets out of incarceration was just too mind-blowing and attractive to miss. Previous revenge movies immortalized by Quentin Tarantino still hold a special place in my personal movie hall of fame and I wanted to badly watch Oldboy.

So it was with great anticipation and eagerness that I at last started watching it on a weekday night.

When the 1.5 hours long movie finally got over, I instantly disliked it. Except for its gory violence and stylized cinematography, I did not find anything worth appreciating. In fact, I was appalled, shocked and surprised by the climax’s mind-bendingly twisted surprise.

Disliked is a mild word though, I actually loathed the film in first viewing. It was like watching some snuff movie which I could not imagine, understand and/or accept (except, of course, its not a snuff movie at all.)

This was my first reaction to this movie.

Over the next week or so, I constantly thought about Oldboy. It was like a bad song that you just can’t get out of your mind. And the more I thought about it, the more it dawned upon me why the movie has earned its cult status.

I realized that Oldboy is much more than mindless action and horrific violence brilliantly picturised. Behind the crazy violence of the anguished, tormented hero lay a deep story of insurmountable sadness, guilt and a need to redeem what was lost. This sadness, this grief is actually the essence of the film. The true reason of the violence and the reason why the characters behave the way they do.

The director has bravely taken a bizarre event that I could never imagine and converted it into something brilliant. So although the audience (like me) is not prepared for the gruesome reality, they will ultimately see that in case of an event of this magnitude happening in anyones life, the person will behave as irrationally as the characters in the movie did. The movie manages to shake the minds, hearts and the very thoughts of the viewers and that is the triumph of the movie.

Oldboy is a twisted movie by all accounts, but it is twisted because you as a viewer are not able to accept the directors vision and keep searching for an alternate answer. Unfortunately, this movies does not provide any and that makes its anguishing and brilliant at the same time.

And I am a convert and a part of the Oldboy cult.