Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai

The blogosphere is rife with reviews, views and opinions on Jane Tu Ya Jane Na.. This piece may have undertones of a review but is not one. I loved the movie and it did make me very nostalgic about my college days. For those who haven't seen the movie as yet and won't be mad at me for throwing the suspense away (there isn't one by the way, the end is very predictable.. you can guess that from its box office success) the movie is about Aditi and Jai who are the best of chums in college, very much in love but also very much in denial. They are a gang of very everyday people like you and I. I could relate to the movie because the people in it and the circumstances they find themselves in are very real.. the kinds you actually experience in college. Which is what that weakened my defences against it despite a less than perfect start (read a song and dance sequence in college premises.. i can't recall doing that). For instance, there are mismatched equations - remember how we made the closest of our friends being their sounding boards when they fell in love with someone who was in love with someone else (didn't they always manage to find someone like that?). Then there is finding of true love on the rebound, people living in make-believe fairy tale romances not having the courage of facing the truth of their situation. And remember how there is always one such girl in the class who is in a relationship with a double-standard-male-chauvinist-control-freak much older than she is? Well there's that too. And then the backbone of the story - Jai and Aditi.The chemistry between Jai and Aditi is so obvious that the whole world can see it but they. So they move into relationships with different persons. And eventually they realize that they are made for each other and before an irreparable damage could happen (like marriage of either, or the last-minute-airport-scene going kaput) they make a stitch, just in time.

It made me think of all the Jais and Aditis back in college. Of some who were in love but never realized and are now with different people. Of the Aditis who ended up marrying the double-standard-male-chauvinist-control-freak. Of the Jais who couldn't profess their love in time. Of the Meghnas and Jais who still continue to remain in their make-believe fairy tale romance not having the courage to face the truth of their situation. Of the Aditis who flew to the U.S before the Jais could do the last-minute-airport-sequence. In fact, it was simpler for Aditi to snap out of her relationship with her control freak fiance because he was a mean guy. What about those Aditis who committed themselves to nice guys and even married them before they realized that they were in love with their Jais? They'd probably live the rest of their lives in denial. Should they have the courage to be honest about it and act upon it, the society will stigmatize them as "bad women".

But the movie has hope in it. That when your intentions are real the Grand Will acts to make happen what you in your heart of hearts really want, preempting an irreparable damage. So maybe there is more than meets the eye in case of all the Jais and Aditis and Meghnas that I've talked about. Or maybe, just maybe, picture abhi baaki hai...

13 comments:

Karthik said...

Forgive me for my stupidity.I just have lost it.Do i use my left part of the brain or the right brain to understand the mashup of Hindi cinematic love and reality? For stupid people like me i better wait for the "picture"(yours and the movie).

Prashant Singh said...

Nice Post .Enjoyed reading it. I saw the movie today after reading your review.It was a good one .

I agree with most of your analysis here expect the last paragraph about Hope . I guess real life hardly goes this way . Dash of hope was there because Hope, Police and Group Photo are permanent fixture of hindi film climax .

but i am surprised that you didn't mentioned about one scene in movie which reminded me of Chit Chatni . Guess which one ?( Hint : its in First 5 Minutes .)
keep writing :)

Karthik said...

OK got here before you :P.I am no longer stupid.Enjoyed it."Intelligently made".Hasde hasde hasde hasde hasde hasde hasde tu jara nahi toh bas toda toda toda toda toda toda toda musukura.:D

the who said...

@ Karthik -
good you got here before i could! you saved me a lot of words! and the next time you're caught between the war of "the left" and "the right" try being politically correct!!
oh..and you owe me one for that song, donchya?? :)

@ Prashant -
Well, who knows what is to happen many years down the line? Maybe when we are saying goodbye to the world and we look back we'll find our lives to have been full of surprises. So maybe what looks like a tragedy today will look like joy or divine intervention tomorrow.. dunno if that'll happen with me and the Jais and the Aditis, but i'd like to wait it out before i form an opinion on life and its ways... wait and watch all the stories unravel till i breathe out my last..
And yeah..i know what you're hinting at! you know,i had guessed the whole scene was about a pet having passed away even before they showed the pic of the deceased.. only that i thought it'd be a dog.. :-)

Karthik said...

@};-The Who
Haha i do owe you!I am opting for the lifetime installment plan!But please give me a reasonable APR.

Rajiv said...

Was thinking the same after watching the movie. I guess what makes this movie watchable is that it not real life. :)

the who said...

@ Rajiv - Sorry for the late reply. Bad blogging habits! Well, yes, agree with you to a certain extent. Most movies are watchable because they do have elements of real life that you can identify with and then a dash of that extra-something (could be tasteful glorification or intelligent exaggeration) that sucks you into the story so much so that for those 2-2.5 hrs you are living someone else's pleasures and pains and forget your own. Although , i'd like to mention again here that my intent was not to review the movie (am bad at that. end up liking all the movies people boo at!). The movie only acted as an initiator to spark some already present but dormant questions in my mind.

Rajiv said...

same here. i was also thinking about the relationships in my college days. when a movie does that, its worth it i guess. :)

the who said...

Yeah :)

the who said...

@ Karthik - haha..you're incorrigible! :P

Anish Basu Roy said...

even the most realistic potrayal of college life cannot be a true essay on life..coz college life ain't real.I guess i would want to watch a sequel to Jaane tu..that wud be real.
btw never knew ur skills with the pen had evolved so much.

the who said...

@ Anish - yeah... a sequel to jaane tu would be something to watch out for..
And thank you for the appreciation.. guess more than my skills with the pen it's the graying of my hair that reflects on what i write ;)

Prashant Singh said...

@anish : Agree with you on the need of a sequel to such movies . in contemporary cinema " Baccna e Hasseno " and "Rock On" has attempted to do it to some extent but each one of them emphasis on one and only one aspect .
"Rock On" portrayed the life where folks are still trying to come to terms with life where they can't follow their passion and
"Bachan ..."
documents the soul searching and earn redemption trip to India of a NRI playboy [they handled the subject badly and botched the movie]
no one actually gives a holistic view where one can identify him/her fully .
but hey !! Movies were invented to help us escape isn't it ?