Monthly Archives: Apr 2020

Under that familiar bridge

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It was raining heavily that night. He was drenched from hair to toe, yet his soul was burning an unfamiliar flame. His pet dog was safe between his arm and chest.


He was atop the grand old bridge that seemed to be hanging by a thread trying to hold on to both the lands who are now drifting apart.

Dilapidated, rusted beyond repairs, it was a reminder of the man’s ambitions that were for naught. He looked below the bridge, it was a dark night indeed. The dark night couldn’t stop the thundering waves crashing on the shore and the bridge’s legs. An occasional lightning pierced the air that covers the naked ground, trying to make sense of the chaos. A distant clap follows the lightning.


He stood atop the railing of the bridge. The wind was howling in despair, desperate for the night to get over. His dog was getting agitated, he could feel the heartbeat of his master rise too. Another lightning struck, and splashed a bright purple hue on the sky and land. He saw the waves crashing, the bottomless ocean, and the end to all his problems.


His dog was getting restless, he was biting his master’s hand but to no avail. His eyes were hypnotized by the sight that lay beneath him. He could feel his insides squirming in anticipation. He was hearing the blood being pumped to his hollow brain. He looked earnestly at the dog.
The dog pleaded with his eyes to be let loose. He patted the dog on his head, and pulled the ground from the dog’s feet that was his arm. The dog let a hopeless howl as his body was getting swallowed by the vast cold darkness beneath. His final howl echoed through the bridge, was carried by the winds around the Earth before smashing on his ears. His spine felt that familiar chill, and his dazed eyes returned to a sharp focus.


A strong gust of wind caught him from behind, unaware. He lost his balance, and fell.


His fingers instinctively grabbed the one thing that separated him from this world. He clasped on a flailing piece of metal floor. He hung there, it felt like an eternity. Rain drops were poking his naked face, stinging him like needles from sky. He lifted his weight out of his grave, and dragged himself out of imminent danger. He was breathing heavily. His tears met with the rain drops and dissolved into oneness. He sat cross-legged, rested his head on his arms. He laughed. He laughed a hysterical laugh. He was trying to make sense of what happened, what he did, what he was about to do, and what he did not do.
His eyes caught a telephone booth. He was drawn towards it, and he stepped inside. He took out his case and pulled out a cigarette. He lit it with his lighter, and he noticed the signboard that was plastered on the side of the telephone booth.


“Live, don’t kill yourself. Seek 24×7 counselling. Dial this number.”


He dialed the number on the phone, and waited for a response. All he could hear was a distant echo, a reminder that the machine had been long defunct. He laughed, and took a long breath with the cigarette between his lips.


He stepped outside and relished the rain falling over him. It’s been a long time indeed.


He noticed a silhouette of a woman frantically trying to get to the railing of the bridge. That woman was tracing his steps. She looked down the bridge, was horrified, and frantically ran to the one comforting sight – the telephone booth.


She ran towards it and tried to ring the suicide prevention helpline, but was aghast when she realized that the line was dead.


He threw the lit cigarette away, and spoke softly in an audible voice, ‘Hi, need any help?’

Life is a Tamasha

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Unfulfilled dreams, facades over facades, and then someone bursts the balloon and you spiral in the air in every possible direction and then fall to the ground — exhausted, empty, and with a scar.


You all know the story of “Tamasha”. Boy grows up listening stories, then realizes that stories are not reality. So, he succumbs to mediocre and blends perfectly as an average working class man. What he does in this pursuit is suffocate his childhood, his dreams, and his own voice. For whom? For the one man he wanted to make proud – his father.


Enter the girl who sees the boy in his wildest true self, and promises never to meet again — after making out. So, years and years later, the girl meets the boy but finds a Product Manager in him instead. Girl rejects Boy’s proposal, and that was the needle which burst the boy’s balloon. How he picks himself up forms the climax.
Imtiaz Ali has done — as usual — a stupendous job out of it, so much so that people went to watch the movie because they saw his name under the “Directed by” tag. Deepika Paadukone (as Tara) is gracious, and Ranbir Kapoor (as Ved) is carrying forward the acting legacy of his ancestors.
Now, myth clearing. Some say Deepika’s role is understated. No, it’s not. The beauty of her role is that she is omnipresent. Even when not sharing screen space, she is clearly visible in the angst and frustration of Ved. And yes, Imtiaz devoted enough reel to show how Tara tried to overcome her urge to track down Ved in this wide world.


Another myth is that Ved had multiple personality disorder. I thought the same way when I saw the movie, but on closer introspection felt otherwise. How many talk to themselves in the mirror? How many go hysteric sometimes? It’s not multiple personality disorder, but the suffocated self-trying to vent its agony. Have you never had a day when you were thoroughly angry, yet had to gulp it all and present a pleasant countenance when meeting a guest, and only venting out your accumulated anger on a hapless folk who did something silly – like drop a glass of water.


Ved, in many ways, is like us. We run so blindly chasing dreams, and we don’t know what we’ll do once we catch one because the dream is not ours but someone else’s. It’s just that Ved is still in touch with his inner true self, and is trying to make peace with it. But, the inner self doesn’t want a compromise. It wants its place back — which is outside, free, at sync with the world.


The theme of Imtiaz Ali’s movies is consistent — be it Jab We Met, Highway, Rockstar, or Tamasha. Imtiaz aspires the protagonist to discover oneself, love oneself, prove oneself and rise above one’s ashes. And A.R. Rahman lends full support to capture the theme and tantalize the listener.


The movie is a eulogy to those who brutally killed their dreams and conformed to the society. Such people are dead the minute their true self dies, they are only buried when they stop breathing.


This movie is also a tribute who braved all odds, even fought themselves to be who they wanted to be. Not everyone can be a zillionaire, but if you are content for even a minute, then that life deserves you.

This movie showed me a brutal mirror. Here’s a movie which preaches what I preach and I don’t follow the preaching myself. No, I’m not waiting for my Tara to burst my balloon. I’m searching for a needle to do it myself.