Movie Reading: Jab Tak Hain Jaan & Why I love this movie?

After watching this movie, most of my friends’ responses have ranged from calling it ‘waste of time and money’ to ‘utterly ridiculous and unrealistic’ story. You know, that “aisa bhi hota he kya?” syndrome. Yes, it may be unrealistic, but so are movies like Inception, HP series and our own koi mil gaya and sallu bhai’s numerous movies. Aren’t they unrealistic? Still the same people love them. So, first of all, let’s throw the need (rather want) of ‘reality in a movie’ out of the window. Then comes inter alia screenplay, actors and their performances, music, dialogues and so on. And Jab Tak Hain Jaan scores high on all these. It does go overboard in one or two scenes, but well, exceptions are everywhere.

This is not a movie to be watched for intellectual satisfaction and I like the movie for its wonderful locations, beautiful people, melange of emotions shown and the complexity of love, how much unreal the story may be. Without further ado, let’s read the movie now.

I don’t know how much thought and time is given while deciding on names of characters in a movie, but I have not found such fitting naming of lead characters as in JTHJ. SRK’s name Samar means war in hindi, signifying the war that he fights with God every day to either make god take his life or give back his love. Katrina’s name Meera, as indian readers would be aware, is known for her sacrifices for love of Krishna, the god. And Anushka aka Akira, is a Japanese name meaning ‘bright’, ‘intelligent’, ‘cheerful. That’s what Anushka’s character is all about.

Central theme of the movie is waiting for one’s love to come to him/her, as in Veer Zaara (also by Yash chopra). It tries to make the point that time has to bow in front of true, selfless love. You just have to hang in there and wait for the right time. 

“Har ishq ka ek waqt hotaa hain, wo hamara waqt nahi tha, iska ye matlab nahi ki wo ishq nahi tha”

And

“Pyaar ke saamne toh rab bhi jhuk jata hai, ye toh waqt tha, isey to badalna hi tha”

Katrina’s character Meera is one who keeps bargaining with god. She promises to leave things like chocolate, cigarette etc. if some of her wishes gets true. That seemed hard to digest for many people. But if that is unrealistic, what do we call our Mannats. Don’t we also bargain with god, promising to walk some miles, or donating some money in temple if we get something which we want badly? It was overdone a bit but she believed in it. That belief shows when she starts the bargain on the road itself on Samar’s first accident.

Anushka (Akira) is a winner. Unafraid, realistic, ambitious. Can do anything to get what she wants. Someone who has never lost in life, never failed. And life fails her by making her falltotally, completely, madly in love with a guy who loves someone else.

"Main hameshaa se hi topper rahi hoon, studies, sports, national level swimmer hoon."

"Mujhse rejection sehen nhi hota, koi mujhe chhode iske pehle me hi use chodd deti hoon."

It is difficult for us as well to tolerate rejection. These little things make her character most realistic. We generally like to see things as good or bad, white or black. Not thinking about numerous shades of grey. Right? That makes Akira uncomfortable as well, when she says to Samar:

"Itne complicated kyo ho yaar tum? Na toh koi tumse khul ke nafrat kar sakta hain, aur na hi pyaar"

Another key message the movie gives is having a passion, or fitoor for something in your life, holding onto it and doing anything to achieve it. Samar’s fitoor was Meera, for whom he fights with god every day. Akira’s fitoor was to make documentary on Samar to get the job and she did everything to do that, be it convincing her boss, or being alone girl staying with army men for 2 weeks. There is a nice dialogue when, after replacing her camera, Samar says to her:

“Jab kisi chiz ka fitoor ho aur wo nahi milti, toh banda life bhar uske piche paagal ho jata hain. Ek paagal tumhare saamne hain aur dusre paagal ki yaha jagah nahi hain.”

Such words.

I can go on and on, about the proposal scenes, or when Samar and Akira say goodbye and more. But would stop here. In short, I loved the movie and every time I watch it again, I watch it for the scenes, background music, and performances. And for dialogues? Of course.

Finishing with some meaningful and my favourite ones:

"Jo Dil Jeet te hain, wo kabhi Haarte Nahin."
 "Yaaddasht bhi kitni ajeeb chiz hoti hain, kisi chiz ko puri jindagi bhulne ki koshish karo, wo bhulti nahi. Kabhi ek choti si chiz yaad karne ki koshish karo toh yaad nahi aati."

Movie Reading : The Notebook

Was it a Hollywood movie? Throughout the movie, I could relate with multiple Bollywood movies. For instance, Young romance (Qayamat se Qayamat Tak), waiting for love to come back (JTHJ), poor guy-rich girl-family against marriage (Raja Hindustani), and the old couple-guy-telling the story (U me aur hum). And finally a happy ending (almost all our movies).

Most vital scene is when Allie wants to go back and cannot decide whether she should marry Noah (her first love) or Lon (her fiancé). And Noah says

"Will you stop thinking about what everyone wants?! Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want? What do YOU want?"

Sometimes you need to just care for yourself and follow what your heart says. Keeping everyone happy is not possible. Those who really value you, will understand and be with you always. It may look selfish at that point of time, but in longer term, you will appreciate that it was the best thing to do.

People fall into love, break up, time goes by, someone else comes and they seem to fall in love again. But the person with whom life should be spent is one with whom one can be totally himself/herself.  

Allie:

"I love you too. It's just that when I'm with Noah I feel like one person and when I'm with you I feel like someone totally different."

The way Allie felt with Noah happens to be her real self, who loves to paint, who doesn't care about money, who wants to laugh and have fun. Her real self comes out in every scene with Noah, especially the one in which they lie on the road and watch the lights.

The movie also shows that all differences fade when you are just crazy about each other. It's not necessary that love happens only between people who are similar, who like similar things.

"They didn't agree on much. In fact, they rarely agreed on anything. They fought all the time, and they challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other."

That craziness was the reason perhaps why Noah could not forget Allie. He re-built the house to keep his promise made to her, thinking that will make her come back to him. That craziness was well, love.

Some other nice dialogues:

"It was an improbable romance. He was a country boy, she was from the city. She had the world at her feet while he didn't have two dimes to rub together."

"When I see something I like, I gotta have it... I love it. I go crazy for it."

Movie Reading : Haider

The difficulty with a period film, also set up in a particular location like Kashmir is that you cannot easily connect with what the characters are trying to portray. Haider falls into such category. Central theme of the movie is revenge which is common in a number of Vishal Bhardwaj’s movies (7 Khoon Maaf, Kaminey, Omkara etc). Even then, this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat with sterling performances by Shahid, KK and Tabu.

Full storyline gets summarized in the Bismil song, where the idea is directly being picked up from Ek haseena thi song of Karz. (Difference being use of puppets instead of real actors). Haider is also a movie which shows intense emotions and how can the want of revenge destroy oneself and others around.

The best scene is Haider’s short speech to a crowd at Laal Chowk, very well depicting the condition of Kashmiris and their disappeared relatives at that point of time. He explains AFSPA and calls it chutzpah “besharam gustakh”, also uttering the controversial dialogues about India and Pakistan.

Hum hain ki hum nahi, hum hain to kaha hain aur nahi he toh kaha gaye. Hum hain toh kisliye aur kaha gaye toh kab. Janaab, Hum the bhi ki the hi nahi. Chutzpah ho gaya hamare saath.

Haider’s father, a doctor who saves lives, shows how going through bad experiences can change your inner character. When asked if he is on militants or army’s side, he says

“Main zindagi ki taraf hu”

and later on he himself wants Haider to kill his brother in a highly gruesome manner.

Haider, mera inteqaam lena mere bhai se... uski un dono aakh mei gooliyaan daagna, jin aakho se usne tumhari maa par fareb daale the.

Some dialogues are repeated more than once such as

“Mere nazriye se bhi dekho”.

How often we impose our perception on others and do not try to understand them. On a sidenote, there won’t be any conflicts in people’s lives if they could see other person’s viewpoint.

And

“Inteqam se inteqam hi milta hain, azaadi nahi”

aptly confirms to “eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind”

And finally, a very special performance by Irrfan Khan, daring entry with loud backgrouund music and the gravedigger's song "Aao Na". Unforgettable.

You will like the movie if you appreciate superlative performances and beautiful scenery of Kashmir valley. Even if you don’t like it, at least you will learn to use the word “chutzpah” :)

A very pertinent dialogue in the end:

“Jab do hathi ladte hain, toh ghaas hi kuchli jaati hain”.

Movie Reading : Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya

So I started watching this movie on impulse at 1:00AM. And unexpectedly, it was an enjoyable, not a boring watch for 2 hours. It’s a simple movie, shot in Delhi and Panjab (not in exotic locations as that of DDLJ and stuff), it doesn’t have superstar cast, and it is not complex like Jab tak hain Jaan (though I love JTHJ, more on that sometime later).

Best scene of the movie is the very convincing monologue by Humpty to Kavya’s father. He accepts that he is way less than Angad (Kavya’s fiancé) in every aspect. Angad is rich, highly educated, body builder, does not drink, a kind of guy who every father wants her daughter to get married to. He admits that Angad is a big tree and he is a plant, chota sa, phuddu sa. He has many imperfections, but one thing he guarantees is that he will immensely love Kavya.

“Bandey perfect nahi hote, rishtey perfect hote hain."

No one is perfect in this world, rather than accepting the fact, isn’t it that people try to change themselves? Become a better person, but don’t change yourself for someone. During one scene, when Angad doesn’t come for jogging and Humpty comes, Alia’s father says Angad does not come for showing off. Humpty says he comes for Kavya, not for showing off. When he is asked why doesn’t he leave smoking, he says he can learn the good qualities of Angad bur cannot change himself.

“Kavya ke liye main better insaan ban sakta hun, lekin badal nahi sakta.”

The movie also talks about our inability to control the results of our actions. In one dialogue the grandmother says

"Aaj kal rab ka apne bando pe control nahi raha, tu kisi ki kismat kya control karega."

 We don’t want to leave control of our life but do not understand that consequences of what we do are out of control from us.

Kavya’s character is that of a modern girl, who does small frauds, drinks a lot, (“Tu bottle sunghta rahega, aur meri khatam bhi ho jayegi”) But she is good at heart. When she and humpty cheat a woman for money and she gets her marriage jewellery, she return is with a sorry. She is practical. Even though she falls in love with Humpty, she is ready for arrange marriage. And she would have even married Angad if Humpty would not have come to Ambala.

Finally, it’s a story of true friendship as well. Humpty, poplu and shonty are like best friends who get beaten by goons for their friend and are always with him. They do not judge each other’s choices, even if they are inappropriate. I mean which friends will give you money for buying a 5 lac lehenga for a girl who is not even your girlfriend.

In the end, some nice dialogues:

“Friend request bheju to despo, nahi bheju to attitude. Bhai, bhola ladka kare to kya kare.”
“Peene ke baad insaan out of control ho jata hai, dimaag ke badle dil se sochne lagta hai. I like to be in control.”
“Kuch rishton ki umar hi choti hoti hai.”
“100% original fake hain ji."