Yes. I talk to my blog at times. It has been a good listener and this quality of (it?) has lent great balance to our relationship because, as my more animate friends would testify, I love to talk a lot. In the last month and more of ‘blog’livion, I have made acquaintance with several hitherto little known (to me, at least) forms of what we like to call ‘Love’.
Fortunately or unfortunately, all of them have come from vicariously living through the experiences of characters on screen, and not out of personal experience. So, the last three movies I saw, namely ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, ‘Her’ and now ‘Highway’, talk of love. Uplifting, passionate, head in the clouds kind of love. Of feelings that are cheerful, heady and gut wrenching at the same time.
I feel proud when I see that a significant set of people involved in the art of movie-making have started to think beyond the realms of puppy love. Well, it is still a sort of puppy love, what they create in their films, but not between your regular twenty-odd year olds. Dedh Ishqiya tells the tale of a 60-something goon with the heart of a poet falling for a much younger (and much troubled) beauty. Then there is ‘Her’ which, in a rather soul-crushing manner, tells you of a man who is in a relationship with his sentient OS (who, by the way, has the plus of having Scarlett Johansson’s perfectly sensual voice!). And on an extremely different tangent, we have perky, innocent Alia (with a lot of Daddy issues, strictly in the movie) finding her mate in her kidnapper, in ‘Highway’.
If there is one common thread in all these, it is the connection that two souls feel. They say, opposites attract. And it is true, a lot of times. Yet, there are times when all it takes to press the button of your heart is someone who has been through similar experiences, talks about the same things; has the same amount of wonder, and the same amount of disdain. Alia and her kidnapper find their kinship in their desire for freedom from the invisible cage of society. In ‘Her’, an artificially intelligent OS, which is programmed to be a good companion, does not choose to be the owner’s opposite but becomes very much like him. Naseer and Madhuri also enjoy their fleeting moments of romance over their shared interest for art - poetry and dance - which are much the same in essence.
That, perhaps, has been much intense for the beginning of the weekend. Hoping to see more such lovely work from India and abroad, here I am. Clink. Clink. Clink. Raising a toast to the movies.
Look up I did, and beheld the tree above.
To a homeless bird it lent its cosy bark,
Rests its head in the dawn's quiet, but Hark!,
Do ye not hear the Lord's song of Love?
