There is something about
beautiful art in any medium, which is deep, profound, thoughtful even
entertaining that has the power to make you pause and think. I loved the movie “Gully
Boy” for several reasons. It was laudable direction with sterling performances,
it was honest and realistic yet optimistic, but most importantly because it
told me, “Apna time aayega”. Everyone
wants a little more from life, or so I guess. So when another rejection was on
my way, Ranveer Singh’s rap anthem was my resurrection. Rejections are part of
life and I don’t feel diminutive writing about it because I still have hope and
yeah I still have self belief!
Out of this self belief I am
writing another time. There is a scene in Gully Boy which remains etched in my
memory for its soul stirring poignancy. Ranveer Singh is in the local train
when his eyes fell on the unknown faces of his co-passengers boarded not just
on the train but in this lifetime. His thoughts are transfixed on those faces that
have no clue of where they are heading, what they are looking for or what
aspirations remain buried inside. They are so lost in their quotidian existence,
to have no recollection of where they started and where they want to end. And while it’s not about belittling anyone’s
life, nothing can be sadder and scarier than this sort of muted living.
It is never about big dreams or
huge ambitions or vast fortunes, it’s always about what you want from your life
and for your life. It is inevitably about self relevance. I had similar
thoughts that I wrote long ago in my post “So what’s your Excitement Quotient” https://existence-explored.blogspot.com/2016/04/so-whats-your-eq-excitement-quotient.html when I saw the
same lacklustreness in the eyes and faces of the people on the road. It troubled
my spirit that day and the scene in the movie stirred me now.
Then I saw another very engrossing
cinematic production, “Made in Heaven” an Amazon prime series. A very real
slice of life but in a completely different context. Here lives have lustre, in
fact an overdose of it. Yet that lustre, that fakeness peels off in bits every
night from people’s faces. The glamour of designer clothes, the dazzle of wine
and soirees, the elitist confidence and the power of wealth, all come together to
create the most fascinating life. People in these echelons exactly know what
they want from life, and yet when they reach there they want to throw it away
or throw up at their own pretentiousness. It’s stark and dark reality, not just
portrayal of artistic and fancy melodrama on screen.
In between these two worlds, one
of morose mundanity and the other of ripe razzmatazz, there live a billion or
more people trying to find their relevant footing in this world. People like
you and me, who haven’t quite reached their desired shores, but are swaying
over gentle waves of aspirations while guddling breathlessly underwater with responsibilities. But then some take the next step. People who are exiting their
comfort zones, giving up plump corporate jobs and the convenience of New York’s
neighbourhoods, because they do not simply want to live just because they still
breathe.
The need for self relevance, self
satisfaction gets much more compelling than the risk of failures or the risk of
chasing borrowed dreams. This need is so keenly captured in certain frames of
Gully Boy and the climax of Made in Heaven where the low down Tara (the female
lead) painstakingly and unscrupulously becomes upper crust, but breaks down at
the hollowness she build around her in the process and eventually runs away
from it. We see our own reflections and shadows through others or in others
which makes our own picture clearer.
The crackling catch phrase “apna time aayega” is self affirming that
lets you hold on to your dream whether big or small, that lets you hold on to
your self identity. I wouldn’t mind rejected proposals or failed ventures,
whether commercial, personal or professional, rather than not have any passion
to propose or pursue or a dream to venture or people to love. I am scared of being
one of those passengers who doesn’t know why they go where they go and why they
get down where they get down. I don’t want to live just because air still fills
my breath, but because my breath has a purpose unto me. I want to live life
like a gift that I am excited to unwrap.
One of the finer articles amongst an already first rate collection of them. Crisp and contemplative!
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