Miscellanea/Farzana Versey
Love in the time of cinema
Steven Seagal, the Hollywood hunk, gets invited to the inauguration
of an action-packed film in Bombay and ends up talking about spiritualism.
Richard Gere talks about Buddhism and love.
And, while our film festivals try to portray the grim Indian reality,
mainstream cinema follows its own peculiar version of love.
After all those analyses about the spurt of films on love, the
obvious question to ask is - do the youth today behave in the
same fashion? Does he identify with what's happening on the screen?
Will he rebel against the family and take on the world only because
of that undefined thing called love?
Let's see, I remember doing a few crazy things! But burning the
spool of a cassette and drinking it with coffee? Or using pigeons
to pass on messages? If it reached the wrong hands, I'd have disowned
both the pigeon and the guy, depending on who flew away first.
The theme of most of these films may be the same. However, it
is the ingredients that give us a clue as to whether it's real
or fake.
Rich boy, poor girl
This is classic Mills and Boon. Greek tycoon, red-haired governess.
And the vamp is so wealthy, she has diamonds for eyes. But the
crucial part, of course, is that one of the lovers is poor.
What's so unreal about it? Nothing, except that, in life, there
is a fast-forward and we realise that such marriages are honeymoon-bound.
I know of one such couple. After the jolly good moments of throwing
snowballs and licking icecreams, they are now spending as much
time away from each other as possible.
She suffered from the poor girl syndrome and went haywire with
money on superficials while stinginess ruled on essentials. He
thought she did not fit his social settings. If anything kept
them going, it was the fact that they had to prove their decision
was not wrong.
Romancing the air
In the films, every ingredient is honed to a fine mix. Showering
flower petals from a helicopter is, I must admit, very romantic
but, as a young friend asked, "How many guys know how to
fly?"
The guys have their own complaints. Lest you think they are all
so cynical and don't care for romance, it is a mistake. They find
ingenious ways with little cinematic potential. Chewed-up gum
in wrappers, letters written in lipstick, mathematical equations
that lead to an overwhelming question: 'Do you, don't you?'
The "I do" comes casually while roller-skating and may,
or may not, last more than the term. No one's complaining, for
angels too kiss in spring. No one asks about winter and autumn.
Eloping to nowhere
Recently, a relative who was all of 12 years said that he would
either remain a bachelor or run away and 'settle down' outdoors.
Eloping was the only way out - destination unknown. It seems like
the most logical decision given the fact that emotions run high.
It happens all the while.
A very dear friend of mine had eloped as a minor, got a pundit
from somewhere and is still married to the same man after 12 years.
Yet, she confesses, it wasn't easy. "I was making so many
mistakes early on that I thought it would not last at all. I used
to feel depressed and I made every little thing into an issue."
They died
Why do some of these films end on a defeatist note? "Is love
wrong?" asks a young boy who is facing the same problem -
the world is against him. While one of the reasons young people
end their lives is frustration, they are also proving something.
"They are telling society that their love is greater than
all the rules they have been asked to follow," says a psychologist.
Usually they work on a suicide pact, or one of the partners will
kill the other in a rather gruesome manner.
And they lived happily ever after
The birds chirp. Raindrops fall. It gladdens everyone's heart.
And, as they say at the end of such films, "It's only the
beginning."
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
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