I was watching Tashan the other day and I suddenly remembered one of my favourite film's and also one, I consider to be an all time best from Bollywood industry titled 'SWADES-We the people'. The fact that Tashan was utter trash is really a minuscule matter here. The sine qua non of SWADES was surely its screenplay (mainly climax) where the protagonist resigns his NASA job and comes back to his homeland. That was awesome. Real best.PERIOD.
The author himself is one of those zillions of student's who after his board and entrance exams thought of one of those cliched phrases ' If only I had one more chance'. I always believed I was one of those guys who came till the very end and failed to step to that next level by a small margin (like the one that differentiates a 95% score to a 89% score). Then I asked myself a question ' Will I be one of those Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering graduates working in a software company?? (I didn't associate myself on anything related to coding.)
Fast Forward----2 years----I am in USA working as an intern Flight operations and Performance engineer with Continental Airlines, living life in my own terms with 'hell lot ta fun'. But now for the past few weeks I have been asking the same questions but with a twist ' Will I be one of those millions of Desi's to be lost in this jungle of Indians working in America??' The time when I thought that the new land, culture, people, places, ---u name it--was cool is a distant memory . It still paints a rosy picture for sure, but its more like comparing Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to a pirated India FM downloaded picture perfect wallpaper. That's what America is. A pirated picture perfect wallpaper. Its Tamil New Years day here and we (I echo the sentiments of many of my friends and most other people here) are doing our assignments, racing against deadlines, applying for jobs, working our ass off just for one reason--namely to live a fantasy life.
It is very difficult to define what a fantasy life is. In general it symbolizes a life with no worries with all the material comforts or the life that people would have dreamt during their teens , hearing stories about out neighbours, second cousin or uncles wife's sister's grandchild living in foreign countries.
This is where a movie like SWADES becomes great. It puts things in perspective and brings a sense of balance to life and the way we need to look at it. If the fantasy life is like an irresistable force then the values, culture and family, a sense that has been imbibed in one's formative years is an immovable object.
Its pretty difficult to compare an irresistable force with an immovable object and choose one among them. Now you would know why SWADES is one of those beauty or what you call a timeless classic because it helps you choose one.
2 comments:
Brilliant !! wish u had quoted a few other illustrations to describe more about the dialemma between the irresistable and immovable...BUT I like it !! :)
Kinda related to this post. Not that Im a Confused Desi in the Yoo-Yes. Just one wondering if this would be the consequence of a job abroad in the years to come.
Vinci's Mona Lisa to a pirated India FM downloaded picture perfect wallpaper.... :)
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