Lessons from ZNMD, Dil Chahta Hai and Rock On....Untangle, Unwind, Unlearn
Saw "Zindagi na Milegi Dobara" a few days ago and it came as a breath of fresh air compared to some of the other cine offerings doing the rounds. As i mused over the main theme of the movie with my better half and a few friends could not help but have a sense of deja vu.
I had felt the same way when I had seen Rock On and I had certainly felt the same way when I had seen Dil Chahta Hai. So what were the feelings that these 3 movies evoked that appealed to me?
First thing that I related to was the thought that "We are all basically Free - to be what we want to be, to do what we want to do". And yet we tie ourselves up - doing things we don't necessarily like, slaves to the grind, always soldiering on without thinking about the larger picture. In fact the whole TGIF culture emanates from that. The more answers I sought the more questions I had....
Why is bragging about the lastest gadget more important than learning a new instrument?
Why is killing ourselves over a bigger bank balance more important than spending the extra time with family/children?
How many of us can look straight in the mirror and claim to fully know the person they see there? "
I realised that we have basically given up our virtues in favour of persona; character in favour of brand and truthfulness in favour of image. And yet when we came face to face with simple beauty we still yearned for it as if it was something etheral.
Lesson#1 learnt - FREE YOUR MIND & KEEP IT FREE
Second thing that struck a chord with me in these movies was Clarity of Purpose in the minds of the leading protagonists. They knew what they wanted - kept it simple and got on with it.
And what do we do - we obfuscate out thoughts, cloud our feelings and complicate our language all in the name of fashion, appearing more intellectual and giving others the false sense of "appearing in control".
I do blame MBA style education for some of this complication. We are in the mad rush to "manage everything" - our life, our children, our time, our health, our friends, our family almost everything around us. In doing so we do an "average" job of an awful number of things rather than a "good" job of a fewer number of things.
Lesson#2 learnt - SIMPLIFY & KEEP IT SIMPLE
Last but not the least I could but feel that we are continually toil to create a circumstance where we will be happy, our family will be taken care of, we will have the time and the means to enjoy life. In order to get to that phase of Nirvana we are leaving our todays behind in a "blur". We have lost the sense of balance in pursuit of this future state.
How many of us can seriously remember our thirties - the decade seems to have gone by in jiffy and yet there are several milestones that we remember about our 20's or earlier. I am certainly not among the few of us that have kept thier balance and perspective. Those that have managed it have done so by keeping it simple and living every day.
Lesson#3 learnt - LIVE EVERY DAY...LET OUR MIND WANDER BAREFOOT
Let us choose NOT to be part of "The Lost Generation" (click the link to understand the thoughts...as shared by a dear friend) because Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara...
The Lost Generation completely floored me. I did not get the full impact of the text till the whole thing started to roll backwards. Pure genius. Simple but elegant.
ReplyDeleteHave several comments to make about this one -
In DCH, I identified with Akhsay Khanna's character. He in love with an older woman - I am always in love with music and movies before my time, he is a talented artist - I am not that gifted but I appreciate good music, literature and art forms, he is very contented to spend time with himself - so am I, he comes across as foolishly idealistic - I have been there - maybe part of me is still there. I would have loved to go on the Goa trip with them, I miss not having ever taken a trip like that when I was young.
When Rakesh visited me here, we spoke about ZNMD - he had just watched the movie on his flight here and my family and friends had watched it a few days before that. Mostly tugged at my heartstrings in the way that Abhay Deol did everything from his heart - I know that is not the rational way but it sure beat everyday soldiering - as you have aptly put it.
I would like to mention 3 Idiots here - that is a movie that I like to watch once every two months. Brought back memories of college. I was the one who failed repeatedly and faced the wrath of elders and college administrators. I am proud of those scars, though guilty of not applying myself. I was too scared to tell anyone - this crap did not really interest me at all. I work hard today, nay I soldier on, to create a decent bank balance so that my child will not have to undergo the same ordeal.
Phunsukh Wangdu I am not, neither am I as talented as Farhan but I feel a kinship towards Farhan's character. It was sound engineering that I should have pursued. Of course, with a degree in Electronics I now have the basics for that as well and I confess I enjoyed Digital Signal Processing a tad more than many others who scored better, but it was because I could finally see the application of semesters of math and theory coming together. Or maybe literature would have been a good field for me to pursue, but where was the money in that? No career prospects either.
Rock On came as a very nice surprise. I got to see some people I had idolized on screen, though briefly. It also woke up the appreciation of what I really loved again in my core and I have now hooked up with a German of Turkish origin to explore fusion with Indian folk music. He is the one who plays and I expose him to various themes of Indian folk. Together we try to bring unique sounds into being that encompass the Middle Eastern note structure with an Indian folky sound.
Cheerio on your mind explorations