Jab We Met (2007)

I had earlier written that this movie has joined the list of movies I can watch anytime, and it is true. I watched it recently again, and I marveled at Imtiaz Ali’s direction. He understands relationships, and keeps his stories largely realistic.

The lead pair (Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor) was seeing each other in real life and broke up during the course of making this movie. I admire their professionalism in completing this movie, particularly that of Shahid. It is reportedly Kareena who wanted to move on.

The scene in which Kareena’s character Geet Dhillon verbally abuses the jerk, her boyfriend Anshuman (played by Tarun Arora) is a delight. Anshuman dumps her because she suddenly appears in front of him. He is faced with several fears and asks her not to get in touch with him. Post that, Geet spends nine months on her own in Shimla without any contact with her family. Geet had earlier helped Shahid’s character Aditya Kashyap overcome the hurt caused by his break-up with his girlfriend (she marries someone else and he attends her wedding to top it all), and now Aditya helps her overcome her hurt.

When the coward sees Geet with Aditya, he suddenly desires her again and wants to be nice to her. Jerks must not be given a second chance, and the movie thankfully shows the same.

Runaway Bride (1999)

The movie is about Julia Roberts' character Maggie Carpenter and Richard Gere's character Eisenhower Graham, 'Ike'. While there are several mushy moments, one of the scenes stayed back with me.

This is a scene with Ike and his ex-wife Ellie Graham played by Rita Wilson.

Ike: "Ellie, what went wrong? With us. With the two of us, I mean. I know it's been a long time. Do you remember?"

Ellie: "Yeah. Do I remember? Of course I do."

Ike: "Is that what -- Did I do the same -- Is that what happened? Did I just... not see you?"

Ellie: "No. No, you didn't."

Ike: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ellie."

Ellie: "I'm sorry too, Ike."

It helps that Ellie has remarried, is Ike's publisher and her spouse Fisher is a relaxed man. He does quip though, "Confucius say, man who leave wife alone with ex-husband may leave altogether."

Roles Bollywood actors choose

I had once written about the effect of neuroticism and how Hollywood actors choose to play neurotic characters.

When I look at Abhishek Bachchan, since 2004, he played the con artist in “Bunty Aur Babli” and “Bluffmaster”, he got conned in “Dhoom 2”, his character wove a fantasy tale in “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” and his character pretends to be gay in “Dostana”. Why do liars appeal to him?

When I look at Meenakshi Sheshadri, she has played a strong, no-nonsense woman in “Ghar Ho To Aisa” and in “Damini”. I haven’t watched much of her other movies, so this is the image I have of her.

Rajesh Khanna and Shahrukh Khan have played the romantic hero several times in their career, and were hugely popular with women filmgoers for the same reason.

This is why the versatility of Ranbir Kapoor appeals so much, and it makes me happy to see that he isn't typecast. He can take on just about any role and make the movie work for him. And for us. Remember what I once wrote about him?

When characters act funny

Marriages are fragile relationships when compared to blood relations, and are more susceptible to negative emotions. Bollywood has come up with several interpretations of marriages, and there is enough drama with songs to boot.

In “Abhimaan” (1973), Amitabh Bachchan’s character cannot tolerate the success of his wife played by Jaya Bhaduri (who takes up a singing career at his insistence) and his pride throws their marriage in disarray. In movie-style, he realizes his mistake and then they reconcile.

This story was reportedly based on Pandit Ravi Shankar and his wife Annapurna Devi – she was more talented than him. In real life, Pandit Ravi Shankar moved on, found other women and got married again. Annapurna Devi never married again.

In “Aap Ki Kasam” (1974), Rajesh Khanna plays a jealous husband who cannot trust his wife (Mumtaz). He leaves her, and then she moves on and remarries. He ends up being a broken man. One song from this movie is stuck in my mind these days, and I have to put an end to the haunting effect of the song.

Compare “Devdas” (2002) and “Dev.D” (2009). These are my views on the story of Devdas.

Today, there is a new breed of men who don’t think twice before taking advantage of the financial independence of their wives and continue to retain all qualities of the traditional MCP. Think Akshay Kumar in “Aitraaz” (2004) – his married character is almost willing to be seduced by Priyanka Chopra’s ex-girlfriend character and the only reason he stops (from the final act so to speak) is because he suddenly remembers that he is married.

I think he suddenly remembered that his wife is a lawyer.

A side point – why badmouth pigs while labeling people as male chauvinist pigs or female chauvinist pigs? Pigs don’t have to be involved, do they?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

After 8 years of completely avoiding this movie, I finally got around to watching it in July 2012. This was 108 minutes of time well spent. For good reasons, I am reminded of this movie today and I decided to get down to writing about it. 

Kate Winslet plays Clementine and Jim Carrey plays Joel. Clementine and Joel are lovers who spend two years together, and then they break up. They are very different from each other, and this contributes to the break up. Clementine then decides to erase all of Joel’s memories, and becomes Joel-free so to speak. Joel decides to do the same to become Clementine-free. The movie is from his perspective and shows how he struggles to hold on to her memories. He tries to hide their important memories within other memories, and realizes that he has much more control over his memories than any machine ever can.

The attendant in the clinic (Elijah Wood) is incidentally dating Clementine when he views Joel’s memories, and proceeds to interact with her in the same manner as Joel had once done – he has her case history and enough evidence to know how Joel behaved and what Clementine liked about Joel. Clementine gets confused repeatedly, and doesn’t know why.

I am not getting into the plot with Kirsten Dunst – it is an interesting twist. Watch the movie to see how it ends. The Yokefellow thinks happy endings are meant for movies, and I am at the opposite end of the spectrum where I believe in happy endings.

Winslet’s acting is a class act and she received an Academy award nomination for her performance. The striking colours of her hair, her dialogue delivery and her body language are fantastic. The movie makes use of Bollywood music, and the song “Everyone's gonna learn sometime” is nice.

Some thoughts as I watched the movie.

If we are expected to hold on to memories of love long gone, we lose the perspective that it perhaps makes sense to obliterate (a strong word) those memories in order to move on. If we spend time in seeking the friendship of old lovers and maintaining those friendships, then we’d never give our new lovers a chance. We'd not give love a chance.

Imagine if someone were to tell you the stuff that you wanted to hear, somewhere deep within, and it is not because he/ she is supremely understanding of you. It is because he/ she has got to ‘know’ you in a roundabout manner, and already knows what matters to you, what your pet peeves are. He/ she doesn’t ever tell you that he/ she ‘knows’ you. Would you feel cheated? Would you feel flattered? Would you question the authenticity of the friendship / relationship / whatever you wish to call it?

The movie also made me think of the beauty of companionship. Some get obsessed with the idea and repeatedly seek company in order to be with someone all the time. There are others who move away from the idea when their companion leaves them.

I leave you with this.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;