I saw 'Cheeni Kum' last night. It is a brilliantly crafted movie.
The casting is perfect. The acting outstanding. The dialogue witty. Just about everything in the film screams "This has not been attempted before in Bollywood". And the amazing thing is, it works.
Except maybe the last bit, where the precocious kid got irritating and Amitabh went berserk at the Ashoka pillar.It kind of spoils the overall understated effect of the film.
I won't attempt a review because it would just be a repeat of what my friend Apu has already said here.
Cinematic excellence apart, I found the character played by Tabu to be most refreshing.
Witness this scene, when her father goes on a 'satyagraha', hoping his 34 year old daughter will call off her plan to marry the 64 year old Amitabh.
"Papa, kuch kha lijiye.."
"Kya tu us buddhe ko chhod degi?"
"Nahin.."
"To phir main kuch nahin khaoonga".
"Jaisi aapki marzi", she says calmly and walks out of the room.
A hunger strike may be a bit extreme. But these kind of power struggles are commonly enacted in our homes and especially at this time of the year, when students make choices related to careers.
What Neena Varma shows you is that if you know what you want and are determined to have it, no one can 'force' you into a different direction. Yes, marrying a guy 30 years older than you is not common. But agar meri khushi isi main hai and I am prepared to bear the consequences, then so be it.
"I love you, you're my dad, but finally it's my life!"
The trouble is few of us stand up for ourselves because we are unsure. We hesitate. We vacillate. We bow down. And then tell others, "Yaar... mere parents yahi chahte the."
The moral of the story is: if you stand firm for what you believe in, the world will come around to accept it. Let your passion burn bright - be it for a person, profession or philosophy of life. Fuel it with conviction. Only a candle in the wind is snuffed out by the slightest drizzle of disapproval.
If there is fire in your belly, it will burn on!
