Monday, October 12, 2009

I think there is a reason why I love movies like 'Love aaj kal' and 'Wake up Sid'. Both of them have the male protagonists as overgrown boys who err on their path to coming of age and love etc.. I think I can relate to that and the fact that the female protagonists in both the movies are really sane, grounded and practical women.. Whether its Meera of LAK who is so aware of whats happening with her and around her and she does not flinch to tell her new husband that the marriage was a mistake, or Aisha from WUS, who is sensitive and accomodating but does not hesitate to tell yummy Rahul Khanna that jazz (or him) -not her cup of tea :)

I like strong women characters in movies.. especially when there is so much trash out there, an average hindi movie is so dissociated from reality that it makes you cringe ! I also like the fact that we are very slowly moving away from larger than life characters and characters who do not make mistakes. Art if supposedly imitates life, should reflect that. We all make enough and more mistakes in our lives, big or small and I dont see why the characters in 60mm cannot.

The general indian public has a problem with that, I dont think they can relate to protagonists making mistakes or deviating from a so called happy path in life. Not do they understand. Which in my opinion is why so many critics and public in general came down harsh on WUS. I am sure if Sid had been thrown out on gritty mumbai streets with no food an clothes an had to sleep under the street lamp, wud have made a lot more people happier! For the want to see the character actually struggle and wake up :)
But why ? Why do you need that dark realism to understand his coming of age or growing up ? And who is to say that what he is depicted to be doing is so far fetched ? I fail to understand that.. Many a times even seasoned critics lose sight of the fact that movies are about specific character, their lives and their quirks. Why then do we pick on things that do not seem real to us just coz we cannot relate to it ?
With the multiplex movies (for the lack of a better word), hopefully we will see more new age directors who do not hesitate to tell fresh new stories.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

come on!Meera was not a strong character, she was simply a confused character!
But ya, agree with your views on WUS...that's a completely realistic movie at this age...perfect. WUS is far better than LAK.