Dreams, daydreams, movie scripts and Jab We Met

The last time a relationship I’d invested considerable time and energy in didn’t happen, my mother told me that it had to do with my dreams. And my daydreams. And the “movie scripts” that I would often make up and tell her. Most of these would have a similar ending. The boy and the girl will end up deciding they will just be friends. And to move on in life. Typically, the movie scripts would end with one of them walking away into the drizzle. Or both of them walking away in opposite directions in the drizzle. It was because of the kind of scripts I would “write”, my mother would say, that similar things were happening to me in life.

Two and a half years down the line, I don’t seem to have changed. I still feel the same about a number of scripts. I don’t daydream anymore, at least not as much as I used to a few months or years ago. I don’t write movie scripts for fun any more. If I think I have an idea for a movie script, I start thinking about it from a commercial aspect. And end up ruining it. And though I continue to dream, and dream heavily, I don’t seem to remember too many of them. However, I’m sure that this kind of script still occurs once in a while in my dream.

I was reminded of this when I was watching Jab We Met earlier this evening. I thought it was a fantastic movie. Though Shahid Kapoor was playing a Lala, I could fully identify with his character. The first half, or maybe three fourths, was brilliant. The way his initial exchanges with Kareena Kapoor have been written is awesome. The entire bit starting from the time he walks away from his car till he is back in his company was compelling. At that point, the movie held so much promise that I was kicking myself for not having watched it for almost a year after its release. (rest of the post below the post. spoilers are there)

I don’t know if it was just the effect of the dreams and daydreams and imaginary film scripts on me, or if others also felt this way, but after the scenes in Shimla, I was convinced that Aditya should not end up marrying Geet. Looking at their contrasting characters, at that point I was convinced that Aditya was too good for Geet. That Geet didn’t deserve someone like Aditya, and Anshuman was in line with her level. If i were to have written this storyline, I would’ve shown raindrops flowing down Aditya’s spectacles, hiding any possible tears, as he was walking away into the drizzle after he had reunited Geet with Anshuman.

Instead, what we got to see was half an hour of unbearable Punjooness, and from that point onwards, the movie became jarring. It was clear that the director wanted to reunite Geet with Aditya, and in the process put KLPD to Anshuman. And he decided to get this message across by embedding it in half an hour of the depths of punjooness. And in this process, he spoilt the amazing experience the audience had gone through in the preceding two hours as they watched the relationship unfold between Geet and Aditya. The amazing first part of the movie was gone. Forgotten. It didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was the showcase of the worst of Punjabi “culture”.

It was sad to see such a sad ending to what was a great plot. Geet’s and Aditya’s lives are shown to be in a phase difference of pi. They get together at a time when they clearly needed each other, or each needed someone like the other. Aditya had sunk to the depths of NED, and hadn’t gotten into the train in order to get to his destination. Geet couldn’t care about anything, and could definitely do with some sobriety in life. Nine months later, Aditya had managed to turn his life around and by then Geet was untracable, and putting major NED in life, and desperately needed someone like Aditya to help her out – and that happened.

Once this was done, each of them had made probably the best impact they could have on each other’s life. After that little hug in the hotel room in Shimla, each had imparted to the other as much value as they could have. It didn’t seem like there was much more to be exchanged in the relationship. It was simply time to move on.

Two and a half years ago, a couple of weeks before my mother told me that I was dreaming the wrong kind of dreams, and thinking of the wrong kind of scripts, I had got an email, from I’m sure you can guess who. It had mostly bounced over my head back then, but each time I’ve read it after that, it seems to tell a lot. I think it is pertinent to quote one line from that here.

i believe people enter your life exactly at a point when u need them to grow together and exit/fade away from your life at the right time, enabling you to move ahead. its sad but true.