Dasvidaniya: Most welcome to the best goodbye ever

After ‘Taare Zameen Par’, it is one movie which impeccably captures the nuances of human emotions minus star presence of the perfectionist Aamir Khan. However, at the small budget level, the actors justify the intricacies of the characterization. The movie starts with the boring mundane life of the common man living at your next door, brilliantly portrayed by Vinay Pathak. This poor chap in his late thirties stays in the apartment in Mumbai Suburbs with his eternally Soap Opera watching whimsical Mumma and bears the brunt of Boss with much submission and diffidence. He religiously makes ‘things to do’ list on yellow note pad for each day and checks and rechecks for umpteen times in a day. After few frames, he discovers that he has only three months to live. Well, one can think of numerous Anands and Kal Ho Na Hos, which have dealt with this subject and have glorified ‘the undying spirit of the dying man’. But here lies the difference! Unlike Anand and Aman, this Amar (satirically put name for a dying man) doesn’t have a larger than life persona; he doesn’t live rest of his life for others, but like any other common man, lives for pursuit of his unfetched dreams, which he slowly discovers as the story develops. He attains Nirvana in a very unique but very much identifiable way. His ‘Things to do before I die’ list on the page of same yellow notepad is a list of wishes which most of us can relate with… going on a foreign trip, learning guitar, owning a car, meeting your childhood best friend(Rajat Kapoor) …..confessing love to childhood sweetheart (Neha Dhupia).

The protagonist has always lived under his shell and has always been receiving end of jerks from fellow passengers of local trains to the bullies of school goons as wells as the perpetually eating pot bellied Boss (hilariously portrayed by another Maestro Saurabh Shukla) develops his much opposite Alter Ego (which drives its characterization and costumes from Ranvir Shorey’s character in the movie). The progression through the movie shows the little endearing ways, he does his ‘things to do’ and immediately gives the tick mark to each one of them.

The movie combines high as well as low moments in its protagonist’s life, both so brilliantly and subtly assimilated with each other that you weep and laugh at almost same time. Story weaver has been successful in refraining from making the movie an out and out tear jerker. Whenever you feel there is little overflow of emotions and sadness, the strategically, but yet very subtly put tongue in cheek humor brings you back to light moment where you laugh at pure innocence characterization as well as comedy of errors in his life. Such an awesome blend of tragedy and comedy!

Vinay Pathak is definitely the show stealer. It was wholly his movie, and he has carried the whole movie on his shoulders very effectively keeping viewer glued to the screen. Over the years, He has developed knack of performing the ordinary characters of life in extra ordinary way. His dialogue delivery and expression of sensitivities of common man are so much adorable and consummate, that you can easily find one ‘Amar Kaul’ in your relation or neighborhood. Few of his scenes are poignant and yet so lovable that one can easily strike a chord with the character especially the scene where he expresses his love to Childhood love Neha Dhupia in Dumb Charades way under the rain. It is so intense and lovable that the delight he feels after confession of unsaid love actually brings same delight to the viewer, and thankfully it has not been brought to the point of being saccharine.

One other High point in the movie is character of Mumma of our dear Amar Kaul. She religiously watches Soap Operas juggling with the remote control buttons (as only buttons, she can deal with are Shirt Buttons!). Her eccentricity and authoritative tone is something, which not only shows strength of determination and hope in a long widowed lady but also makes you fall in love with very un-stereotypical mumma of Indian Cinema.

There are few scenes in the movie, which looks little bit clichéd. But when it comes to life and death, I believe, life becomes little that way and we can definitely forgive the story teller for few here and there faults. There are some similarities between Dasvidaniya and Hollywood movie ‘The bucket List’, but since I haven’t seen the movie, I was escaped from doing scene by scene investigations (well, thankfully!). However, Amar’s brief affair with Russian street walker and finding ‘love’ in his life was little incoherent with the script and could have been made more smooth with the storyline.

The movie, for a change doesn’t show death scene or even gradual deterioration of health of the protagonist, the end of the protagonist is just symbolized through black out of the frame. Climax is one of the high points in the movie where Protagonist gets to fulfill his one of the most coveted wishes in a hilarious and endearing way and Rajat Kapoor gives him 10/10 on his ‘Things to do before I do’ list in the end scene. Last, but not the least, his last and post death gesture of acknowledgement to all, whom he owed something in life reinstates the simplicities of the ordinary man. Indeed, the best goodbye ever!

Wanderlust

Long Lectures… perpetual projects and presentations… quibbling quizzes and endless exams and in between a sneak to the pristine beauty of Himalayas… truly a rewarding experience! The adventure was totally an impulse trip, where we five left the toils of MBA life for experiencing adrenaline rush in the veins and in just few hours, we were on the track for the trek in Uttaranchal with rucksack on our backs. Well, I believe, best of the experiences in the life are unplanned, when you follow your heart’s instincts rather than just pure logic.

After nearly 21 hours of road journey through serpentine trails between thread of peaks, reaching Joshimath was an enthralling experience in itself. There after, the hike to Ghangharia (this is the place, where the paths to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Saheb are bifurcated) started and so did the exploration of alluring exquisiteness of Garhwal and many ‘less travelled’ points, where we trekked downhill and uphill through slippery rocks and thorny bushes to see unalloyed madness of waves of river Alaknanda at her adolescence. Reaching Hemkund Saheb was definitely strenuous, but nevertheless the serenity of the shrine adorned by the necklace of flurry White Mountains covered with snow and clouds was something which mesmerized us forgetting the hustles of arduous expedition. The Gurudwara and the Sarovar in front of it at nearly 4400 feet altitude was incredible objet d'art erected by the devotees.

On the way back to Ghangharia, we went to the Valley of Flowers. Despite it was autumn and not the appropriate season to visit it, its pale flora in the basin was giving a beguiling touch of tranquil melancholy. And the flowerless, yet exquisite ‘Phoolon ki Ghati’ made us in awe about its splendor in the rains.

Other destination, we visited was Badrinath, the Shrine of Lord Vishnu, which is one of the Char Dham of Hindu religion. Colorful and vibrant architecture of the temple has very much similarity with that of Buddhist Monasteries. The Neelkanth Parvat after sunrise had captivating view as even the whole valley was shrouded in darkness; the peak was the first one to be ushered by the white light of sun in early morning and was dazzling like a gemstone.

The last destination, we travelled was Mana village, which is at around 3 km distance from Badrinath and is the last village of India (or first village, depends on the side you are looking from). The scenery there reminded me of the perfect scenary; we used to sketch in our drawing classes in primary schools – the partly snow clad and partly green range of mountains gleaming in pristine glory, the river emanating from the middle… clouds ready to the cover the terrain and a small village with small huts inhabited with local people and fauna. This was one place, no matter how much I make an effort; I cannot put the words on the paper. One has to visit it to understand, what I mean. At Mana, lasted our escapades into the Garhwal.

They say that life is a journey and the places we go are various stations, where we meet so many people to carve new memories while holding old ones. And perhaps travelling is the best way, where one can learn something which cannot be imparted in any educational institute. Meeting and observing so many people, whose upbringing, culture and values are completely different from us and yet they are the part of the same Indian Diaspora was indeed one of the most enriching experiences I had. They breathe in the place so much far from what we call ‘modern civilization’, but they are so immersed in doing the ordinaries of life and yet they are more content and blissful than most of us. The melody of silence, one enjoys there gives such an ecstasy to the inner soul, which can give any music band a run for its money. However, I feel the diversity of the sublime landscapes, we visited, their smooth and steep curves and their colourful and sepia costumes were a just trailer of exotic and sumptuous aesthetics, Indians are blessed with. Incredible India indeed!