Of Maya in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna..

Long time no see.. I have been on a self proclaimed exile from social networks for about a week. Don't know why. Generally, so bored with everything. D said to me "You are just 24 and saying like this." I don't know but seriously am really bored. 

After talking to my college friend V, my desire to become a teacher has rekindled. I always wanted to be a professor but never gave it a serious thought. After I spoke with her, I want to become a professor. She is doing her PhD and she teaches a class of about 25 students in the US and she loves it. I don't want to work in the corporate environment like a mechanical worker for long. Maybe I can still try. At least, I will be learning something continuously. So cool it would be no?..Pankaj Sachdeva, Professor, English Literature/Economics at  Harvard University..winner of Nobel Prize for his work on the advent of surrealism in English poetry in Europe in the late 19th century..If Phoebe can get a Nobel for massage, then so can I :) Who am I kidding :( All I will end up is Google+Ctrl C+Ctrl V+PPT formatting..

This week the movie that I have been thinking is Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. As usual, notwithstanding the popular perception, I love this movie, although at 3.15 hours it tests your patience..but I like it. The character that most of us hate is of Maya. I mean how can she not fall in love with a guy like Rishi! He is such a good husband and Maya goes and sleeps with a cynical irritable Dev! I mean why Maya! In that introductory scene, 

माया: कभी कभी दोस्ती मोहब्बत की जगह ले लेती है, और फिर मोहब्बत के लिए जगह ही नहीं रहती|   इसका मतलब आप अपनी बीवी से मोहब्बत नहीं करते

देव: हम खुश हैं, हमने अपनी ज़िन्दगी बना ली है, सवाल तुम्हारी ज़िन्दगी का है, ज़िन्दगी के जिस मक़ाम पर तुम हो वहा सिर्फ दो रास्ते हैं, एक खुशियों का, जो में चाहता हूँ की तुम्हे मिले, दूसरा इंतज़ार का, मोहब्बत के इंतज़ार का, जो हो सकता है, ज़िन्दगी भर ना मिले 

माया: और वो मोहब्बत मुझे शादी के बाद मिल जाये तो.. 

देव: नहीं ढून्धोगी तो नहीं मिलेगी..

Maya says that she loves Rishi but not in that passionate way..maybe after marriage she could find love if she tries. But did she try hard? I think not..she only took Rishi as a kid treating herself to be his mother. Maybe she never wanted to love Rishi in that way. Was she wrong? Maybe if she had tried some more..Rishi would have been a perfect husband! But love doesn't work that ways no? As Sam says in the end, 

मौत और मोहब्बत दोनों बिन बुलाये मेहमान है, वो किसी का साथ नहीं छोड़ते ..

Here is what one blogger says about Maya..

The effort put in by Maya is just a sham; it does not arises from her own interpretation of a successful marriage but from the sensibilities pushed from another failed marriage. You can instantly tell why Maya fall for Dev; they both are covered extensively inside the emotional turmoil. Their problems are more in the minds; less in reality. He can't play soccer any more, she can't be a mother any more. He has a broken leg, she has a broken womb. He is sick of his wife being serious all the time, she is sick of her husband being funny all the time. He is embittered by his professional shortcomings, she is disappointed with her personal failings. They are imperfect people trying to find perfection in their respective marriages; in turn making it even more imperfect.  In the end, which ever way you want to look at it...only she can fully make you comprehend the film's basic premise - Perfect lovers don't make perfect husbands, you need perfect, or almost perfect love to make a perfect marriage.

Very true..However, as much as we love to hate Maya, in an episode on We The People on KANK, Shah Rukh makes a very interesting point. He says that Maya and Dev both had an extra-marital affair, so why is only Maya being targeted? Wasn't Dev equally wrong? Is it because she is a woman why we love to hate her? Very interesting observation he makes! In fact, in that crackling scene in the movie when Rhea slaps Dev, she says would he have forgiven her if she had an affair? Very true! KANK was a landmark film in which a married woman has an affair without any strong reasons..usually it is the men who are the philanderers. From Guide to Astitva (another landmark film talking about female sexuality) to that TV show Saans, married women had affairs only if they were trapped in a love-less marriage..

But I feel so bad for Rishi. As they say, life is unfair..

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna had some crackling dialogues..

My personal favourite:

रीया: मेरा देव कही खो गया है

देव: खोया भी तो तुमने है..

देव: वैसे भी अजनबियों की बात सुन लेनी चाहिए, कभी कभी अजनबी अपनों से ज्यादा जानते हैं 

देव: कहते है वक़्त हर ज़ख़्म भूला देता, पर कुछ रिश्ते ऐसे होते है की वक़्त के साथ साथ हर ज़ख्म और भी गहरा हो जाता है ..

There are so many more lines I love and a haunting background score!

And also, I saw a part of Dil Chahta Hai again on this new channel called Sonic..Of course, every time I watch it, I learn about that movie. Now, there is the scene in which Aakash and Shalini are at the underground station and Aakash enters the train while Shalini is left behind..I was like wow! what a brilliant scene! 

They both don't say anything and yet they say everything..from that point Shalini probably realized that she likes Aakash as if he was going away from her..she was vulnerable and desperate to get along..Even Aakash felt something..otherwise given his nature, he would have made fun of her or asked her to wait and yet he feels locked out like he is leaving Shalini forever..Superb..I seriously love that movie like anything! Just look at their emotions..acting!!

Already said so many dialogues, so here is a statement that I loved from the weekly column Third Eye that Barkha Dutt writes..it is on the BJP..

The BJP’s mistake may lie in veering away from its right-of-centre ideological mooring when it comes to economics but remaining perilously right-wing on societal/religious issues. In modern India, it should be the other way around.

Perfect!