Tumhi Dekho Na

I was watching Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna for the last few days. There is something in that film that touches me every time I watch it. It is a beautiful film about beautiful people, who have everything in life, except one beautiful thing — love. It is not that these people never tried to love; they did but love did not reciprocate, or that their love faded with time. Learning to live life as it comes, even though deep inside, they are plagued by hopelessness.

If given a chance, I would love to go and live inside a Karan Johar film. I really do not understand why he is criticized by one and all. He has a great sense of cinematic vision in which he uses colors to present an escapist and a utopian world. There is grandeur in his films, similar to the one in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's; the difference is Sanjay's films have deep cultural references, while Karan's films have a contemporary sweeping touch. I love the song Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, which is splendidly shot, and always makes me shed a tear or two. It is almost cathartic. There is a scene in the song in which Maya (Rani Mukerji) is sitting in a stadium all alone, surrounded by blue chairs. The emptiness of the stadium, and the presence of 'blue' chairs is symbolic of Maya's own loneliness and solitude. It is a beautiful depiction of melancholy, and every time I think of the film, I remember this scene apart from the many others.

I will write someday on why this is one of my favorite films. But, yesterday, as I was watching, I was yet again amazed by Karan's sense of visual poetry. The song Tumhi Dekho Na is a picturesque song that is accentuated by the terrific use of colors. As in Dil Se, the song Satrangi Re depicted the seven colors of a rainbow, Tumhi Dekho Na also shows the seven colors of the rainbow. Maya and Dev (Shah Rukh Khan) are in love, and their love is like a rainbow that brings color to their grim and desolate lives, and everything around them becomes colorful. Everyone around them is wearing the same-colored dress as them because Dev and Maya see the colors in those people as well. All the colors of the rainbow — blue, green, yellow, orange, red, violet, and indigo — are present in the song. At one point in the song, Dev and Maya are surrounded by nothing but yellow taxis. No other cars pass by them, and all around them are the yellow cabs rushing past them. 

The song starts with blue.

Dev gives yellow flowers to Maya, and then, they are surrounded by yellow cabs, and no other cars pass by except the yellow ones. 

Then, we move to orange.

Now, everything is violet with a tinge of indigo

Then, we see everything is red.

And, finally, green takes over.

Beautiful. Yes, I want to go live in a Karan Johar film, where everything is gorgeous. There would be no love, but even in real life, there is not any, so why not live there :)

Trivia: Ayan Mukerji has a cameo in the song.

I have a lot to write, if only I had time.

Dialogue of the day:

"Ajnabiyon ki baat sun leni chahiye, kabhi kabhi ajnabi apno se zyada jaante hain."
 — Dev, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna