The stubborn eccentricities of true love!

Film Review - Lootera

Starring - Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh

Music - Amit Trivedi

Director - Vikramaditya Motwane

Producers - Anurag Kashyap, Ekta Kapoor

Based on- O'Henry's 'The Last Leaf' (partly)

Backdrop - Bengal in 1950s

A romantic to the core - I was bound to enjoy Lootera –an emotional saga of true love beyond possibilities. What I didn’t expect was the maturity with which the lead actors portrayed the depth of a simple emotion like love. 

The story is fresh, sensitive, and romantic. Perhaps I instantly liked the movie because Pakhi (Sonakshi)- the main female lead, aspires to be an author. Despite the hardships, her passion for writing keeps her going.

I don’t know if many people believe in true love these days. In the age of social networking (which is a great thing by the way!) and the ease of having multiple choices for everything—sometimes we miss the ‘real’ thing. But when the feeling is pure – even if ties get severed, the truth gets established sooner or later. When the conscience awakens, lost love comes back – even if only to apologize. 

I am a firm believer in true love. Just like adversities don’t deter true lovers, misunderstandings don’t destroy everlasting friendships. After all, there is still more ‘good’ in this world than ‘bad’ – that’s why ‘life goes on’.

Lootera delicately explores a plethora of these emotions in the backdrop of post-independent India—mid 20^th century rural Bengal to be precise. This was the time when the newly elected Indian government decided to abolish the zamindari system. The history angle has been fitted into the movie very intelligently. 



While we focus on the love-story between the Zamindar’s daughter Pakhi Roy Chowdhury (Sonakshi Sinha) and an archaeologist Varun Srivastava (Ranveer Singh) - there is a strong narrative in the background highlighting the social situation and the plight of the Zamindars in the 1950s.

The first half of the movie keeps one captivated with the magic of new-found love. Simple moments made extraordinary just by spending time with each other - no exotic locales, no out-of-the-world conversations - just two people enjoying ordinary days together and gazing at each other as if there is no tomorrow. Some of my friends found the movie boring. On the contrary, I thought it was poetic, romantic and very classy. It successfully created a 'wow' factor which has been lacking in the recent few flicks I have watched.

In the second half, Lootera becomes even better. There is a sudden twist in the story and the female protagonist’s life falls apart. Strong storytelling and diligent direction have contributed to excellence in each scene.

Possibly only in an idealistic world can one love someone so unconditionally - despite betrayals, shortcomings and a world of ruthlessness. One may fail to see logic in loving someone who has been an estranged lover and a disloyal friend. But love and hatred are emotions beyond our control. Like me, many others will relate to the emotional dilemmas that Pakhi goes through. 


Pakhi realizes that it is impossible to think of harming someone you have loved - even if they have humiliated you in the worst way possible. Perhaps that’s why true love is immortal. There is so much depth in the emotion that words are unnecessary, explanations are meaningless. 

Hat's off to Sonakshi Sinha - a powerhouse of expressions and acting. She looks beautiful and exudes an innocent appeal onscreen. Ranveer Singh is brilliant and charming in the underplayed low profile character he portrays. The music is melodious - especially 'Sawaar Loon' by Monali Thakur.


The supporting cast - Pakhi's dad Zamindar Roy Chowdhury, Varun's friend Dev – excel in acting. But Divya Dutta is wasted in the short cameo.

The metaphors used in the movie - the Raja's story - about life of the King being locked in his favorite parrot's heart- drawing a parallel to the father-daughter relationship - and the emotions they evoke is fabulous. The inspiration from O' Henry's 'The Last Leaf' works very well in this flick and makes the emotional viewer leave the theatre with moist eyes.

Lootera is a must-watch. We don't get to watch too many movies in this genre these days - don't miss it.

Once again today...

Once again today – I feel the need to write impromptu. Once again today – I love the environment that surrounds me and wish that these moments lasted forever. They are not extraordinary events, they don't involve 'something happening' nor can I say that other people have not experienced such moments. But still for some uncanny reason - I love these moments. They are simple, carefree moments that bring such immense inexplicable joy. Enjoying an unplanned coffee, talking engagingly about an insignificant topic or just enjoying silent moments alone or with people you want to be surrounded with .... in other words - living the moment. That's magical.

I don’t know if I feel this happiness because of the onset of monsoons or because of the familiar fragrance of loved ones around.

Some people bring a lot of happiness by just being beside us silently. I have this feeling since childhood - relationships grow deeper in silence- friends come closer when they meet after long intervals and joys are doubled when someone you don’t expect to see turns up at your doorstep. Spending time with loved one is important - that can be by just being with each other and enjoying in the quiet; that can be by talking for hours over the phone; that can be by just exchanging smileys online; that can be by meeting everyday. As long as the people we love are in our thoughts and on our mind - life is beautiful.

Life has funny ways of making us smile in the weirdest of circumstances and of catching us unawares in embarrassing situations before people who have never seen us that way before :p. And at moments when we are indecisive and feeling a bit messed-up, life gives us an opportunity out of nowhere and floors us with the marvel of simplicity.

I thank god for life and for the people who create beautiful moments to make my life worthwhile.

It's all about priorities!

More often than not, I have seen that the most successful and happy people are the ones who have got their priorities right. After all, life is all about priorities. Setting your goals, prioritising them, aligning them with activities and evaluating the results to see what you have achieved - that kind of sums it up.

Yes, there are those unplanned times when everything goes for a toss and dealing with the circumstance becomes your top priority. For instance, dealing with a sudden loss- death of a loved one, sudden health issues, natural calamity, robbery, infidelity, breach of trust and so on. Coping with the loss, accepting it and springing back to normal takes enormous strength and is time consuming. But it has to be done - nonetheless.

Coming back to planned priorities - I believe each one of us can lead a healthy, happy and successful life by setting our priorities right. Making a decision always makes life peaceful. Setting priorities help in the decision making process too. So when you have a goal and some other peripheral springs up, your top priority irons out your indecisiveness and enables you to make a just decision. For me at least, setting priorities help me decide better.

Sometimes when we are at the crossroads and suddenly have too many things on our plate - we tend to get swayed by the most attractive item on the platter. We look at it as an attractive opportunity and grab it without much thought. However a little later, we realize that in our sudden zest to conquer something we never wanted to, we have neglected the dream that we have cherished for years. We don't even realize when this 'back up' or 'stop-gap' became our life and when we lost track of our 'top priority'. When realization dawns on us, there is resentment and regret. Sometimes, it becomes too late to restart work on the goal we had set for ourself 'once upon a time'. Under these circumstances people tend to get into a depression.

So - the rule is quiet simple. If you have a dream- dont lose sight of it. In my latest favorite book #Manuscript Found in Accra, Paulo Coelho sums it up beautifully. He says, when you are running towards your dream, it is also running towards you and is equally excited to meet you. So, if you love your dream, keep running. If you stop, it will stop coming towards you too. In The Alchemist, there was a further elaboration of this thought. It said, when you really want something, you get signs that show you the path towards it. We call these omens. However, if you keep neglecting them or postponing them thinking you will do them later - after a while they stop appearing. The signs vanish and suddenly you realize after y-e-a-r-s

that you never found the time to do what you always wanted to do. That's because you never had the time to set your priorities.

If love and family is your top priority - ensure you have the time and the intent to do all that you have always wanted to do for a loved one. The most important thing here being- spending time with them and loving them.

If a particular career option is on your priority list - make it happen. Don't subdue it and force it to subjugate under a backup career. Sometimes, taking a RISK is the best decision to make.

It is always good to have a second career option in mind. But sometimes it is dangerous too. Why

dangerous? Because it has a tremendous pull - a pull that can take you away from your top priority. Don't let it happen. If it helps, write down your priorities somewhere. Everyday, just look at them once. It will help you stay focused. It is helping me :)

Good luck to everyone who has a dream and a priority plan to make it happen.

Been a while...

It's been a while since I have written here- in my space. Life has been good and there is no dearth of topics to write about! Yet, every time I open the New Post page, I close it after a while thinking there is nothing meaningful to write about. This has been going on for over a month now. I just realized, I have unnecessarily been curbing my 'want' to write.

When we write, we don't always write about one topic. There is always so much going on in the mind. With the rate of gruesome crimes committed in India going up every hour, it is disheartening to read the newspapers every morning. Today, we have more like-minded compassionate people who take up causes and live by them. I am positive about a better society in the days to come.

On the self front, there is work to finish at office and home, there is right writing to do, there is the Indian Premier League (IPL) to watch and get ovetly emotional at the end of every match! And of course, when you get to snatch time for things you want to do - there is that one good book you want to curl up with before calling it a day. For me, off late - that book happens to be 'Manuscript Found in Accra' by my all time favorite author Paulo Coelho.

I read the book early this month on a flight. I got engrossed and finished it at one go- all in two hours. But since then, I have re-read the book at least 10-12 times. I have pages and paragraphs underlined that I have read again and again. This is definitely not the first time I did this! It started with 'The Alchemist' days. I read Alchemist in 2003 and loved it. I picked up some more Paulo Coelho titles- and kind of got addicted to his books. 'By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept' is straight from the heart and I love the book too much! Simple writing - yet so compelling, so moving. You cannot help but get completely absorbed in the book. I also liked 'Veronica Decides to Die'. And of course, 'Brida' was an instant favorite a couple of years back. I can go on and on about Coelho's books and writing. When I read him, I want to visit Brazil and someday- hope to read his original work in Brazilian. If the translated writings in English are so enticing, I wonder how beautiful the original must be. The people- the places he talks about in his books- I want to visit them. Traveling round the world and staying in East Europe or in Bali, or maybe amid the bountiful nature in our very own Manali... it would be so joyful to reside in these places for a while and write to your heart's content.

For all the honesty and the simplicity in expression - I can connect with Coelho's books instantly. His quotes always have a way of finding a place in my heart. Most of these are timeless... immortal.

If you really want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it - this line from The Alchemist has changed people's lives. It continues to motivate people to pursue their dreams and realize them.

Writers are dreamers and dreamers make things happen :)