His range of emotions was what I used to have – the rush of adrenaline and the excitement of showing my artwork across – it was all real to me. So a child doing the same on a piece of paper, sitting at a place well-secluded from the majority of students, became a figure that I could strongly resonate with. The colors and strokes and itching of pastels – being engrossed in my work – I have experienced all of it many times during that age. These competitions provided me a way to communicate with the world in a language of visuals that I was not particularly aware of being a language at the time. Sitting amongst a huge crowd, trying to build a picture from my imagination on a piece of paper, I used to experience a joy that was unmatched at the time. The picturization showed a landscape that I used to be part of, in reality – the drawing competitions with hundreds and thousands of people. One particular song from that film ‘Kholo Kholo’ brings back my memories with its rising notes. ‘Yeh Taara Woh Taara’ became a song that I will always cherish for its core of equality as much as for Udit Narayan’s comforting vocals.Ī few years after that, Taare Zameen Par was released and my interest switched back to Aamir Khan – another maverick from Bollywood. A sky full of stars was a way to connect with the world that Swades puts across and to comprehend its metaphors in a manner that I could understand. The song’s lyrics made its attempt to give a voice to the voiceless – in a way that I could understand – in scope of picturization that I won’t need much effort to witness in real life. So, when he spoke with the kids from the village, dancing around – while looking at the stars and conveying something in a language that could be understood by a kid like me at the time, it made me get immersed into this brief cinematic world.Īt the same time, it showed me a possibility of looking at the world which my orthodox upbringing had not done by then. SRK’s charm was still present but with a more grounded approach. Again, without knowing that ‘this’ is how the film had impacted me. He seemed more real to me than the reality I was expected to believe in with the mainstream films and their share of misguided morals and prejudices.īeyond Mohan being an approachable, likeable character, what he showcased was a possibility of what kind of man I can be. The way he spoke and interacted broke that barrier between reality and cinema for me – without necessarily having the exact words to express what and how that barrier was broken – how my relationship with cinema began to change. His US-returned, soft-spoken NASA engineer character swaying around in his billowy blue shirt seemed like a guy I could actually meet – there seemed more possibility, more accessibility in such a presence being around me for some reason, than his other characters. For that kid, they were not merely representations even if they have ceased to be a replication of reality for the present me.Īs a child, I remember how I couldn’t get enough of SRK from Swades. But at that age, these people and their characters were real to me – speaking in real-time – singing and jumping around with a kind of ease and charm that seemed more or less achievable to me. As an adult, I can discourse on the reality-aspect of such picturizations as long as you want. While these songs may not be the highlights of my childhood, they were few of those that gave an impression of how such relationships might pan out in reality – and carved a way to understand more about the world. I was in awe of such playful interactions. My reaction used to be the same during ‘Iss deewane ladke ko’ from Sarfarosh, seeing Sonali Bendre’s character trying to make Aamir’s, not scared of committing to someone. I remember how my heart used to melt seeing Shahrukh’s character singing ‘Main koi aisa geet gaoon’ – playfully & innocently wooing Juhi’s character with his cutesy charades. While I may not recall the name of a film at times, I remember the impact their songs had on me. As a result, both of these actors have a larger footprint on my emotional canvas than anyone else from that era. My interests at the time oscillated between Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan’s films and the characters they portrayed. As a child, I did not have as wide an access to cinema as I have now.
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