16th Sept Saturday
Rarely if ever have I watched such beauty unfold on screen.The realisation of Anami as to who her twin was/had been, could have been filmy, over-dramatic, an often seen sequence both in BW and on TV.
Instead it was rare, precious, gossamer-delicate ... a slow unfolding of emotions through poetic words ... a twin reaching across from the other side ... both twins snatched from their homes and now straddling unfamiliar worlds ... she in his ... and he in another, unreachable one. And the pathos, the sadness of what could have been ... the joys of growing up together, the teasing, the laughter, the shared secrets, joys and sorrows that siblings share ... all snatched away by a cruel twist of fate ...
They had both felt that bond ... even in that one chance meeting ... the tangible proof of which lay now wrapped around Anami's wrist ... the rudraksha bracelet, the raksha dhaga, protection band, that Vatsalya had been given, and which he handed over to Anami at their chance meeting ... with the so prophetic words ... 'if I had a sister, she would be like you ...'
He did ... and she was.
The meeting was set up beautifully ... Anami manages to get the keys from a sleeping Satrupa with a minimum of fuss, and runs to meet Poonam at the gate. Poonam waiting with her luggage and her rudraksha bracelet ... which Anami wears.
Did that bracelet call Anami to Vatsalya's room? Did it establish the connection she had forgotten, or was till now unaware of?
Then as Anami struggles with the keys, she tries one which is ... the key to Vatsalya's room ... as Poonam reminds her.
Vatsalya
She had almost forgotten.
The reason for her being here ... the boy who once lived behind the forbidden door ... her twin.
She had no feeling for him ... how could she? She had never even met him. Yet in dying, he had been the cause of her exile to the hated Lal Mahal. She would not leave without taking a peek behind that forbidden door ... without getting a glimpse of the cause of all her troubles. If she left without seeing his face, she would leave a part of herself behind.
And so she finally opens the forbidden door.
Stumbles to switch on the lights.
Drops her phone in the process.
And straightens ... to look straight into ... the eyes of her unknown twin.
Except that he is not unknown at all.
The boy she met on the ghats of Benaras. The boy she shared a birthday with, a day they both hate. The boy who gave her the rudraksha bracelet she now wears, the bracelet that gave her an inexplicable feeling of sorrow and anguish the day it broke. The boy who felt complete when in Benaras, but when he left, he felt bereft, as though losing something precious.
Was it sheer chance that they met that day? A coincidence?
Vatsalya does not think so. And he has something to say to her ... if she would care to listen ... to open his diary and read his words ... words that feel as though they were written only for her.
Adhoore se aasmaan main rang bharta hai koi...
samay ke dhaagon se kya kya bunta hai koi...
boond ki aas main zameen ko tarasta hai koi...
phir baras ke aankhon se birha mitata hai koi...
Adhoore se aasmaan main rang bharta hai koi...
Someone fills in the colors in an incomplete sky
what does he weave with the threads of time?
Someone craves the earth while waiting for a drop of water
then that water bursts from the eyes to wipe away the grief of separation
someone fills in the colors in an incomplete sky
sawalon ka jor, jawabon ka shor...
kyun akhir kyun itna toofan uthata hai koi..
samay ke dhagon se kya kya bunta hai koi..
The force of questions, the noise of answers
why oh why does someone raise such a storm?
what does he weave with the threads of time?
jab dard ke badal chaye the, man pe raat ke kale saye the,
pane khone ke fer main jab duniya lagi thi, us waqt tum kahaan the ?
Kudrat ne kaha tha, wada liya tha, jab lahu ke ek dhage se bandha tha,
jab lahu pani ban raha tha, tab tum kahan the ?
When clouds of pain surrounded me, when the darkness of night shrouded my mind,
when the world was lost in the game of winning and losing,
at that time, where were you?
The universe told me, took a promise from me, tied us with a string of blood,
when that blood was flowing like water, at that time, where were you?
An ever smiling Vatsalya, a harmonica playing, guitar playing Vatsalya ... gentle, musical, poetic ... far removed from the hard selfish inhabitants of Lal Mahal she had met ... was this her twin?
She touches his harmonica, his guitar ... and she can feel her twin, see him sitting there, smiling, happy ...
She sits at his desk, and writes in his diary ... as though by writing to him she can talk to him again ... the boy with whom she felt such a strange instant connect ...
Ganga Maiya ne humein apne godh main milaya ... lekin us din humare mann main bhi toofan machha tha aur tumhare mann main bhi hahakar tha..
tumhari baatein bilkul waise hi hain jaise humari mann ke sawaal hote hai ... kash ek baar ... ek baar hum tumhare sawaal sun paate
vatsalya ... ye kaisa parichay hai, tum is sab kuch chodkar us duniya main chale gaye jahaan se kabhi nahin lautoge aur hum tumhari duniya main base hue hain..
hum dono apni apni duniya se nikal diye gaye hain..
jaante ho jab tum aur hum mile tho hume laga tha ki hum tumse zyada hoshiyar hai lekin apne haath main tumhara diya ye raksha sutra dekhke ab samajh aa raha hai ki tum humse zyada hoshiyar the isliye ye gift chupchap dekar nikal gaye taaki hum tum tak pahonche, tumhe dhoondhe, tumse baat karein..yehi chahthe the na tum..
vatsalya... aaj tumse humara parichay hua hai.. tumhare shabdon ke zariye.. hum kismat pe bharosa nahin karte hain kyunki humara shradh pandit kehte hain kudrat ne humara kismat ka panna khali chod diya hai aur humare haath main kalam pakada diya taaki hum roz apni karmon se bani kismat likh sakein
lekin ... lekin aaj hume lagta hai ki hamare baba humara mann rakhne ke liye aisa kehte hai ... nahin tho humne aisa koi karam nahin kiya hai jisse hum dono janam ke sagei, khoon se bandhe, zindagi aur maut ke do kinaron pe khade ho jaye..
As Anami lays her head on the table, Vatsalya is there next to her, his head close to hers, his eyes looking into hers.
And he gets up, with that ever present smile still on his face ... and backs away ... into nothingness.
He's gone.
Her twin brother is gone.
She lost him even before finding him, knowing him.
And she turns to write again with new determination ... she has lost him, but she will not lose anyone else dear to her.
Logon ke pane khone ki tamanna ne humse hamara sab cheen liya hai.. jo bach gaya hai, use bachaye rakhna bahut zaroori hai nahin tho woh bhi iss lalchi duniya ka bhent chad jayega... vatsalya hum ja rahe hain, wahi jahan tum humse mile the, Ganga maiya ki godh main.. Hum Banaras jana hi padhega ... nahin tho woh ghar bhi ujhad diya jayega. Humse tumhare mann ka rishta koi tod nahin payega..
But Vatsalya has other ideas ... as Anami exits the room, her bracelet is caught in the door.
As she struggles to free it, Vatsalya sits at the desk, reading the words she just wrote ...
Logon ke pane khone ki tamanna ne humse hamara sab cheen liya hai.. jo bach gaya hai, use bachaye rakhna bahut zaroori hai nahin tho woh bhi iss lalchi duniya ka bhent chad jayega... vatsalya hum ja rahe hain, wahi jahan tum humse mile the.
And he turns to look at her, with a small quizzical smile on his face, as though asking ... 'Really? You will really go?'
Anami stares at him unbelievingly ... and then at her raksha bracelet ... she struggles again to free it ... yes, she has to go.
And leave she does ... the waiting Poonam hands her her tin bag, the waiting auto takes off ... but her tears will not stop. Shraadh Pandit will have the answers for her ..
What should I do? I don't understand any more ... what is right, what is wrong ...
Vatsalya was my twin brother ... I met him on the ghats of the Ganga ... but he's dead now. Why did Ganga maiyya make us meet?
When I was in his room ... I met him ... got to know him. Usse parichay hua.
Shraad Pandit tries to reassure her ... people say twins are joined by their souls. Maybe destiny wanted you to meet him once before leaving his world.
But Anami isn't convinced. If it was just that, why that unknown pull to Vatsalya's room? Why did he give her his raksha sutra, why did he make her get to know him? She cannot understand ... what is the right path for her? Was Vatsalya ... and destiny ... trying to tell her something?
And she tells the Pandit about that feeling when she was leaving his room ... she felt he was calling out to her ...
Is that raksha sutra on her wrist tying her feet down as well?
Shraad Pandit tries to explain to her ... on one hand, she has her righteous duties ... on the other hand, her worldly duties ... and it is her mind, which is ruled by love, which will guide her choices. She will have to choose ... one side her Pandit family, who will support her no matter what her decision ... the other side, her real parents, and her dead brother.
Karna had the same choices ... he was indebted to Duryodhana, so chose to fight on his side, leaving behind his charioteer father and his foster mother. However Karna fought on the wrong side ... Anami will now fight for her dead brother, Vatsalya ... the right side. Along the way, she will have more choices to make ... for unlike in the Mahabharata, where Karna knew he was on the wrong side, here Anami will take time to understand which side is the right side, and which is the wrong one. For as Adhiraj famously says, nothing is as it seems in the Laal Mahal.
Rarely if ever have I watched such beauty unfold on screen.The realisation of Anami as to who her twin was/had been, could have been filmy, over-dramatic, an often seen sequence both in BW and on TV.
Instead it was rare, precious, gossamer-delicate ... a slow unfolding of emotions through poetic words ... a twin reaching across from the other side ... both twins snatched from their homes and now straddling unfamiliar worlds ... she in his ... and he in another, unreachable one. And the pathos, the sadness of what could have been ... the joys of growing up together, the teasing, the laughter, the shared secrets, joys and sorrows that siblings share ... all snatched away by a cruel twist of fate ...
They had both felt that bond ... even in that one chance meeting ... the tangible proof of which lay now wrapped around Anami's wrist ... the rudraksha bracelet, the raksha dhaga, protection band, that Vatsalya had been given, and which he handed over to Anami at their chance meeting ... with the so prophetic words ... 'if I had a sister, she would be like you ...'
He did ... and she was.
The meeting was set up beautifully ... Anami manages to get the keys from a sleeping Satrupa with a minimum of fuss, and runs to meet Poonam at the gate. Poonam waiting with her luggage and her rudraksha bracelet ... which Anami wears.
Did that bracelet call Anami to Vatsalya's room? Did it establish the connection she had forgotten, or was till now unaware of?
Then as Anami struggles with the keys, she tries one which is ... the key to Vatsalya's room ... as Poonam reminds her.
Vatsalya
She had almost forgotten.
The reason for her being here ... the boy who once lived behind the forbidden door ... her twin.
She had no feeling for him ... how could she? She had never even met him. Yet in dying, he had been the cause of her exile to the hated Lal Mahal. She would not leave without taking a peek behind that forbidden door ... without getting a glimpse of the cause of all her troubles. If she left without seeing his face, she would leave a part of herself behind.
And so she finally opens the forbidden door.
Stumbles to switch on the lights.
Drops her phone in the process.
And straightens ... to look straight into ... the eyes of her unknown twin.
Except that he is not unknown at all.
The boy she met on the ghats of Benaras. The boy she shared a birthday with, a day they both hate. The boy who gave her the rudraksha bracelet she now wears, the bracelet that gave her an inexplicable feeling of sorrow and anguish the day it broke. The boy who felt complete when in Benaras, but when he left, he felt bereft, as though losing something precious.
Was it sheer chance that they met that day? A coincidence?
Vatsalya does not think so. And he has something to say to her ... if she would care to listen ... to open his diary and read his words ... words that feel as though they were written only for her.
Adhoore se aasmaan main rang bharta hai koi...
samay ke dhaagon se kya kya bunta hai koi...
boond ki aas main zameen ko tarasta hai koi...
phir baras ke aankhon se birha mitata hai koi...
Adhoore se aasmaan main rang bharta hai koi...
Someone fills in the colors in an incomplete sky
what does he weave with the threads of time?
Someone craves the earth while waiting for a drop of water
then that water bursts from the eyes to wipe away the grief of separation
someone fills in the colors in an incomplete sky
sawalon ka jor, jawabon ka shor...
kyun akhir kyun itna toofan uthata hai koi..
samay ke dhagon se kya kya bunta hai koi..
The force of questions, the noise of answers
why oh why does someone raise such a storm?
what does he weave with the threads of time?
jab dard ke badal chaye the, man pe raat ke kale saye the,
pane khone ke fer main jab duniya lagi thi, us waqt tum kahaan the ?
Kudrat ne kaha tha, wada liya tha, jab lahu ke ek dhage se bandha tha,
jab lahu pani ban raha tha, tab tum kahan the ?
When clouds of pain surrounded me, when the darkness of night shrouded my mind,
when the world was lost in the game of winning and losing,
at that time, where were you?
The universe told me, took a promise from me, tied us with a string of blood,
when that blood was flowing like water, at that time, where were you?
An ever smiling Vatsalya, a harmonica playing, guitar playing Vatsalya ... gentle, musical, poetic ... far removed from the hard selfish inhabitants of Lal Mahal she had met ... was this her twin?
She touches his harmonica, his guitar ... and she can feel her twin, see him sitting there, smiling, happy ...
She sits at his desk, and writes in his diary ... as though by writing to him she can talk to him again ... the boy with whom she felt such a strange instant connect ...
Ganga Maiya ne humein apne godh main milaya ... lekin us din humare mann main bhi toofan machha tha aur tumhare mann main bhi hahakar tha..
tumhari baatein bilkul waise hi hain jaise humari mann ke sawaal hote hai ... kash ek baar ... ek baar hum tumhare sawaal sun paate
vatsalya ... ye kaisa parichay hai, tum is sab kuch chodkar us duniya main chale gaye jahaan se kabhi nahin lautoge aur hum tumhari duniya main base hue hain..
hum dono apni apni duniya se nikal diye gaye hain..
jaante ho jab tum aur hum mile tho hume laga tha ki hum tumse zyada hoshiyar hai lekin apne haath main tumhara diya ye raksha sutra dekhke ab samajh aa raha hai ki tum humse zyada hoshiyar the isliye ye gift chupchap dekar nikal gaye taaki hum tum tak pahonche, tumhe dhoondhe, tumse baat karein..yehi chahthe the na tum..
vatsalya... aaj tumse humara parichay hua hai.. tumhare shabdon ke zariye.. hum kismat pe bharosa nahin karte hain kyunki humara shradh pandit kehte hain kudrat ne humara kismat ka panna khali chod diya hai aur humare haath main kalam pakada diya taaki hum roz apni karmon se bani kismat likh sakein
lekin ... lekin aaj hume lagta hai ki hamare baba humara mann rakhne ke liye aisa kehte hai ... nahin tho humne aisa koi karam nahin kiya hai jisse hum dono janam ke sagei, khoon se bandhe, zindagi aur maut ke do kinaron pe khade ho jaye..
As Anami lays her head on the table, Vatsalya is there next to her, his head close to hers, his eyes looking into hers.
And he gets up, with that ever present smile still on his face ... and backs away ... into nothingness.
He's gone.
Her twin brother is gone.
She lost him even before finding him, knowing him.
And she turns to write again with new determination ... she has lost him, but she will not lose anyone else dear to her.
Logon ke pane khone ki tamanna ne humse hamara sab cheen liya hai.. jo bach gaya hai, use bachaye rakhna bahut zaroori hai nahin tho woh bhi iss lalchi duniya ka bhent chad jayega... vatsalya hum ja rahe hain, wahi jahan tum humse mile the, Ganga maiya ki godh main.. Hum Banaras jana hi padhega ... nahin tho woh ghar bhi ujhad diya jayega. Humse tumhare mann ka rishta koi tod nahin payega..
But Vatsalya has other ideas ... as Anami exits the room, her bracelet is caught in the door.
As she struggles to free it, Vatsalya sits at the desk, reading the words she just wrote ...
Logon ke pane khone ki tamanna ne humse hamara sab cheen liya hai.. jo bach gaya hai, use bachaye rakhna bahut zaroori hai nahin tho woh bhi iss lalchi duniya ka bhent chad jayega... vatsalya hum ja rahe hain, wahi jahan tum humse mile the.
And he turns to look at her, with a small quizzical smile on his face, as though asking ... 'Really? You will really go?'
Anami stares at him unbelievingly ... and then at her raksha bracelet ... she struggles again to free it ... yes, she has to go.
And leave she does ... the waiting Poonam hands her her tin bag, the waiting auto takes off ... but her tears will not stop. Shraadh Pandit will have the answers for her ..
What should I do? I don't understand any more ... what is right, what is wrong ...
Vatsalya was my twin brother ... I met him on the ghats of the Ganga ... but he's dead now. Why did Ganga maiyya make us meet?
When I was in his room ... I met him ... got to know him. Usse parichay hua.
Shraad Pandit tries to reassure her ... people say twins are joined by their souls. Maybe destiny wanted you to meet him once before leaving his world.
But Anami isn't convinced. If it was just that, why that unknown pull to Vatsalya's room? Why did he give her his raksha sutra, why did he make her get to know him? She cannot understand ... what is the right path for her? Was Vatsalya ... and destiny ... trying to tell her something?
And she tells the Pandit about that feeling when she was leaving his room ... she felt he was calling out to her ...
Is that raksha sutra on her wrist tying her feet down as well?
Shraad Pandit tries to explain to her ... on one hand, she has her righteous duties ... on the other hand, her worldly duties ... and it is her mind, which is ruled by love, which will guide her choices. She will have to choose ... one side her Pandit family, who will support her no matter what her decision ... the other side, her real parents, and her dead brother.
Karna had the same choices ... he was indebted to Duryodhana, so chose to fight on his side, leaving behind his charioteer father and his foster mother. However Karna fought on the wrong side ... Anami will now fight for her dead brother, Vatsalya ... the right side. Along the way, she will have more choices to make ... for unlike in the Mahabharata, where Karna knew he was on the wrong side, here Anami will take time to understand which side is the right side, and which is the wrong one. For as Adhiraj famously says, nothing is as it seems in the Laal Mahal.
No comments:
Post a Comment