That I Would Be Good

Aamir Khan's Ghajini is out in theatres and me and my friends religiously got a first day first show ticket.

I happen to be a self proclaimed movie buff and most of the times i have some comments about the movies i watch.

This time too , as the movie unfolded , i had 5 words shouting inside my mind.

Surprisingly there was an NDTV crew waiting outside the hall to get comments from viewers. I passed by them, unnoticed. Offcourse, comments from a pack of pretty girls makes more sense for a news show. But if they had approached me, i would have said those 5 words straight to them.

" Whats with all the Negativity"

This is all that caught my mind after the film. Somehow it happened to overshadow the immaculate performance of Aamir khan , potraying the lovelorn/hunky short term memory loss guy, and one of the most crisp performances in recent times by a female lead in hindi movies (Asin).

All i went home with was a troubled heart and mind, thinking, where are we going with these kinda movies.

Movies which give so much importance to the villain that they are in fact named after them.
Movies which show a man gone crazy , killing everyone in his way , to avenge his love's death.
Movies that tell us, muscles and blood is the answer when someone does wrong to you.
Movies that show a man giving away info about two girls to goons , just for a mere 10 bucks.
Movies that in a nutshell tell us - Somebody scratched you, well then you gotta scratch back.

This somehow disturbs me.

Ghajini is going to be the most watched movie of the year , and what message does it give to the millions of people.We are talking about the same people who are currently battling through tough times of economic crisis , mounting prices, terrorist attacks and what not.

Is this what the hundreds of relatives who have lost their loved ones in the mumbai terrorist attack do ?

Hunt down hungrily the terrorists and kill them , also killing many more in the process.

When mr. Aamir khan, probably the most admired, respected and sought after personality , whom a lot of us look as an idol in terms of perfection , meaningful and thoughtfull cinema puts out this kind of message, it is really gonna go deeper than just a movie.

Also lets look at another recent widely watched movie, The Dark Knight.

It is supposed to be a movie where a superhero saves the people from The Joker.

What The Dark Knight has ended up doing, to a large extent, is celebrate this insane Joker character. Just notice the hoardes of people who have "The Joker" as their avataar in online forums and the anormous popularity of The Joker wallpapers , and you will believe me.

It idolises this perfect villain who has nothing to lose, who doesnt want money, who kills for fun and who doesnt kill his arch enemy, The Batman even when he has a chance, just because he likes fighting him.He loves the chaos and the anarchy.

Doesnt this joker sound somewhat similar to the mumbai attack terrorists? The terrorists too had absolutely nothing to lose. Their sole goal was to kill as many people as they could. They had no ransom demands, no demands about releasing their comrades, not even a plan to get out safe after the attack.

To all us who are affected by this negative media swarming around us , i would like to remind ourselves of some other great learnings which we have learned in the past, from movies itself.

Gandhigiri, though the concept was aprreciated and even practiced by some, its time we revisited those ideas.

There are many more reasons to smile, many more reasons to help others, many more reasons for hope. We just probably have to dig deeper.

If theres dark around us , theres light too. If theres Black , there is white too. And its upto us how we mix this black and white and form a grey , depending on our own understandings and sentiments.

I would leave this decision to the readers, ending by adding the video of a song and quoting my favourite lines

that I would be good even if I lost sanity that I would be good whether with or without you

That I Would Be Good - Alanis Morissette

That I would be good even if I did nothing
That I would be good even if I got the thumbs down
That I would be good if I got and stayed sick
That I would be good even if I gained ten pounds

That I would be fine even even if I went bankrupt
That I would be good if I lost my hair and my youth
That I would be great if I was no longer queen
That I would be grand if I was not all knowing

That I would be loved even when I numb myself
That I would be good even when I am overwhelmed
That I would be loved even when I was fuming
That I would be good even if I was clingy

That I would be good even if I lost sanity
That I would be good
Whether with or without you