"The dream is not that you see in sleep, dream is which does not let you sleep."
Dr. Abdul Kalam (Former President of Republic of India)
Further simplified: 'Kuchh sapne soney nahin detey...'
I have always considered myself somewhere between a drifter & a dreamer… a drifting dreamer perhaps. After the first reading of Paulo Coelho's Alchemist, I fell in love with the word 'dream' for life. I am just back from a screening of Amole Gupte's 'Hawaa Hawaai' and I don't remember crying my eyes dry before this. I am not attempting to review the film here, just jotting down some thoughts that triggered my tears as I watched the film.
Hawaa Hawaai is not just a simple story of the underdog. This story has more layers than the normal makeup, a Bollywood actress puts on before doing an item number. The film is inspirational, motivational and heart wrenching. It is also the story of overgrown kids and vulnerable adults. I have been waiting to watch Hawaa Hawaai since the first poster came out. My immense respect for director Amole Gupte's previous outings (Taare Zameen Par & Stanley Ka Dabba) added to my enthusiasm.
Barely five minutes into the film I was hooked by the simplicity of the film. The kid Partho Gupte can make the most evil heart melt like ice-cream in the Bombay summer. The lady who plays Partho's mother was another ace casting decision. The kids who played Partho's best friends were unbelievably funny! The music by Hitesh Sonik added to every mood and frame of the film. This is perhaps all I wish to tell you about the film. Now my random musings…
My first defeat as a dreamer:
When I was in school I was a loner with self-esteem issues. I was never into sports, but thanks to a rule in our school, the boys were made to play one sport. What sport would a loner choose? You guessed it - skating. I dreamt of being a skater. While I got the most basic model of skates (basically the cheapest), most of the guys who chose skating had the best fancy models with fluorescent wheels and the works. I already sucked at skating and looking at the other kids whiz past me shattered my self-confidence like never before.
I quit skating eventually, but those fancy skates… sigh. Hawaa Hawaai brought back those memories of an inept me in the skating rink making a colossal fool out of myself. I remember making a Reebok logo on my canvas shoes back then to look cool. It (the Reebok logo) looked as fake as Deepika Padukone trying to pass off as a Madrasi in Chennai Express.
"Tere raste ke sapnon mein mere sapnon ke raste lag gaye."
The above is a line from Hawaa Hawaai. That one line made me burst into tears thinking about my years spent at Bangalore waiting for my kid bro to complete his MBBS. A simple line brought back the memories of about four years sitting in a cubicle writing headlines to sell cars, mobile phones and other random miscellany. Sometimes you have to put your dreams on hold to let your dear one chase their dream. I swear to God it was worth every moment when I saw Kirtan get his MBBS degree amidst his friends & my cousins clapping away to glory.
Saqib Saleem & Anuj who (effortlessly & amazingly) play brothers in this film reminded me of all the time I spent with my kid brother while he was completing his MBBS in Chennai.
Is your dream just YOUR dream alone?
It has been a while since I have given up other sundry (practical) pursuits (like earning money to buy my home & a car or two) to make my own film/s. I remember the first time I told my parents about wanting to be a filmmaker, they didn't understand. It took me about two-odd years to convince them about my stupid decision of choosing to remain broke for the next few years. Given the fact that almost everybody in my family earns top dollar, it must have been tough for my parents to defend my choice.
Then it happened one day. My phone rang. It was my mother. She sounded very happy. She asked me, "Your never told us that you made a film." I was shocked, because other than a few stupid short films, I hadn't made anything as yet. Then she told me about me having made a film called 'Dhobi Ghat'. I burst into laughter! It was my namesake, Aamir Khan's wife, Kiran Rao, who had made the film & my mother mistook it to be my first film. We had a hearty laughter over it.
But that day I realised that my dream to become a filmmaker wasn't my dream alone. Everybody close to me shared that dream of mine. They all wanted me to be a filmmaker.
My first victory as a dreamer:
I had signed my first film as a writer. A rookie writer out of nowhere had come to the city of dreams and taken his first cheque as a film writer. It was a magical moment, one I will cherish even on my deathbed. I had written a lot of stuff before, right from obituaries to corporate films and some short films as well, but a full length Hindi feature film? NO. NEVER. NOT. It was a daunting task. It took me a lot of egging on from Rani, lot of staring at the blank word doc and a lot of self-loathing.
If my email address is anything to go by, magik worx… you bet it does. One fateful evening I wrote the two most-coveted words for a film writer - The End. I had written my first full length Hindi feature film. A lot of credit for that goes to Rani as well.
I re-lived my first victory when I saw the finale of Hawaa Hawaai.
I cried again.
Please do try & watch this beautiful film by Amole Gupte. Also, please spread the word.
Love,
Magik.
