(500) Days of Summer

There are two types of movies that stand out from among the many types of movies made and watched: 

1. A movie that is so complete that you should watch it only once; repeated viewing may spoil the experience.
2. A movie that grows on you every time you watch it. Repeated viewing reveals a bit of your own self. (500) Days of Summer belongs to the latter category.  

Yesterday, I watched it for the second time. It’s awesome how you live/relive multiple lifetimes while watching certain movies.

 

The first time I had watched it, I was rooting for Tom.

I could relate to him. It was like random incidents from my love lives being played out in front of me and I was all out supporting Tom. I wanted him to be happy even though the movie hinted otherwise. I was disappointed with Summer not being able to love Tom the way he loved her.
 
I got angrier when Summer finally marries another guy when she adopts Tom’s belief in soul mates, love, and fate. She reveals this to Tom while they are sitting in Tom’s favorite spot in the city. Tom says that he can never understand how she can feel something for another guy which she never felt for him! Even I couldn’t.

 

Yesterday, I felt miserable for Tom.

I could see the other side.

Though most of the movie is shown from Tom’s perspective, a balanced viewer can see Summer’s side too. There is even a scene where the screen is split into to two: one showing Tom’s expectations and the other showing reality!

Summer always looked upon Tom as her best friend with whom she can share anything: secrets, time, sex, window shopping, etc. Acts and activities that Tom misunderstood as intimacy, romance, and love. There are plenty of scenes where Tom’s friends and sister tries to show him the truth and reality and he just refuses to believe that Summer does not love him. He roots for his stupid belief that because he loves her so much and so consummately, there is no way that she does not love him back! Most of us have been there and done that, right?

I saw Summer as a free-thinking, independent, and fun-loving girl who lives life in the present moment and does whatever she feels. Summer was always honest with him and, in the beginning of their relationship, had already revealed to him that she does not believe in love and she was looking for a casual relationship. Her relationships were not bound by generic labels and boundaries put down by the majority. For example, for her being friends with Tom also included having quality and experimental sex with him. But she never lied to him.

The movie also shows that once you set up a premise, a background… you can tell a story in a non-linear sequence because life and memory is a string of events, which may not necessarily move along with passage of time and space. Events in life may not have a cause-and-effect relationship. Memories may not be stored sequentially.

If you were in love, (500) Days of Summer is a must-watch. And then, please watch it again and again.

Tukaram

Tuka manhe! A very simple saying from a very simple man. His life, his village, Dehu, and its villagers.

In the movie, Tukaram, not only do we get a glimpse of the life and times of Tukaram, one of most revered saints of India, but also of Tukaram, the man, the husband, the brother, the child, the son, the trader et al.

Just like Lord Ram had to undergo all that an average human being undergoes in life when he/she dons several roles, Tuka too underwent a lot: education, apprenticeship, marriage, famine, hardships, pilgrimages, separation, death of loved ones and one of his beloved.

The movie does not portray Tukaram as a saint nor do we see a halo behind him. But we love him anyway.

His moment of enlightenment during a drought has been captured very simply and brilliantly. Brought tears to my eyes. Watching Tukaram made me cry many times.

I needed that.

First, the man drowns his materialistic wealth into the Indrayani river; later, the saint drowns his spiritual wealth (all his abhangs and kirtans) into the river. He becomes silent. He did not need words anymore; his words are etched in the hearts of those blessed to be in his presence.

The movie lifted itself from being an art form to being an experience. Very few movies have succeeded at this level.

After a long time, I felt cleansed after watching a movie.