Jaa Jee ley apni zindagi (It's a trap)

Correct me if I am wrong, but the most common answers to any Indian’s favourite movie would be: Andaz apna apna, Dilwale dulhania le jayenge, Welcome, Dil chahta hai, Queen, etc. etc. (This list is mine actually). 

I am writing this blog post on a movie which was suggested by one of our close family friends. More like family actually. Ginni Aneja, (Feels too odd to call you aunty now that I am old). 

So here we go! The movie starts with a bit of a tour of London, where Chaudhry Baldev Singh is seen feeding the pigeons (odd hobby, but he is Amrish Puri). He is shown as a stricter version of Alok Nath, A no-nonsense man. He has a lot of love in him, but only and only for India. Like he has so much of love for India that there is a scene in which he receives a letter from his childhood friend Ajit from Punjab and he can actually smell the letter to sense the apne desh ki mitti ki khushboo. While Laajo  in serious doubts if he even remembers what fragrance she wears. The letter states that Baldev’s eldest daughter Simran would have now been all grown up because Ajit’s son Kuljeet is all manly now and it is the time that Baldev and Ajit fulfill the promise of getting their children married. (The moment where Simran would have had the coldest feet possible). But no, she chooses to get married to him in exchange for a Euro trip! Like seriously girl! What if Kuljeet isn’t worth the euro trip? What if Raj would choose to go to Vegas instead of the Euro trip? That was a pretty risky move, but totally worth it in the end. 

Simran convinces her father by getting up early in the morning and doing puja, that’s the moment where we saw the Alok Nath in Amrish Puri. The most confusing part was giving her the permission!  He says, “Ja Jee ley apni zindagi.” (but only for a month). The first time I went to Lonavala with my best friends, Gahana and Kinnari for one night, we had the family driver, back to back phone calls from our parents, photos sent for proof and a FaceTime call for another proof. We didn’t talk the whole journey so that we don’t jinx our happiness. I am a Muslim, I need to recite namaz, Quran, keep Rozas and then my mom would say, “Tumhe jaisa theek lage karo.” which means NO! (I am just exaggerating my parents have become a bit more cooler, NOW). 

I am not going to go through the exact plot out here because we have all seen this movie a million zillion times. We know we need to forward the part when Amrish Puri slaps Shahrukh. And play it when SRK intensely fights Kuljeet and his waster friends. (The look in SRK’s eyes, it melts Olaf even with Elsa’s spell on him). 

Let’s get to the straight point here now. This movie was the epitome of love. The perfect description of love. For me love’s definition is DDLJ. The efforts were taken by Raj, the respect he has for the families, the sacrifice, he even does the slow-motion walk that all Indian girls do when they are bargaining with vendors and they walk away (Slow chaloongi toh pakka bulaega). But in vain Amrish Puri is determent that he needs to get her bad daughter married to Kuljeet. Simran gets scared AF when she hears the train whistling and hooting to leave. That’s when she starts begging and pleading to her father, “Let me go, let me go! Don’t hold me anymore!” The way CHAUDHRY BALDEV SINGH looks at Simran with those big eyes. If I were Simran, I would look at those eyes and forget that I ever met Raj, I would probably even forget that I am Simran. To be honest, my mom had eyes similar to Amrish Puri. (Had! Now they have shrunk and she looks more harmless and cute). (Sorry Maa!). So if we were at a social gathering and we went a bit off-limits, her eyes would direct us to a small corner and make us much calmer. We never threw a tantrum in front of mom because her eyes would throw us out of the window. (That much power!). 

Leaving those eyes behind and coming back to the topic. DDLJ is the epitome of love. Nowadays love is just a four-letter word. People are practical, practicality is good but to a certain limit.  I am not a die-hard romantic, I am more of a practical person. Practicality in terms of, if it’s not going to be a long walk with a person, I would never start a journey with them. 

DDLJ was just the story of how Simran and Raj met, how they fought and conquered all the odds. The real story of their lives stared once Simran held onto Raj’s hand and got on the train. Whether they made it till the very end, whether they still loved each other after getting married is where the concern lies. 

Romeo Juliet, Heer Ranjhana, Simran Raj are only examples of the past. Today our generation is screwing it up for sure. Aaj Pooja kal koi dooja is actually practiced. We don’t have the patience to understand one another, the ear to listen, the heart to melt and forgive and the conscience to stay faithful. We need to understand it’s a two-way traffic in every relationship.Let go of the differences because differences are there to stay. Love is the smallest details that two individuals keep in mind, love is staying strong when the other falls weak, love is remembering their likes and dislikes. Love is a two-way traffic, clear faithful communication, Love is letting go and waiting for them to come back, the belief that they will return is love. Love isn’t practical, love isn’t a condition, Love is just love without any reasons.