Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Tamasha that is Life : Blog # 251

Tamasha that is Life


If you are someone who walks on a running escalator, Tamasha is not a movie for you. If you are someone who paces in a train impatiently waiting for your station, please do not go to watch Tamasha. If you are someone who enjoys the gliding of an escalator while watching people moving around and who smiles at a small kid’s enthusiasm just before stepping on to it; If you are someone who sits beside a train’s window looking out in to eternity enjoying nature moving by, then you will enjoy this movie.

It is not one of those movies that gets you gripped right from frame 1.In the beginning, it is disarrayed. One should wait patiently long enough to understand that those disarrayed scenes that pop out of nowhere will eventually make sense. Isn’t that the same mistake which we do in our lives too? We either get too happy to be thankful for the bright moments or we get too sad to understand that the dullness will pass by. We don’t take the effort to pause and look at random events that occur in Life with the time and attention that they deserve. We miss them just like we miss a beautiful patch of green and a stream in a fast, long journey.

Isn’t it strange that we all need that one person in Life who asks us one right question at a particular moment in time which changes us to an extent that we feel as to how could we live with our earlier self? That is exactly what Deepika’s character Tara does to Ved played by Ranbir Kapoor. Many a time, we dare not ask ourselves certain questions. It is not that those questions don’t occur to us. Oh it does, time and again. Yet, we are too afraid to listen to the answers which those questions might give way to.

Once we gather enough courage to face ourselves, then the world will welcome you with open arms waiting for you to embrace it. There is a scene where Ved talks to his parents about who he really is. I am yet to see a more earnest portrayal of courage on Indian silver screen. That was Imtiaz Ali at his brilliant best.

Many a time, we tend to forget to thank those people enough who are responsible for making us who we are. We do thank. But is the gratitude conveyed appropriately? I doubt. That is the beauty of the closing scene. All those moments where Ved thanks Tara without any words, sheer magnificence it is! It will be a crime if I don't call out the brilliant performances by the lead actors. Not to belittle Ranbir's chameleon like effortless drifting between different emotional states of his character, Deepika did outstandingly well for a character that had so less to do in this movie.


Is Tamasha a flawless movie? Of course not. At times, it is overtly indulgent. It expects the audience to be patient and to watch the magic unfold in slow-mo. There are way too many references to old Hindi films (Don-Don-Don). But yes, Imtiaz Ali’s labor of love does inspire one to courageously break away from the monotony of walking towards mediocrity and to start sprinting towards the destiny that awaits each and every one of us.

Arun Babu

No comments:

Post a Comment