You Don't get to Live Life Twice!

"Pighlay neelam sa behta hua yeh samaan
Neeli neeli si khamoshiyaan
Na kahin hai zameen
Na kahin aasmaan
Sarsaraati huyi tehniyaan, pattiyaan
Keh rahi hain ki bas ek tum ho yahaan
Sirf main hoon meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein
Aisi gehraiyaan
Aisi tanhaiyaan
Aur main sirf main
Apne honay pe mujhko yaqeen aa gaya"

The above few lines are composed by Javed Akhter for the film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”. Yes, go ahead and chide me for watching this movie so horrendously late. But, what to do? I’ve kinda grown a habit of watching ‘hit’ movies after all the hype has died down. I don’t do it intentionally; it just so happens that I’ve usually got no opportunity to watch it when it releases in the multiplexes. Even when Harry Potter hit the theatres, Natasha, Vaishnavi & I watched it like a month later! Anyway, so the point being – the poetry in this movie touched me profoundly. Javed Akhter has always been able to create magic in the form of songs, but this was the first time I could appreciate Urdu poetry in its true essence. Of course, my version of ‘true essence’ is still amateurish but it was the first time in a Bollywood film, that I found poetry like this to my preference of style.
Among others poems recited at the most poignant parts of the movie, in this one – my favourite line happens to be – “Sirf main hoon, meri saansein hain, aur meri dhadkanein”
My attempt at translating this, would go something like (although I generally don’t like literal translations) – It’s only me, my breath(ing) and my heart-beats.
Beautiful. Especially in the backdrop of some fabulous cinematography- land, water, air in Spain have been captured in a very picturesque manner. Amidst a pretty old style of a plot, the characters have done a decent job with ‘Imran’s’ (Farhan Akhtar) simple stealing my attention. What I liked most that, although it is life-like, it is not too much of a reality-check, for that can be putting of at times. And Bollywood cinema is notorious for creating melodrama. So I was spared of excruciatingly emotionally depressing scenes, but at the same time the film kept me feeling and absorbing the aesthetics. Zoya Akhtar’s directing has to be commended, though I cannot compare as I haven’t watched ‘Luck by Chance’.