Hidden Gems’ last screening was
Meherjaan, about a young desirous girl,
falling in love, against her will, with an enemy soldier. The film was a
poetic, visual odyssey, somewhat akin to Jean Campion’s Bright Star.
Louis
Hobson, our resident critic, compared it with Franco Zefferalli’s Romeo &
Juliet and found Meheerjaan lacking in passion! His comment pricked the Eastern
sensibilities and comments started pouring in from the audience.
Did
it loose something in translation? Some put it down to Cultural differences.
However, Love is the most universal of emotions and transcends across all
creeds and colours. Nevertheless, it is expressed differently. Meherjaan’s and
Juliet’s parting had the same intensity. But Eastern traditions advocate
restraint-until recently, kiss was not even permitted on the screen. It
reminded me of all the debate over Rhett Butler’s parting exclamation, “I don’t
give damn!”
Louis
would have liked to see blood dripping as the lovers clenched hands drifted
apart. I saw an invisible thread, first stretch as Meherjaan receded in the
distance and then break as Wasim’s boat turned the corner and disappeared.
Someone mentioned “sacrifice”, a concept quite foreign to western literature as
far as personal love is concerned. Love is there, to be conquered, - for
personal gratification. To sacrifice one’s love for someone else’s is
unimaginable in this hemisphere.
The
world has always pined after unrequited love: Laila-Majnu, Sohini-Mehval,
Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet. Meherjaan was evidently still in love with Wasim as
she never married. The only thing I found lacking was that neither of them ever
attempted to find “the other” in the ensuing 40 years!
The
only eternal monument to fulfilled love is the Taj Mahal.
Niru
BEAUTIFULLY STATED....
ReplyDeleteI get the point of "restraint"....
I am glad my critique elicited some feedback...
That's what they are meant to do...
And I couldn't agree more with the question..... "if they are so much in love why
didn't they search for one another..."
My other REALLY big problem with the film is that it is "presumably" about the
child of rape searching for insights into her mother...
All she (and we for that matter) get is "your mother became a soldier"
We needed to see her as a soldier...we needed to see why/how she gave up her child..
but the film abandoned her...
Whose story is this film?
Or was the arrival of this rape child just the impetus for us to learn about the
unrequited love story
And I think whoever said my view is "cultural" is probably 1000% correct
I am not that attuned to the taboos of Asian cultures
Louis B. Hobson
Meherjaan and Wasim Khan certainly did not have time or circumstances on their side but I have to agree with Louis. The director could have shown more passion in their parting since they were both aware that it was the last time they will be seeing each other. Also, they could have picked a better actor to portray Wasim Khan. He was a good looking man but there was something wrong with the way he spoke. Finally, it is unfair to compare Meherjaan's story to that of Juliet. Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare, the best known chronicler of human emotions while Meherjaan was a debut film by Rubaiyat Hossain. I think it was a brave and beautiful effort.
DeleteSumeet Sekhon
I would say their love was not as intense as Romeo and Juliet because R & J were willing to give up their lives for each other.
ReplyDeleteRichard Martin
I am dissenting from the last line which reads "The only thing I found lacking was that neither of them ever attempted to find "the other" in the the ensuing 40 years." It is my understanding that they probably tried to find each other since they saved each other lives. But could not do it due to the circumstances, for example, displacement which is common during war times. Also, we do not know if Wasim actually went back to Pakistan and lived rest of his life there or became a deserter because he disobeyed official orders. Lastly, Meherjaan's love is no less than Romeo or Juliet's or any other in the history of mankind.
ReplyDeleteKellar Kahn