Jaoon Kahaan Bata Ae Dil

That’s a fitting title for a film as distant from grand and sensual romances of good looking people cinema generally serves us. The way characters make love in movies often makes one wonder why porn (and real life) couldn’t be like that – the actual act is dirty, noisy and doesn’t always end as we want it to, much like this film – that’s as real as it gets.

I think they are having fun with the title. And it’s doubtful how far a film like this would reach; It did win the Young Critics Award at MAMI 2018, and I am pretty happy about it.

Aadish Keluskar’s Jaoon Kahaan Bata Ae Dil begins with the unnamed couple walking at Marine Drive, in a long unbroken shot that covers their meet-cute, the fighting, the backgrounds & the patch-up, and extends a duration I couldn’t keep track of. It sets the ground for the film, asking us to constantly negotiate between the artifice of filmmaking and the intentions of the narrative, and acts is a testament to the skill and understanding of actors (Khushboo Upadhyay and Rohit Kokate) that don’t miss a beat here.

Mumbai is third wheel of the relationship, the only named character moving the film forward – forcing the pair to find private spots in public spaces on their weekend date. ‘She’ is dusky, receptive, modest and looks older than her age, ‘He’ is cynical, foul-mouthed, and egotistical, and they feel complementary to each other like an unfortunate jigsaw puzzle, and the image they form is not very pretty.

The film has a critical self-awareness – as the characters discuss the need to watch films, while ‘He’ forces her to perform on him in the movie theater; later, ’He’ wants to ‘film’ the act and he wants to try something new, which she doesn’t feel comfortable about. And we become witness to the act, and it plays out in front of us, closer to reality than comfortable. That’s a problematic line the film treads, when trying to recreate exploitative situations, without trying to be exploitative itself, and that remains a question to be asked and answered individually with the gut.

Do I still want to continue looking at it, despite its obvious descent into depravity? The relationship is abusive, and despite everyone’s understanding of the situation outside the two, there are few reasons to believe things are going to be different later, but we continue watching. 

The opening scene extends an uncountable number of minutes – and none of the two performers miss a beat; I kept going in and out of the very idea of shooting it at the Marine Drive in a single take, and the dialogue between them.

The film, which for the most part captures the gritty realities, of how people actually speak without censorship, and how matter-of-fact sex generally is, take it’s most film-like turn at the end, employing a deus ex machina to provide a conclusion of sorts. Why are we still watching, asks a character at the end, and when does it all stop? It’s an uncomfortable piece of film here, one that knows it would rarely pass the moral and social codes of commercial cinema (“What’s the point” says ‘He’ when ‘She’ asks him to write and publish his ideas); yet the only reason this film exists, is only because the filmmakers believed it has to be made. That’s a foolishly brave thing to do.

That’s somewhat of a misleading trailer; but I think a film like this needs to do this – it needs a bait and switch.

Margarita with a Straw (2014)

Dir. Shonali Bose
Star: Kalki Koechlin, Revathy, Sayani Gupta
(Mild spoilers)

Let’s study the premise –
The oddly named Laila (Kalka) suffers from Cerebral Palsy, and belongs to a middle class family, the parents – a southerner married to a Punjabi. She is musically talented, as is her mother (Revathy) and falls for someone normally abled in her band, with an imminent heartbreak in sight.

Discovering one’s sexuality and identity in a teenage environment is itself an involving affair; add to it the the burden of social stigma that comes with such visible anomalies.

Laila moves to US on a scholarship, along with her mother, where she meets Khanum (Sayani Gupta), a blind gay girl who has come out of the closet, and a cute writing assistant (William Moseley); and entangles herself between her relations with all of them.

Whatever written up to here might suggest you a melodramatic, graphic, sad or too alienating an experience. It might suggest you that it might be a movie for ones with the less digestible tastes in cinema.

This, by all means is a celebration of life, and a story of acceptance of one’s own identity, though presented through someone with more visible issues, but something that is a constant struggle of all of us.

The scenes where she comes out to her mother, and the passive aggressive talks that ensue, the intimate scenes with Khanum, or when she approaches the shopkeeper for a sex toy, are subtle and brilliant. Bathrooms and toilets play an important part in the narrative – revelations – personal and social come from situations in these places of privacy – acceptance of one’s fate, discovering secrets, one’s or others’, and turning points in relationships, and building of a bond, of love, motherly or otherwise.

It beautifully highlights how a different sexual orientation is nothing more than an anomaly for our Indian settings, much alike Cerebral Palsy. But, acceptance occurs in both cases, only time and perseverance, and honesty can be relied upon.
Along with it comes an honest discussion on the problems of faith and identity crisis that arises for bisexual persons, when involved in relations with people of either gender, something that we can understand from a third-person perspective only.

Technically, there isn’t anything one should be complaining about. Mike McLeary’s soundtrack is brilliant – the perfect vibe for a cross cultural movie as this. The casting is brilliant – Revathy, as the caring but traditional mother, shall remind you of everything that a mother is and can be.

The placing is slow by regular standards of Bollywood, but is infinitely rewarding. The climax had me thinking of who it is sitting on the other side of the table – who is she dating. And it surprised me; the metaphor in her choice may be unrealistic at first, and but she discovers her sanity in a world that keeps challenging her sanity.

It’s a blessing, this movie, though I am sad this shall get washed down among all the the other releases this week, when people shall get busier watching costume clad heroes fighting with the same one-liners, seen and discussed 100 of times on the net.

In love with Kalki.