Bollywood’s unopened diary of love: When closure won over happily-ever-after

Kisi daraaz ke kone mein
Teri tasveer mili hai…
Phir wohi kaanton ka safar
Wahi phoolon ki gali…

Love, a beautiful feeling that defies all the restrictions of society and world. Something which only belongs to the one in love and his or her heart, irrespective of whether or not it is reciprocated. It remains there, like a flame, warming you up. This year, a love story came on the celluloid. A simple one it was; guy meets girl when they are kids, guy falls for the girl hopelessly, but the girl has an affair with him and goes on to marry someone else. What was it that was different here? The movie was ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu‘, and starred Ayushmann Khurrana as the haplessly-in-love guy who is a novelist, and Parineeti Chopra as the muse of his dreams, the flirtatious and in-love-with-life Bindu. The movie ended beautifully on a note of them crooning and dancing, as life and love come a full circle for Abhimanyu, who smiles as he sees Bindu walk away with her husband and daughter, the same girl who haunted his dreams and words, day and night. He smiles, and though there is a slight pain, experiences closure. The chapter of Bindu and Abhimanyu’s unrequited and unflinching love for her, closes, calmly, like a whiff of flowers that passed by, in a moment.

Unfortunately, the idea did not appeal to the audience, and why should it? Since time immemorial, we have been used to only two types of endings; one where protagonists meet for a happily ever after, and the other where they die to meet in the eternal ever after. Seldom has the audience been able to digest the fact that there is an ending, a happy one, beyond these scenarios, the one in closure.

Cut back few months, and we had a man-child in the form of Ayan (Ranbir Kapoor) in ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, the one who could not take a no for an answer, when Alizeh (Anushka Sharma), his best friend, did not reciprocate his romantic feelings. But, towards the end, he did understand, and no matter that tears did shed as Alizeh left for another world, they were happy, Ayan was happy. His heart finally found closure in the warmth of Alizeh’s friendship and memories.

When Kangana Ranaut entered our lives as Rani of ‘Queen’ (2014), as a heartbroken and jilted bride, we felt for her. As she embarked on her honeymoon alone, stayed alone in the room which was meant to be a romantic abode for her married self, and watched the Eiffel Tower mock her from every corner of Paris, the meek Rani in her grew, and came out bolder, as a Queen. As she returned the ring to her now-interested ex-fiance, she walked out emboldened, and found closure in her independence.

But what takes the cake is a certain Sunil who came into our lives, some 23-odd years back, before Shah Rukh Khan was the romance icon who fluttered our hearts. He was the awkward guy-next-door who relentlessly worked for the love and attention of Anna (Suchitra Krishnamurthy). The one who did everything to make her smile, but at the end, did realise that even if she walked down the aisle with him, she won’t be his for she is in love with someone else. And with that realisation, came a closure for Sunil, who existed long before all the Rajs and Rahuls came in our lives turning the magic on with those charming dimples, playing the mandolins and their arms spread wide.

Sunil, Rani, Ayan, Abhimanyu; they did not fail in love, neither did they have a tragic end to their once unflinching affection. They found themselves, in the quest to find happiness in romantic idea of love. They grew up and understood that love is not just pining and shedding tears, it is holding your head high and walking through the rejection, balming your heart with the realisation that the one you loved was a shadow of the real person he or she is. More importantly, they started believing that in the course of life, they will meet that special someone, but probably not the one they fell for, so hard, so fast.

Closure, an alternative happy ending; a bitter-sweet feeling encompassed in the far corner of heart, which is beyond pain. It just stays there, like a faded rose found inside the diary, with a dwindling scent.

In the words of the song ‘Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin’ from ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’,

Raaste mein jo milo toh,
Haath milaane ruk jaana…
Saath mein koi ho tumhare
Door se hi tum muskaana…

Kadambari Srivastava

Grammar Nazi, word weaver, dreamer, bibliophile, technophile, caffeine addict, foodie, shuttling shopaholic! Mash it in a Bollywood recipe and voila! Pushpa, you’ve got her!