An Ode to Ratnam - Rahman - Dil Se

Dil se/ Uyire  – Some movies are conceived  well ahead of their times and the makers show conviction in attempting something that has never been thought of before. While such films fail miserably in the box office, time and audience bestow a haloed nostalgia upon them for eons to come. Dil se is a deliciously layered dish topped with love in the backdrop of terrorism. The movie released in an era where romance was best imagined in international locations or on mustard fields and Ratnam gave it a completely new dimension

One lead character – from the heart of India – its capital city and another from a politically – socially sidelined – literally and figuratively a cornered state – one of the 7 sisters – Assam, Ratnam pens their story which traverses through 7 stages of love, as referred to in Arabic literature - attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession, and death.

How can one miss out the beauty of his trusted lieutenant and the embodiment of music in itself – AR Rahman!!!!  While the ever popular Chaiyya Chaiyya is what would be remembered by most, my personal favorites would forever remain – Poongatrile/Ae Ajnabi and Satrangi Re ! While Udit Narayan/Unni Menon gives form to the voice of every broken heart searching for a part of his soul in the former, Sonu Nigam brings out the almost feverish sense of urgency and desperate need to be with his loved one, right now.

As we explore the beautiful frames of the movie, I would like to take you through some of the poignant moments in Amar and Meghna’s life as we travel through this blogpost !

Amarkanth Varma or Amar as he is called by his near and dear ones, was packing his bags to leave to Assam. A program executive at the All India Radio, Amar was about to travel from Delhi to Assam to cover festivities in Assam. He dragged his feet along with his rucksack to board the train and little did he know he was about to begin (?) a new journey – of love, hope and despair!

The train came to a chugging halt at Haflong train station where he sees a mysterious figure. He goes closer and as a strong gust of wind blows the shawl off the figure, what he saw was a sight to kill for!

Amar gets ensnared by the bewitching beauty of a mysterious Assamese girl, Meghna alias Moina. What starts off as physical attraction slowly takes the form of obsessive love as he chases her down from Haflong to Silchar to Ladakh with the hope of marrying her!

As he loses track of her in reality, with no form of communication whatsoever, he resorts to his only medium of communication with her – the radio waves – what follows is a musical tribute to his lady love

The radio waves that travel take his message through to Meghna whose sullen face makes us wonder if she is happy or worried while Amar asks her emotionally if she can smell his heart burning for her !

காற்றின் அலை வரிசை கேட்கின்றதா

கேட்கும் பாட்டில் ஒரு உயிர் விடும் கண்ணீர்

வழிகின்றதா நெஞ்சு நனைகின்றதா

இதயம் கருகும் ஒரு வாசம் வருகிறதா

The conversations between Amar and Meghna are so poignant that it didn’t really matter what they said – the conversations were about the unsaid. This is beautifully ellucidated in the scene where Amar hugs Meghna deconstructing her mind and mentally asking her not to leave. Meghna shrugs and tries to move away as she looks at Amar’s eyes. She knows he is the only person who can stop her. I really wish I could read through what was running in Meghna’s mind, moments before the apparent nervousness quickly transforms into a calm demeanor where she stops struggling and eventually gives in, relishing his embrace! She reciprocates his love for a minute with a passionate cuddle and yet the tear drop does not stop itself from rolling down her cheeks!  Alas, their love is doomed! While she knows it from the very onset, he must learn it the hard way. 

The best example of the brilliance of Dhulia’s dialogues in the movie would be the scene where Amar confesses his love for Meghna -  

“Pehle main yeh bataaunga ki mujhse sabse zyaada naa pasand kya hai. Hum dono ke beech mein yeh doorie hai. Yeh mujhe bahut naa pasand hai. Aur sabse buurii lagti hai mujhe tumhari aankhein .Tumhaari andar jo yeh bahut kuch chupa hota hai.. Kitna bhi main inmen dekhna chaahoon... mujhe kuch dekhta hi nahin..” (For all those who cannot comprehend Hindi – tried my best to translate it below)

“I will first tell you what I do not like about you – This distance – the distance between us. The other thing which I do not like about you – Your eyes – I try to look through it, inside you but it seems to hide a lot deep within and I am not able to see through it”

While the traditional lover boy goes ahead with telling his girl that he likes her eyes, the unconventional Amar, pulls her closer and tells her that he does not like her eyes because it seems to hide a lot and he is not able to get closer! He also goes on to tell her in another scene that he seems to like the distance now, because if there was no distance, there wouldn’t be a reason to get closer and closer!

While Shahrukh Khan’s portrayal as Amar is heart wrenching, it is undoubtedly Meghna who steals the show. Elegantly dressed, with minimal make up, this ethereal beauty makes us fall in love with her, as much as we hate her – Is she the hunter or the hunted? The enigmatic and coldly aloof Meghna isn't the traditional song-and-dance muse, a girl keeping well to herself and decidedly out of Amar's way and Manisha handles the histrionics with her impeccable performance

Santhosh Sivan – how can one miss his brilliance with the camera ! The one shot of the dilapidated fort where Amar hugs Meghna, Santhosh’s over the neck/shoulder shots, capture their intimacy in a rather reverent way

Here is saving the best for the last – ThalaivARR. And to talk about him what else can I pick apart from Sandhosha Kanneere / Dil se re  and Satrangi Re/En Uyire. Both songs, daringly sexy without even being borderline vulgar

Sonu Nigam delivers what Rahman has perfectly crafted as emotions – for the seven stages of love. Rahman plays around with the lyrical treat of Gulzar! Here is a detailed break up of the 7 stages and the musical brilliance of Rahman as he captures the feel in each line that talks about the stage, gives you the goosebumps

1. Hub (Attraction)
2. Uns (Infatuation)
3. Ishq (Love)
4. Aqidat (Reverence)
5. Ibaadat (Worship)
6. Junoon (Obsession)
7. Maut (Death)

Let me help you imagine it a little better –

Aankhon ne kuchh aise chhua, halka halka uns hua

Halka halka uns hua, dil ko mehsoos hua

The lines literally mean – the way your eyes touched me, they sparked an infatuation in me and I could sense it!  And how does Rahman present this line to us – Sonu Nigam pronounces the word Halka( light) in a way that it sounds so light and Uns in a way that you feel the extent of the infatuation. The background music dims a little to give way to the infatuation and the drum beat resumes its rhythmic devastation just as the infatuation is perfectly sensed! Wow! 

The way this song ends – Mujhe maut ki godh mein sone de (let me sleep on the lap of death) elicits the kind of mad passion that is the underlying thread of their fatal relationship (!)

The visual touches to the song – She indeed wears rainbow colours throughout the song apart from black and white – symbolic of Satrangi. Seriously, can there be a song more beautiful than this one? Before I am accused of being over-analytical and hagiographic about the song, I found out that Mani Ratnam, in fact, in an interview has said that this was his intention. He had given directions to Rahman that he wants to make a song based on the seven stages of love

Coming to Sandhosha Kanneere, one can never miss the lyrical brilliance of Vairamuthu with the magical voice of ThalaivARR himself in his highest octave

கண்ணீரே கண்ணீரே சந்தோஷ கண்ணீரே கண்ணீரே...
தேடித் தேடித் தேய்ந்தேனே மீண்டும் கண்முன் கண்டேனே பெண்ணே பெண்ணே

His eternal search for her is well captured in these lyrics along with how she evades him, yet he manages to find her and reach her

பெண் நெஞ்சில் மோகம் உண்டு அதில் பருவத் தாபம் உண்டு
பேராசைத்தீயும் உண்டு ஏன் உன்னை ஒளித்தாய் இன்று

The unique voice of ARR beautifully captures Amar’s inability and desperation to understand why Meghna is not giving into her feelings of love, ecstasy and desire as he slowly sulks into the next line - கல்லொன்று தடைசெய்த போதும்

And as he sulks – I pick up my glass of tea tuning into this song for the 100^th time during the day enchanted by his music and forever spell bound by the impact it is having on me even after 20 years!

Here is to 25 Years of Rahman and Ratnam !!