Life,Movies & Masala (Genre - Life & Living)

There was a time in my life when I had lots of questions and was desperate for answers. For me the answer came in the form of a movie that I saw. The movie too was aptly named Mr.Destiny. I recall that I took it as a sign from the heavens up above and it showed the way for the person I am today. I still consider it as one of the turning points in my life. Often subconsciously I look for meanings in movies that I see and try to co-relate it with what’s happening in my life. Don’t we all do it ?? Gone are the days when a troubled soul goes to a wise man seeking answers, we are children of a convenient life and movies are a entertaining way to find answers. Life’s like that. In life you will find anything you are looking for, provided you are desperate enough to seek it. What, Where, How are questions which will unfold itself once you get your answers.

But the tragedy of this situation is that we seek those perfect lives, same out of world settings, happy endings and special effects in our real lives too. Just stop for a second – think – think every moment that had an impact on you and If I were to ask you to describe it; the first example that would come to our mind is a particular scene from some hit movie...Isn’t it?? Tell me if I am wrong.

We are subconsciously trying to impose reel life on to our real life and that won’t work. Harsh Kabra says - In attempting to realize our imaginations, we subconsciously create multi-layered, artificial “what-if”s realities, fooling ourselves into believing what is not. We start desiring the unachievable — instant cash, overnight success, unlimited power, textbook relationships — only to end up burdening ourselves with a sense of non-achievement, and letting our perceived failures govern us. Unrealistic desires, regardless of whether they are achievable or not, are largely inappropriate because they are self-serving. Our yearning for special effects in life stems from the longing for quick-fix solutions. It lacks a vision because we rarely set objectives for our worldly existence. It is often founded on fantasies about the ever-elusive ‘super-achievement’, which divorces it from realism. It grows synonymous with the urge to find shortcuts to success, which leave us in awe of the perceived complexity of the tasks at hand and induce the fear of failure. Operational psychology explains, this as a “observable negative realization caused by non-achievement or unsuccessful avoidance of a desired or a feared person, thing or event”.

As we are often told while on the way to watch a movie esp Indian movies to leave our brains out of the theatre, coz what happens in the movie would not make any sense in a real world. Though It is said in jest, mocking the shallow movie storylines and direction. I think it should be taken with a pinch of salt, what happens in a reel stays with the reel and should not be allowed to spill over to real life.

Doctors usually suggest us to avoid too much masala food as it causes gastric problems esp for people like me who are sensitive to it. It’s high time we stop adding the movie masala to our lives – else we might not digest life’s complex flavours all too easily.