one

Yeah, starting on the many things seen, learnt and thought over in the 4-day trip to home.

I am culturally famished here in Kanpur, sort of.
Not that one needs be, with all the SPIC-MACAY programmes and visits by authors, playwrites etc. But somehow I'm able to attend only a few of these programmes..and then again , none of them are in marAThI!
Thus i end up a glutton..nay, let's say a gourmand when I go to Pune, stuffing myself with any movie/music show/drama/exhibition that I feel would appeal to my senses.
I recently heard Pune to be one of the two 'topmost culturally aware cities in India', alongwith Ahemdabad. No wonder about that, with as many as 14 big live performances of different kinds that may go on in different locations daily.

So this time I watched the movie 'sAne gurujI'. Would not confer the habitual 'superb's and 'amazing's and 'awesome's on it. The movie went far inside than those cursory remarks.
The movie is about a freedom fighter in mahArAShTra. One of the last patrons of the generation that said "We've achieved the dream, children. Now cherish it." Last of the few good men.
A teacher. A storyteller. A creator. A worshipper of beauty, truth and love (all are synonymous, aren't they?).
The eyes and brains have by now got used to the torture in prisons that the inmates had/have to undergo. Practically every movie shows it, what's the big deal? Every time a gora sahib jailor or the kala sahib traitor is seen to torment the hero, I end up anticipating the extents of the physical injuries that the filmmakers would dare to show without getting the 'censor cut'. (does the board really exist or is it a myth, my compatriots?)
In sAne gurujI, all they showed was the prisoners made to grind grains on stone-mills. and one severe bashing by a lathi. but then there was a glimpse of guruji's mother..as his childhood memory. She singing for him while grinding the daily wheat. he giving her a helping hand.
Another glimpse. She beating him up for being a coward while taking swimming lessons. And now, he mutters, on the verge of falling down unconscious, " I wasn't afraid this time, mother!"

I could not stop the tears from welling up.

No, this wasn't the usual melodrama - child hurt, comes a righteous mother and the long monologues. It seemed real. No overacting. Just the right way.
Glorification of personality and actions is a curse on biographical movies. Avoided here, thankfully.
The element of pride and admiration about the hero does not seem exceptionable.
Just like in "Veer sAvarkar". aah well, that's a different movie, different story..and altogether different, glorious personality.
Coming back to sAne gurujI, it made me ponder over many issues.
How does one react when one sees for the first time in life, the clay feet of one's supreme idol?
Does an impulsive person always have to suffer? Or cause the people around him/her to suffer?
How can one take a public insult gallantly and still not seem spineless, but the opposite of it?
What am I ?
full stop.
Enough to say that though Sandeep KulkarNee, the lead role actor, has been my model for the imaginary 'husband material' since Shwaas - I did not for once delve into the "he's kinda cute" thoughtline this time.

The movie gave far from a complete picture of his life or his thoughts, neither did it convey a definite take-home message; but I think it did make an impact on the mind, in a mild manner. just as soft spray of a perfume would make on a cloth. unseen, but not unfelt.