After experiencing the very recent cinematic horror in Ramleela, it was almost a deja vu of another senseless "love story" of this year - Raanjhanaa. After fathoming the underlying concept of such flimsy romantic flicks being made in Bollywood, I realized that there is something terribly wrong in our understanding of the very concept of "Love".
At one hand, a kiss within two minutes of meeting and deciding to get married by the same evening without having a single sensible conversation (as in Ramleela) seems to be more of lust rather than love. Where are the times when love was more about understanding, maturity, being able to link yourself with somebody else's happiness and comforts and putting someone above you? We are a practical generation with a pragmatic mindset. We fall in love, but it is not blind. Yes, sorry, but love should not be blind! There is no such thing as love at first sight, or rather we should rename it to lust at first sight, since it is nothing but a sexual attraction. Love is a beautiful expression that happens when you know somebody in and out, your mental levels strike like a chord, you balance out each other and you feel complete. It is basically much-much more than a warm fuzzy feeling where you just want to be in bed with the other person.
World would be a much better place if girls could be wooed by wrist slashing (remember Raanjhanaa?). But alas! It takes much more. You need to make her feel comfortable, you need to be chivalrous and not flirtatious around her. You need to understand her, know her and assure her that she will be safe and she will be taken care of. But only if it was not so complex, and if girls could be attracted by stalking them for weeks and getting slapped 17 times even before knowing her name, it would have been a piece of cake, isn't it? Huh!
Sadly, true love has lost its meaning. There is a pretty deep psychology behind the concept of romantic love (which is debatable), but either way, love is about going that extra mile to make someone feel special. And Going that extra mile, nowhere implies doing something special or gifting something precious, but it is about accepting someone with all your heart and let them be who they are. It is not about a first sight, a passionate kiss on your first meeting, stalking, attempting suicides for someone and definitely not about deciding to get married within a few hours of seeing them.
Love is really simple, but we make it complex and movies like this definitely mislead us and misunderstand this generation. We believe in realistic romance which is a journey of a lifetime with someone who understands you, it is definitely not an overnight bus journey.
There was an anonymous quote I read somewhere - "Today's generation gets into love because of misunderstandings, and split when they understand each other." I remembered Ramleela when I read this quote, where protagonists either get physical or break into useless dances, and wherever they have a conversation for more than two minutes, they end up in abusive fights with each other (amusingly, their fights also end with sudden kisses).
Love is not about walking together, it is about growing together. So, fall in love, have a soul-mate, make it work, fight for it, put your efforts into it and create a bond for a lifetime. Love is a long term investment, not an intra-day trading. ;)
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