F.R.I.E.N.D.S. F.O.R. L.I.F.E.

People who have watched the famous American sit-com would surely find the above title style something they know. Yeah, this post is about ‘Friends’ but no, this ain’t about ‘the’ F.R.I.E.N.D.S. It’s something much closer home.

Over the past month I have seen three new releases on their release weekends at the cheapest prices possible. Barfi!, Heroine and most recently, Student of the Year, at Regal Cinemas, CP. I was at CP and had nothing to do and so watching Barfi! happened to happen and it was a great experience. Heroine was planned and a wait for two and half days later, watching the movie was disappointing. I had no plans for this weekend and that resulted in me waking up past noon yesterday and going for an evening show of Student of the Year.

 

I had read the review of the film a day before in TOI and considering the usage of the words ‘larger than life’ and ‘unrealistic portrayal’, I had been certain that I was not going for a show of this flick. But eventually, I did go for the movie and since coming out of the theatre at 9 last night, somehow the film has been all that I have been thinking about since then. Perhaps, this specifically is the reason why I am urged to write this blog entry now.

If you haven’t seen the film, don’t worry. No plot spoilers ahead. You can safely continue reading.

The story isn’t something we haven’t seen before. But its execution is surely new. The right dialogues and the right punches at the correct moments set the story going. Three new faces debuting together, but all supporting cast members are popular TV faces that we have seen before and love to see more of. Ram and Gautami Kapoor of Ghar Ek Mandir fame, Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant as dance judges, Malini Dey and Farida Jalan’s tu-tu-main-main etc. etc. Yes, everything is larger than life. I wish Karan Johar had made St. Teresa a college; at least it would have seemed a little more easy-to-believe. Of course there is the ‘Aal iz fun’ factor in the film which ensures that you leave the hall light hearted, smiling and with praises for the filmmaker.

I have been using the term ‘larger than life’ again and again. From what I understand it, it means, situations/things being shown in such an idealistic manner that anybody watching it would want to have something exactly like that but that wouldn’t be possible as that’s where the reel and real lives draw the boundary.

Last night just before going to sleep, I messaged my best friend, “Watch the film, not for anything else, but for its portrayal of a good friendship”. Yes, apparently this was the ‘larger than life’ situation that I had fallen prey to after seeing the film- the portrayal of a great friendship between the two guys in the story. But is this actually ‘larger than life’ or is it how we accept to see things in our perspective? Or do we term it as ‘larger than life’ because probably we haven’t ‘yet’ seen something like that in our own real life? Whatever it is, it has occupied my mind for over 28 continuous hours now.

I went for the film with my sister and a college mate and his brother. Coming out of the hall we were discussing the film at length. I had liked the film. My friend said that some scenes reminded him of Dostana (2008). I kept wondering, today why don't we accept an open discussion of emotions even among two guys who are the best of friends?

I have been watching ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S.’ for the last few months and hopefully in a few weeks I would be done with the last two seasons as well. Six people staying together for ten years and still being the best of buddies. Wow! Make it real!

During the course of writing this entry I had a conversation with two of my friends on phone and I felt that both the conversations ended in a not-as-I-would-want-them-to-end way. The ‘larger than life’ thing is what is running through my grey cells and somehow somewhere I do want it to turn from reel to real.

And considering that it’s a complete mixture of random thoughts that I am having right now, I think I would end this entry here and go to sleep. Tada!