1. Same Story Every Time
“Anginat Saal se hai vahi Puraani, tere mere Ishq ki yeh nayi Kahaani”
Tamasha constantly attempted to draw parallels with myths that surround us including epics like Ramayana, folktales like Heer-Ranjha and plays like Romeo-Juliet. With this, it wished to reflect not just the omnipresence of stories, but also the essential sameness they possessed. When young Ved informs the storyteller that he had told a different story the previous time he had come, the latter replies- “What difference does it make? It’s the same story across cultures and timelines!” And this idea leaves a life-long imprint on Ved’s understanding of the world.
By the convenient scrambling of the sub-plots of these celebrated stories by the storyteller (rather a re-teller), we are persuaded to believe that however hard we try to change it, the story of our lives will follow the same narrative beats that thousands before us have followed. It ascertains that the idea of our originality and that of our story is a facade, merely masked by the changes in our social context.
To me this idea reads out as something like this – “You are not different. Your life is not original, but merely a cluttered amalgamation of different myths or imagined realities (books, movies, etc), which you have been exposed to throughout your life. Thus, your life is predictable as it has already been written and lived over multiple times. How much ever you try, you can’t change its narrative.”
With the primary characters remaining the same, the people we encounter and the multiple lives we live, merely manifest into them. The ‘antagonist’ keeps jumping from the rigorous school, to the sentimental parents, to that ungrateful partner, to the society at large. However, amusingly, the protagonist remains the same – ‘YOU’.
These narratives carefully weave themselves into our realities and start to dictate our instincts. Exhibit A: In order to satisfy her sexual impulse, Tara decides to go back to meet Ved ONE LAST TIME. Despite mutually consenting to remain anonymous and leaving unanticipated, she acts on her impulse. Hence, they fail miserably to ‘change the story’ and remain aligned to it.
2. It’s My Story And I Control It
“Apni kahani mujhse puch raha hai! Kaayar! Tu bata aage kya hota hai! Kya hai tere dil mai? Kya chahta hai tu?”
The old and dilapidated storyteller gave a knock on Ved’s conscience, making him realise that it’s him who will decide the path of his story, and no one else. By this, the movie attempted to bring forth the idea that – “If you don’t like the ending of your story, you can change it.” A clear ambivalence in terms of the messaging of the movie is evident due to this.
In my understanding, the movie was simply weighed down by the multiplicity and complexity of themes that it attempted to cover.
It was never supposed to be a love story, and it is evident that the said sub-plot was added merely from a marketing standpoint.
The idea of ‘SAME STORY EVERY TIME’ doesn’t fit here. Our love for the movie doesn’t make us question or even decode this apparent flaw.
To be brutally honest, it could have fit well in a movie like Love Aaj Kal, which discussed the idea of unchanging love over multiple decades despite the changes in the social contexts.
Maybe the said theme could have done some good to an otherwise disappointing venture that the new Love Aaj Kal was.
