Recently, I watched the movie "Life in a Metro". Really nice movie. Depicts the "modern" aspects of the lives of people who live in metropolitan cities. The characters that I am going to talk about are Rahul, Neha and Shikha. But there were also a few more who played a very good role. This movie raises some issues that need to be addressed.
Rahul is a boy from Bhillai, who wants to make it big in his life. He wants to become very rich. So, he moves to Bombay and joins a call center. To move up the ladder of success as fast as possible, he has to please his seniors. Rahul does this by regularly giving the keys of his flat to his married seniors who are looking for a safe place to spend the night with some other girl. This gave me the impression that Rahul was a really sick person. I began thinking that Rahul had no sense of ethics and morality and all that mattered to him was money and material success. But, to my own surprise, I was proved wrong...!!! How did this happen? Rahul started thinking about what he was doing when he discovered that his boss was taking the keys of his flat regularly to spend the night with a girl that Rahul himself liked. This was the first turning point. But even after coming to know this, Rahul did not stop from continuing his old habits. This girl was Neha.
Neha works in the same call center as Rahul. She also wants fast promotions, more perks, business-class air travel and similar other things which are given only to the top executives in a company. But she is just an ordinary employee. So, what is the way out? She starts dating her boss. This happens for two years. At the end of two years, she tells her boss that she wanted a long-term relationship and not just the promotions&perks. Her boss had told this from the very beginning, and she also knew it very well that her relationship with her boss was purely a business contract and without any place for emotional attachment. But at the end of two years, after having enjoyed all that material comfort and luxury, she wanted LOVE...!!! What does this tell? The answer is simple. No matter how much we earn or freak around, our basic need is Love and not mere physical pleasure. But most of us dont realize this and seek material pleasures in everything we do. And what is the end result? Nothing but grief.
At the end of those two years, Neha gets so depressed that she tries to commit suicide and drinks a whole bottle of Phenyl. But luckily, she did it while she was still in Rahul's flat. So, on returning to his flat, when Rahul discovers this, he is shocked but manages to save her life by rushing her to the hospital. After getting well, Neha does not return to her own house due to some reason (which is not important here) and stays in Rahul's flat for a few days. It is here that things really start changing for these two people. They talk to each other and come closer, but still not close enough. Rahul takes her to a plot of land which was owned by his father. Rahul's father wanted to build a restaurant, but could not complete the project due to lack of money. So, Rahul wants to earn money so that he can complete his father's dream. I was really happy to see this. Rahul says that if it was only money that he cared about, then he would have sold that piece of land and bought a car and a flat for himself. But he did not do so. Because, to him, more important than money was his father's dream. I was really pleased to see this.
But even after this incident, Neha does not realize her mistake. Her boss manages to woo her again and they decide to live together after that. Neha's boss wants to leave his wife, Shikha, and his daughter. Neha's boss asks Rahul for the keys of his flat. But this time Rahul says, "No"...!!! Instead, Rahul hands over the keys of the cabin of the Senior Manager, a post to which he was recently promoted due to his generosities, and resigns. Rahul is in love. He has realized the futility of the kind of life he was leading and wants to return to Bhillai, the place from he hails. Very good. So, Rahul's boss instead books a hotel to spend the night with Neha. While on the way, he tells Neha about what Rahul had done. Neha realizes that Rahul really loves her. And it is love that Neha was seeking all this while, though she did not realize it earlier. She immediately drops out of the car and goes to Rahul who is just about to board the train to Bhillai. So, happy ending.
What about Shikha? Her's seemed to me the most interesting character in the movie. I am still not sure if she took the correct decision at the end.
Shikha is the wife of Rahul's boss. Her married life is not going well. There are frequent quarrels at home. She has sacrificed her career to please her husband and to take care of her daughter. One day she meets a guy, Aakash, who seems to be very caring. In a few days, she gets to know about her husband's affair with Neha. She is completely upset but does not say anything. But this encourages her to meet Aakash more often. They go out for movies and talk long hours. But there is no physical relationship between them. One day they get very emotional, but Shikha runs away saying that she is embarrassed to have entertained such thoughts. Aakash is very upset and wants to stop Shikha, but fails in the attempt.
One day, Shikha's sister gets to know about her brother-in-law's affair with Neha. But she does not tell this to Shikha. Shikha's husband is under the impression that his sister-in-law has revealed everything to Shikha. So, he asks for forgiveness, but its not clear to me whether he was really guilty or just being shameless. Shikha tells him that her sister had not told her anything. Then she tells him about her own affair. At this, her husband is up in flames. Very strange. He has been dating a girl for 2 yrs and also has had physical relationship with her. And Shikha has been just meeting and talking to Aakash, and that too only for the past few weeks. But the one who is angry is Shikha's husband. Very strange, indeed...!!! At this, Shikha's husband decides to leave her and permanently settle with Neha. And Neha also agrees. Silly Girl. But on the way, Neha is told about Rahul's decision and she immediately leaves. So, Shikha's husband again returns home. How can someone be so shameless?
Aakash is leaving for Dubai and wants Shikha to join him. Aakash is also ready to accept Shikha's daughter. But Shikha decides to stay back with her husband. I still dont know what prompted Shikha to take this decision. From the point of view of her daughter, it was probably the right decision, but I am not sure of this also. What can a child learn by living with a character-less father? Aakash would have been a much better father. But I am not sure as to what would have been the correct decision. Some situations in life can be very confusing.
There are some very important issues that this movie brings out:
1) Modern day youth is very confused
2) Physical pleasures are getting undue importance in the "modern" world
Why do I say that the modern day youth is confused? This can be clearly seen in the characters of Rahul and Neha. Rahul wants to complete his father's dream and adopts unethical means. But later realizes that what he was doing was ruining his own life. He was getting more money and better positions, but at the cost of something which is much deeper and much more important in life. Neha wants love and a long-term relationship but falls for a business contract which has even pushed her to the brink of committing suicide. Still she does not learn. It takes much longer. But I would say that Rahul and Neha belong to the fortunate category, because they learnt the lesson while still young. Many people dont realize their mistakes even till the end of their lives. And this happens because people are confused about the meaning and true purpose of life.
It is this confusion which has caused the popularity of physical pleasures. In search of a reason to live for, many people have falsely assumed that physical pleasures are the highest form of joy a human can hope for. They have no awareness of the source of immense joy that lies hidden in their own hearts. We should realize that lust is just like hunger, a mere need of the body, nothing more. To have a healthy life one has to have a balanced diet, and in the same way we need to regulate our lustful desires. If we go against Dharma, we are bound to fall into deep trouble. The teachings of the great scriptures like the Gita may seem old to some people, but these teachings are eternal principles. Does the law of gravity change with time? Was there a different form of Newton's law a few centuries back? Certainly not. The principles taught in Gita and similar scriptures are much more powerful and valid than even the greatest scientific theory. Because scientific theories break down at some point of time and space, but these principles are eternal, truly eternal. And if we go against these principles, we are surely to come to grief. This grief will not be a punishment given to us by God. God is too busy to worry about our small sins. But Nature is a system which has its own checks and balances. And we are a part of this nature. If we dont obey its laws, we should be prepared for the result.
Rahul is a boy from Bhillai, who wants to make it big in his life. He wants to become very rich. So, he moves to Bombay and joins a call center. To move up the ladder of success as fast as possible, he has to please his seniors. Rahul does this by regularly giving the keys of his flat to his married seniors who are looking for a safe place to spend the night with some other girl. This gave me the impression that Rahul was a really sick person. I began thinking that Rahul had no sense of ethics and morality and all that mattered to him was money and material success. But, to my own surprise, I was proved wrong...!!! How did this happen? Rahul started thinking about what he was doing when he discovered that his boss was taking the keys of his flat regularly to spend the night with a girl that Rahul himself liked. This was the first turning point. But even after coming to know this, Rahul did not stop from continuing his old habits. This girl was Neha.
Neha works in the same call center as Rahul. She also wants fast promotions, more perks, business-class air travel and similar other things which are given only to the top executives in a company. But she is just an ordinary employee. So, what is the way out? She starts dating her boss. This happens for two years. At the end of two years, she tells her boss that she wanted a long-term relationship and not just the promotions&perks. Her boss had told this from the very beginning, and she also knew it very well that her relationship with her boss was purely a business contract and without any place for emotional attachment. But at the end of two years, after having enjoyed all that material comfort and luxury, she wanted LOVE...!!! What does this tell? The answer is simple. No matter how much we earn or freak around, our basic need is Love and not mere physical pleasure. But most of us dont realize this and seek material pleasures in everything we do. And what is the end result? Nothing but grief.
At the end of those two years, Neha gets so depressed that she tries to commit suicide and drinks a whole bottle of Phenyl. But luckily, she did it while she was still in Rahul's flat. So, on returning to his flat, when Rahul discovers this, he is shocked but manages to save her life by rushing her to the hospital. After getting well, Neha does not return to her own house due to some reason (which is not important here) and stays in Rahul's flat for a few days. It is here that things really start changing for these two people. They talk to each other and come closer, but still not close enough. Rahul takes her to a plot of land which was owned by his father. Rahul's father wanted to build a restaurant, but could not complete the project due to lack of money. So, Rahul wants to earn money so that he can complete his father's dream. I was really happy to see this. Rahul says that if it was only money that he cared about, then he would have sold that piece of land and bought a car and a flat for himself. But he did not do so. Because, to him, more important than money was his father's dream. I was really pleased to see this.
But even after this incident, Neha does not realize her mistake. Her boss manages to woo her again and they decide to live together after that. Neha's boss wants to leave his wife, Shikha, and his daughter. Neha's boss asks Rahul for the keys of his flat. But this time Rahul says, "No"...!!! Instead, Rahul hands over the keys of the cabin of the Senior Manager, a post to which he was recently promoted due to his generosities, and resigns. Rahul is in love. He has realized the futility of the kind of life he was leading and wants to return to Bhillai, the place from he hails. Very good. So, Rahul's boss instead books a hotel to spend the night with Neha. While on the way, he tells Neha about what Rahul had done. Neha realizes that Rahul really loves her. And it is love that Neha was seeking all this while, though she did not realize it earlier. She immediately drops out of the car and goes to Rahul who is just about to board the train to Bhillai. So, happy ending.
What about Shikha? Her's seemed to me the most interesting character in the movie. I am still not sure if she took the correct decision at the end.
Shikha is the wife of Rahul's boss. Her married life is not going well. There are frequent quarrels at home. She has sacrificed her career to please her husband and to take care of her daughter. One day she meets a guy, Aakash, who seems to be very caring. In a few days, she gets to know about her husband's affair with Neha. She is completely upset but does not say anything. But this encourages her to meet Aakash more often. They go out for movies and talk long hours. But there is no physical relationship between them. One day they get very emotional, but Shikha runs away saying that she is embarrassed to have entertained such thoughts. Aakash is very upset and wants to stop Shikha, but fails in the attempt.
One day, Shikha's sister gets to know about her brother-in-law's affair with Neha. But she does not tell this to Shikha. Shikha's husband is under the impression that his sister-in-law has revealed everything to Shikha. So, he asks for forgiveness, but its not clear to me whether he was really guilty or just being shameless. Shikha tells him that her sister had not told her anything. Then she tells him about her own affair. At this, her husband is up in flames. Very strange. He has been dating a girl for 2 yrs and also has had physical relationship with her. And Shikha has been just meeting and talking to Aakash, and that too only for the past few weeks. But the one who is angry is Shikha's husband. Very strange, indeed...!!! At this, Shikha's husband decides to leave her and permanently settle with Neha. And Neha also agrees. Silly Girl. But on the way, Neha is told about Rahul's decision and she immediately leaves. So, Shikha's husband again returns home. How can someone be so shameless?
Aakash is leaving for Dubai and wants Shikha to join him. Aakash is also ready to accept Shikha's daughter. But Shikha decides to stay back with her husband. I still dont know what prompted Shikha to take this decision. From the point of view of her daughter, it was probably the right decision, but I am not sure of this also. What can a child learn by living with a character-less father? Aakash would have been a much better father. But I am not sure as to what would have been the correct decision. Some situations in life can be very confusing.
There are some very important issues that this movie brings out:
1) Modern day youth is very confused
2) Physical pleasures are getting undue importance in the "modern" world
Why do I say that the modern day youth is confused? This can be clearly seen in the characters of Rahul and Neha. Rahul wants to complete his father's dream and adopts unethical means. But later realizes that what he was doing was ruining his own life. He was getting more money and better positions, but at the cost of something which is much deeper and much more important in life. Neha wants love and a long-term relationship but falls for a business contract which has even pushed her to the brink of committing suicide. Still she does not learn. It takes much longer. But I would say that Rahul and Neha belong to the fortunate category, because they learnt the lesson while still young. Many people dont realize their mistakes even till the end of their lives. And this happens because people are confused about the meaning and true purpose of life.
It is this confusion which has caused the popularity of physical pleasures. In search of a reason to live for, many people have falsely assumed that physical pleasures are the highest form of joy a human can hope for. They have no awareness of the source of immense joy that lies hidden in their own hearts. We should realize that lust is just like hunger, a mere need of the body, nothing more. To have a healthy life one has to have a balanced diet, and in the same way we need to regulate our lustful desires. If we go against Dharma, we are bound to fall into deep trouble. The teachings of the great scriptures like the Gita may seem old to some people, but these teachings are eternal principles. Does the law of gravity change with time? Was there a different form of Newton's law a few centuries back? Certainly not. The principles taught in Gita and similar scriptures are much more powerful and valid than even the greatest scientific theory. Because scientific theories break down at some point of time and space, but these principles are eternal, truly eternal. And if we go against these principles, we are surely to come to grief. This grief will not be a punishment given to us by God. God is too busy to worry about our small sins. But Nature is a system which has its own checks and balances. And we are a part of this nature. If we dont obey its laws, we should be prepared for the result.
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