AMAR PREM - Eternal Love !

 

I remember sitting with my family and watching this movie. As a kid, the only thing that resonated with me about this finest work of Shakti Samanta was the endearing representation of food, then may it be through the tempting Samosas & Kachoris wrapped in traditional leaf packets or the mouth-watering biscuits offered by Pushpa to Nandu or the (not so safe for kids) panipuri of Natwarlal.

Amar Prem in alignment with its perfect title is a 3 hour long documentary course on different levels & languages of love. Love in itself is a universal language. It has its own consciousness.

But as humans have a habit of humanizing all the concepts of this world, they have managed to put such a simple thing into complex tags, meanings and perceptions.

Amar Prem very intelligently comments on various love languages of people while highlighting the beauty of unconditional love, love that is beyond all tags & boxes made by conventional society.

The movie's music is also a testimony to the kind of hard work that went through in the creation of this timeless classic, and it beautifully aids the storytelling too.

Love has immense potential to heal, but what does one do if this same love has made cuts so deep that one cannot heal in an entire lifetime? Such was the plight of Pushpa when she was tormented by the ones whom she trusted most. Oh to go through something so gut wrentching is an incredible test of someone's patience, self-respect and tolerance. All these emotions are culminated very well in the song 'Chingari Koi Bhadke' by Kishore Kumar. This is what happens in life, two travellers scorched by the same sun find shade into one another when there is none to find anywhere. They become listeners of each other's painful memoirs. In times of excruciating pain of heart break they find solace in the fact that they are not the only one's suffering such unimaginable pain, they push themselves & pick the courage to fight life's hardships by looking at each other's smile.

But then how long does happiness really allow us to relax? It is mere but a visitor. As soon as we cool down in the comfortable shade of happiness, sorrow awaits us in the next moment. For it is only sorrow that is our one true companion. This is how these two friends feel when the solace they find in each other is put to test by the judgmental elements of society. While one can say “The world has it in its nature to judge, why must we care? i.e Kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna!” and go about his life the other cannot, for she is a woman who is always misjudged, misunderstood and marginalized.

Here is where the bigotry & patriarchy of the people of that era is delicately yet bravely portrayed by the director. Kudos to the entire team for highlighting such issues at a time when it was common to ignore them. Pushpa succumbs and withdraws not wanting her Anand Babu to suffer at her cost, leaving him to wonder, “Ye kya hua?”.

History has it that love never dies. The society may try to kill it; there might never be justice delivered to it in the idealistic & delusional court of fake morals & ethics of humans, but in the court of time justice prevails always & love wins!

That’s what fate does for both these friends. Their respectful, thoughtful, pure love is witnessed by another such pure soul who has just begun out in this world but has already witnessed its harshness. His poor heart- too soft is lashed by the cruelty & self-centeredness of humans around him. While this boy yearns for motherly love, there is a lady who is so kind and overflowing with it for him. She has no attachments with him, she has not birthed him, does not expect him to grow up and be a son that she can boast about as her proudest achievement. She just wishes to see him, love him, care for him. She wants to shield him from this world. She buys clothes for him, feeds him, visits him in his illness, prays for his well-being and he finds a mother in her!

But as the humans have always brought their doom on themselves through their narrow-mindedness & disconnect from Dharma (Truth), Atman (Supreme being), & Prem (Love); they collectively as a society fail Pushpa once again causing the love bond between this son & mother to be cut too.

Love although is not a fleeting rush of hormones or endorphins, it is in fact like the germination of the seed of ‘Raatraani’, which Pushpa plants in her garden one day. It takes hold of the ground of your heart and slowly one by one spreads its roots deep within to reach such depths that you are not even aware of & brings out the sweet nectar of purity from down there, while nourishing & strengthening itself and forms fragrant flowers & juicy fruits whose glory spreads far & wide and through which many such new trees can be planted.

Such are our Pushpa & Anand Babu who in the process of healing themselves, heal the little Nandu showing him the power of true genuine love & compassion; who at the end of the movie resolves to return it in multifold to them & pass it on to his children, making it eternal.

***I am grateful to my uncle for being the wind beneath my wings, without his constant urging I would not have been able to take up the challenge of writing something like this. This blog is the result of his love and motivation that he continuously showers me with!***

 

-Smruti Agnihotri