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Ah…the belief, the faith that you can change the world…that you can make a difference…standing up for your ideals…debating on Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche… philosophy, politics, books, music, movies…

And then taking the ultimate step and breaking free…letting go and living your dreams…

The exuberance of youth…. where has it gone…the youth have no time to be young in today’s world. Once upon a time I was a kid and then I started preparing myself for being an adult. This is what’s true for most of us…

But then there’s art in the form of great cinema to remind us that all is not lost yet, to put before our eyes what could have been and why it’s not so…to make us think and rethink our choices.

In this article I am going to talk about two movies from two corners of the world, two masterpieces- ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ (A thousand dreams such as these) from India and ‘La Meglio Gioventu (The Best of Youth)’ from Italy.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (A thousand dreams such as these)

The 60s and 70s were arguably the most exciting period in history to be young. It was the age of rebellion against the system, of Woodstock and flower power, of la Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave Cinema), of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. And it was no different in India.

A new generation saw the promises made by independence vanishing in a cesspool of politics and indifference and they were not prepared to accept it. Radical communism began to take root in colleges throughout India. The violent Naxalite movement had its genesis in West Bengal during this period. ‘Violence by the oppressor is wrong. Violence by the oppressed is right’ was the accepted line of thought.

It is against the backdrop of these turbulent times that this story of three friends and their lives over a period spanning more than a decade is set. When the movie opens all three are students in a Delhi college.

Siddharth Tyabji (Kay Kay Menon), son of a Supreme Court Judge, born of a Muslim father and Bengali mother but unable to speak either Urdu or Bengali…he is swept away in the wave of idealism and is prepared to kick away his life of luxury. And he has guts enough to act on his ideals…

Vikram Malhotra(Shiny Ahuja), coming from a middle class family, with a Gandhian father…his only desire is to move up in society (Just watch him feigning enjoyment at a classical music session at Siddharth’s father’s house, trying to fit in with what would be called the Page 3 crowd today). He craves an entry into the very world, which Siddharth wants to escape from. He wants success and he is prepared to attain it by hook or crook. But that’s not all there is to him.

Finally, Geeta (a stunning Chitrangada Singh), drawing both Siddharth and Vikram towards herself, around whom the movie revolves…

Siddharth joins the Naxalite movement in Bihar; Geeta marries to an IAS officer but can’t let go of her first love Siddharth; Vikram becomes Mr. Fixer, finding his way through the corridors of power. They go along diverging paths, which keep on intersecting with each other and with the events of the times. Their lives take a tumultuous turn with the imposition of emergency by the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Was Siddharth too naïve to believe they could bring about a revolution or was he just not strong and brave enough to accept the more difficult truth that you need amazing fortitude along with ideals to change the world.

Vikram, the go-getter…probably the most complex of the three characters…his life filled with compromises…nevertheless he put everything at stake for the one pure and simple thing in his life…his unconditional love for Geeta.

And Geeta…she took up ideals for selfish reasons, to stay close to her love…gradually she begins to really believe…does that make her actions any less admirable. Does it matter from where you start off…as long as you reach your destination?

All these questions are left for us to ponder upon.

The last half an hour hits you hard with disillusionment, cynicism and the failure of ideals.

But not before paying tribute to the victories and tears of a generation who dared to dream…not before immortalizing the words ‘Bawra mann Dekhne chala ek sapna…”

La Meglio Gioventu (The best of youth)

The ‘Best of Youth’ is a 6-hour movie, originally made for Italian television. This itself will be enough to put off most people from watching it. But what a movie it is. It is a passionately told epic story, spanning four decades from the chaotic 1960s in Italy to the present.

This movie has the power, sweep and intimacy of great literature, without being based on any book.

The movie begins in Rome with the two brothers and Matteo (Alessio Boni) and Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) trying to rescue a young girl, Georgia from a lunatic asylum. The attempt goes wrong, setting off the two brothers in different directions.

Their personalities and choices collide and get inextricably interlinked with the events over the next few decades from the floods in Florence in 1966, student unrest in Turin and the Mafia murders in Palermo.

Nicola, a qualified doctor, goes off on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Norway, attempting to understand himself and the baffling world around him. Finally he decides to dedicate his life to helping the mentally challenged, fighting for their rights.

During the flood-relief in Florence, he finds Giulia, a free-spirited radical, playing a piano among the ruins. They fall in love, start living together, have a daughter. But Giulia is too restless to settle down. She joins an underground red brigade cell and sacrifices (or abandons, as the view may be) her family to be a part of something bigger.

Matteo, the introverted idealist sees and understands the world clearly, probably a bit too clearly. He is so filled with rage at his own helplessness that he binds himself in the rule and order driven world of the Italian police force. His is a tragic figure.

Many years later, Nicola finds Georgia again in absolutely unexpected circumstances, which leads to an unexpected meeting between two characters, who weren’t even aware of each others’ existence.

The characters go on with their lives, they grow old, some grow wiser…

Freed of the constraints of telling the story in the standard movie format of two hours, each character is beautifully etched. We get to know these characters and the intimate details of their lives, and through their stories the story of their country.

Sometimes the best way to tell a complex story is to pick out a few of the multitude of small stories making up the big tale. This movie does just that and not once during the 6 hours you feel that you are watching anything less than a great humane story of a country and its youth, its people, their compassion, loves, fears, hopes…