Of “Mausam,” Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Creating for the Ages…

I recently saw the movie, Mausam, written and directed by Pankaj Kapoor, and starring the beautiful Sonam Kapoor opposite the wonderful and delightfully handsome, Shahid Kapoor, none of whom are related.

Like most Bollywood movies of its genre, historical dramatic romance, the movie moved along taking its time to tell what I experienced as a beautiful love story.

Critics on both sides of the ocean suggest that the pacing could be increased by eliminating various scenes that do not contribute to the overall plot of the story.

I disagree.

The director could have deleted certain scenes and decreased the run time and perhaps maintained the high level of enjoyment I experienced.

But why fix what is not broken?

As an American moviegoer that has grown tired of movies aiming to tell a story with what often appears an ultimate goal of relaying the narrative, in movie format, in the shortest amount of time possible, I relish the opportunity to lean back and let a story unfold in its own time.

To be sure, I have viewed many Bollywood movies that reflect and pacing similar to Mausam. Khabi Alvida Naa Kehna is one such film.

I viewed it three years ago on Christmas Eve.

Nearly four hours in length and starring two of my favorites, Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Murkerji, I was determined to see what would happen to the characters they play despite having begun the movie past midnight and being incredibly sleepy.

My perseverance proved worth my determination.

Like Mausam has no become, Khabi Alvida Naa Kehna is one of my all time favorite along with Khabi Khushi Khabie Gham.

Unlike Khabi Khushi Khabie Gham, a wonderful told story that also hosts a plethora of huge stars, both female and male–what we dub in America a blockbuster–Mausam‘s strength lies solely in its storytelling.

I was drawn in from the opening scene.

Movies like this offer hope not only for the profession of movie making, but also for novice writers such as myself, whose careers rest not solely upon our ability to ascertain an agent who will ideally sell our novel to a publishing company, but instead our ability craft and refine our stories, publish them under our own auspices then market our work towards the goal of to gaining and cultivating a loyal reader audience.

A following of loyal readers who looked forward to your next work provides the writer leverage, should a publishing company approach you or I.

If a publishing company does not call, then we have created for ourselves what publishing companies fail to provide most writers who achieve publication.

Like most movie companies, publishers often have little idea what will truly please audiences.

Otherwise book sales would not have remained stagnant for so long.

Surely the recession has played its role in effecting both the numbers of viewers, or lack there of who purchase movie tickets or books.

As a consumer of both forms of entertainment I lament the poor quality of stories offered up and the ways in which they are crafted and told in both genres of entertainment.

Creations from both genres of entertainment often leave me, upon completion of viewing or reading them, with the feeling that that the work is unfinished, or worse yet that that the director or author having rushed in their efforts to finish the work.

The human imagination works on its own timetable. It takes even more time for artists to unravel what our imagination has delivered us.

Upon experiencing the dream that laid seed to Einstein’s idea for the Theory of Relativity, Einstein then worked 8 years to gain understanding of the knowledge delivered in that dream.

Einstein’s theory, a conglomerate of his theories on special and general relativity, not texturized and deepened our understanding of physics and astronomy.

It also changed the way we view everything. A 20th century creation, the effects of what it proposes stands to effect generations into the century following this our 21st century.

The number 8 turned sideways yields the symbol for infinity.

The greatest stories transcend time and delivering a gift to readers far beyond the time period in which their author and creator lived and brought the work into being.

The law of mediocrity says the artist is creating whatever she or he makes for but the moment.

Their focus remains upon not the quality for how much they are able to make.

Those of us who write or create for the ages keep are eyes upon the prize of quality.

The key to achieving this stands firmly upon one’s ability to remain attentive to the process by which we bring structure to that that which lacks form.

I once met a woman who in describing a book she had recently finished, said of the book, “It’s one of those stories that when you finish it you cannot read for a while.
The story fills you and you need time to think upon it, digest it.”

I often feel at the end of seeing an American movie that I am ready to see the next, that I am empty.

Addicts feel this way after taking in the drug or substance to which the are addicted. The more of the substance they ingest, the feeling of hunger never leaves them. Rather it increases.

Aristotle said the purpose of drama and theater is to provide a situation in which the audience can emote and experience, undergo catharsis.

Connecting with one’s feelings, psychological purging of one’s emotions, internal cleansing play important roles in our evolution as human individuals.

I recently read the writers write to evolve.

I submit that we also read to gain awareness and perspective on ourselves and the world, both of which stand integral to the growth of our hearts and souls.

It’s nice when the director  of a story told in cinematic format provides in the rendering of her or his story such to ample time to deliver the entire narrative, but time also for us the audience to take it in, savor it and digest all the characters and events have to say.