Jab Harry Met Sejal Scene By Scene Part 27: Butterfly

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Here we are, at the end!  I will be putting up a few sort of open discussion posts in a bit, because it feels like people still have things to say, but this is the end of the actual scene by scene.  Hopefully as nice an ending as it was for the film itself, a moment of joy confirming everything we have seen before (full index of JHMS coverage here)

Previously: Shahrukh proposed, Anushka accepted.  And we go straight from that moment of love, to this, their arrival in the village in the Punjab that Shahrukh has been dreaming of for years, but fearing to return to.

 

And this brings us into “Butterfly”!  Which I have heard of as added on last minute, a massy moment that doesn’t fit.  But for me, it fits exactly.  We needed this to close the circle.  Shahrukh has returned home.  Just as Anushka did.  She confronted her family and her life and did what she needed before she could be ready for Shahrukh.  And now she has made him ready for that same confrontation, to go back home.  I love their faces as they walk through the passageways and up the stairs to his home.  Shahrukh has this reflective expression, his fingers drift along the walls.  Anushka is right behind him, not touching him, but there if he needs her, and she has a big smile on her face.  Not because she is unaware of what he is feeling, but because she is so aware of it.  She knows he is going through something hard that he needs to go through.  She is happy she is there for him, that holding her hand comforts him.  And then they finally reach the terrace of his family home.  A few people come out to see him, not sure who he is.  Until an older woman comes out, sees him sitting there, embraces him, sobbing, as Anushka stands away and watches and gives him this moment.

I don’t know who that woman is, but it doesn’t really matter.  She could be his mother, his sister, his best friend’s wife.  The point is, she is someone who knows him, someone who missed him.  The thing he thought he would never have, didn’t deserve to have.  The song he keeps hearing, “Jee Ve Sohaneya”, finally is embodied.  There was someone there, all the time, singing him home.

And now we can have “Butterfly”.  The celebration of love and live triumphant.  It starts with Shahrukh going out on a tractor, and slowly tying a turban around his head.  He has found himself again, the part of himself that used to be hidden under the clothes, the tattoo and the steel bracelet and the Punjabi slang he never quite lost.  But now it is all out there, he is in the right place again.

And Anushka is in the right place too because she is with him.  It sounds terribly regressive, but this is their relationship.  He needs the Punjab, needs a certain way of living.  And she just needs to live within his life.  Whatever he wants, she can adjust to it, so long as she still has him.

But then, that is what he promised her when he proposed.  That he would always keep her feeling beautiful and worthy.  And now, in “Butterfly”, we get to see how he does that.  He sings to her, he tells her he wants her to fly to him in the fields.  And she tries to come to him in the fields, all confident in her bright Salwar, and stumbles a little, because she is still “Sejal” who is never going to be the perfect graceful woman.  But it doesn’t matter, she recovers and Shahrukh still sings to her.

(Also, as one of my friends pointed out, what he is wearing could really best be described as an idea of a shirt, rather than an actual shirt.  A nice little parting gift from the customers to us)

The whole song is like that.  Sejal is Sejal, but she no longer feels bad about that, she glories in it, because Shahrukh glories in it. They try to do the elegant falling sari scarf on the head moment, and it lands off center and he has to lift it off her face.  She does her little “Sejal” hand move, and he cries out “oy oy oy oy!” because for him it is the most enticing thing a woman can do.  And, in my favorite line, she says it directly, “I am beautiful [loveable? I’m not confident in the subtitles] because I am yours”.

And she is beautiful because she is yours to all the other people around them as well.  We see these little moments of Anushka being welcomed in as the new bride of the family, sitting with the other women, in a series of new outfits.  After these two people were rejected and alone for 2 hours, it’s amazingly cathartic to see them finally finding a place where they are welcomed with joy and unconditional love.  I’m not saying the Punjab is heaven on earth (although sometimes based on films I think it might be!), but it is for them.  A place where both of them can be who they are without fear of losing their place.  Shahrukh, because he has finally learned that he can be forgiven and loved by his home, and Anushka because they love her because she loves Shahrukh because he loves her.

It all comes together in the final moment of the song.  As the rest of the village dances beneath them, Shahrukh takes Anushkas hand and kisses it.  She jokingly gives him her other hand, he kisses that as well, and then takes both hands and gently places them on his eyes.  Anushka gives him a little look, a soft head tilt of concern, he shakes it off, and then puts his hand on her head, the same husband’s blessing position that he first took when calming her while hiding in Prague.  Only now real, she is the blessing in his life, he is worshiping her.  That gesture of touching her hands to his eyes, I know I have seen it before, I know it is something you do when you want to take blessings, it is not something a husband would usually do for a wife.  It is giving her a much higher position, which is why she is worried, what happened to make him suddenly need her so much?  And he calms her worry, and thanks her for all she has done for him, by giving her the blessing she wants, his love as a husband, her position as his wife.

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49 thoughts on “Jab Harry Met Sejal Scene By Scene Part 27: Butterfly”

  3. Thank you again for all of your insights. AND appreciation of things like the “idea of a shirt”. I think you mean costumers there, not customers. That threw me off for a minute, lol.

    I think that Sejal is home for Harry as much as he is home for her, as he tells Mayank before taking the plunge and heading to Mumbai. So, it’s not so regressive. I’m so very glad we get to see Harry coming home with Sejal by his side. I love the idea of the older woman “singing him home”.

    In the end, I’m going to stick with Shah Rukh’s head canon that they end up in a town in Punjab, with Sejal practicing as a lawyer, and Harry taking care of their 3 kids. I can just picture him enjoying stories of her clever legal gambits and sarcastic take-downs over dinner; as well as giving her great advice for dealing with clients and people based on his life experience.

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    • Okay, I work in customer service, and I spend my entire day miss-spelling customer as “costumer”. So I think it was inevitable that I would do it the wrong way round at least once in the blog. Also, yes, my co-workers are constantly giving me a hard time about it “wait, you mean a seamstress called in for technical support? Did you give her advice on what fabric to use for the next scene?”

      On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 10:03 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  4. Thank you so much for all the time and hard work you have put in the JHMS posts. I was starving for anything and everything JHMS as soon as I watched it the first time. These posts and all the discussions have been extremely satisfying. I have waited every day for each post to go up. My love for this movie has grown so much (which I thought was impossible knowing how much I already treasured it) since I discovered your blog. Just a big thank you to YOU and all the people taking part in the conversation.

    I hope we can re-visit this movie when the DVD comes out.

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    • Thank you for reading! And from a purely technical stand point, these posts will always be here. And any comment you make, from now until eternity, I will respond to it and it will show up in the comment feed. The conversation can continue as long as you want and you can return to it whenever you want.

      On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 12:24 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  5. I have faithfully read all the scenes and all the comments (many times) and being one of the few who has not had a chance to see the film yet, I thank you. Some might find it strange that I would want to read all the spoilers before I see the movie, but I think it will just enhance my viewing pleasure when I do get to see it. I have tunnel vision when it comes to SRK and it’s so great to be able to share my feelings. I just wish Netflix would hurry up and put it on the schedule. Once again, thank you so much.

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  6. My heart is all welled up. Firstly because of your beautiful insights which make this movie come alive for me and secondly they have now come to an end which urges me to start all over again from Scene1.
    I’m a hopeless romantic and absolutely in love with SRK. Somehow his romantic aura fits so well in Harry that now I can’t separate Harry from SRK anymore.
    I just want to keep reliving this movie over and over again and till the time the DVD is out, I think I’ll make do with your blogs.
    Thank you for all this amazing analysis of each scene. You have verbalised the indepth emotions that layer throughout this movie and unfortunately not many have been able to experience that.
    This remains for me the most painful aspect of JHMS. Being a hardcore SRK fan, I’ve this selfish desire to see him loved by the whole world. This movie epitomises love and could not have a better protagonist than SRK to show it.
    I would be so grateful if you could just throw a little light on why people especially in India have not been able to see the sublimity of love in JHMS?

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    • Thank you for reading!

      I am honestly not surprised that JHMS failed to connect with the majority of the audience. To me, it goes back to the promotions and expectations. This is not a family film, in any way. A child cannot grasp the depth of what is happening and, more importantly, an audience member cannot fully embrace it if they are distracted by being there with their family, taking care of their kids, etc. etc.

      It requires deep contemplation and focus to understand. I don’t blame the audience for staying away. But I am a little frustrated with critics and reviewers whose job requires them to focus and give a fair chance to every film, not being able to find something in this one. And I am also frustrated with word of mouth reviews that, instead of saying “this film did not work for me”, leap right to “WORST MOVIE EVER”.

      If I were to place blame, I would place it primarily on the promotion and release strategy. This should never have been marketed as a mass film. It should have been marketed as a small experimental film, similar to Dear Zindagi. Let the right audience find it, and they will love it. Lie to the wrong audience and trick them into seeing it, and of course they will hate it.

      What it reminds me of is Lamhe and Silsila more than anything else, similar internal films that the creators loved, but which the audiences could not handle at the time they were released, especially as they weren’t what the audience was “expecting”. But in the years since they have become cult classics as they found their own audience.

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      • You are right that this makes s certainly not a massy film but SRK and team were pretty hopeful that it was oils be appreciated by the youth. I remember him calling it a Mills and Boon type of romance. So girls especially were expected to buy it but surprisingly even that didn’t happen, not in India at least. The apathy shown by the youngsters is surprising and heartbreaking.
        Next, coming to critics. I think they have played downright dirty with JHMS. If only they had cared to give sensitive reviews ( I’m not even asking for sensible reviews here) which this movie perfectly deserves, it might have helped to change the perception of a vast majority of urban cinegoers for whom the movie was essentially made.
        And yes in years to come when all the negativity surrounding it will have died down, JHMS will definitely become a cult classic and will be counted as one of the finest movies of SRK.
        THANK YOU for bringing out the subtle enchantment of JHMS to the fore. Reading your blogs gives a lot of solace to my aching heart.
        I’ll wait for the time when the rest of the world also awakens to acknowledge it.

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        • Thank you! I also wonder if they may have underestimated the ability of the young girls who would love this film to see it in theaters? I don’t know much about India, but it seems as though a group of 13-20 year old women would be unlikely to be able to watch this film without a family member/boyfriend/someone else with them, or giving them permission. Even if that audience loved it, could they really come back over and over again the way a young male audience can for an action movie? do they have that freedom?

          Another reason to expect it to do better later, on satellite or DVD or streaming where young women have more freedom to watch what they choose as many times as they choose.

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  7. Yes, Indian girls are raised in a very protective environment much like Sejal in the movie and are not allowed to think freely for themselves. It’s always from the point of view of conforming to others, be it parents, relatives, husband or children, all in the name of preserving values, traditions, culture etc
    So it would be impossible for them to relate to Sejal. Even if they want to, they know it’s forbidden territory and sadly they can’t be so fortunate as to find their Harry. So the best option for them is to reject the movie before it touches a painful chord and triggers off dreams and yearnings which they know can never be fulfilled.
    In many senses, this is a pathbreaking film which cannot be brushed aside lightly but our society has to find courage to accept its subtlety and the beautiful message it gives to everyone to have the right to embark on your journey of self discovery.
    Unfortunately, the so called spokespersons of meaningful cinema who were expected to find this maturity of thought within themselves went rogue for reasons best known to them and In doing so, not only have they been dishonest to their profession but have also done great disservice to the society.
    Ive not yet come down to discussing the movie with you for my heart is so full of anguish over the so-called box office debacle of JHMS. I’m so grateful that I can vent out my emotions to someone who can help to put my thought process into perspective.
    Love you for being such an insightful person. I tend to become very emotional with everything concerning SRK and to find a kindred soul in you is a blessing for me.

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    • There are certain things the Indian audience won’t accept. It’s what happened to KANK. They could not understand the story at all. I talked to many people who seemed completely clueless why Rani didn’t like being married to Abhishek and would want to have an affair with the angry, cynical, limping SRK.

      In a land of arranged marriage, it’s a jackpot to get a guy like Abhishek- rich, handsome, seemingly loving. You are wrong and ungrateful if that is not enough for you. Even the thought of wanting something other than this is not understandable. Things like physical attraction, emotional connect, and compatibility are not given any importance and for generations who grew up this way, it is mystifying when a movie portrays that.

      With JHMS also, I saw people saying similar things. Why does she fall for Harry? Why is she clinging to him? Makes no sense!! Worst movie ever!!

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    • I can’t imagine telling my father (or brother or husband if I had one) that I wanted to see this movie, or being forced to explain to them why I wanted to watch it. And it feels like that might be the barrier standing between a large number of the female audience and this film, that they have to explain to a man first why the want the money for tickets, need a ride to the theater, etc. etc.

      Like you, I am frustrated with the reviewers. Especially when there is such a track record of forgiving flawed films because somehow it seems like the “right” thing to do. Why so much forgiveness for Jagga Jasoos, and not this?

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      • Because it is Shah Rukh. Either they are out to get him or they have “higher” expectations of him. It doesn’t seem to happen as regularly with other superstars. And the one who gets to me the most is Anupama, who uses Shah Rukh to promote herself and Film Companion endlessly and shamelessly. I would have hoped she’d have been able to see the nuances in this film but no, she didn’t. AAARRRGGGGHHH! She makes me so mad!

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        • I can tell you from the perspective of a psuedo-media person, it’s really tempting to use Shahrukh. If you put his name anywhere, your hit count doubles. And it works best if you either attack him or love him, not if you say “Well, Dilwale wasn’t the greatest movie, but it had some interesting parts”, you know? It has to be “BEST MOVIE EVER!” or “WORST MOVIE EVER”.

          I try very hard to resist that myself, that’s part of the reason I started my JHMS scene by scene with an explanation for why I was doing it. I wanted to justify it to myself, that I wasn’t just trying to up my hit count. And it’s also why, for instance, TGIF posts aren’t just Shahrukh fests every week, and I threw in a Luck By Chance and Kaminey review in the midst of all the JHMS coverage. It feels immoral, somehow, to use the internet/media/public obsession with Shahrukh to increase views instead of legitimately covering everything that is out there that needs to be covered.

          And I am a legit SRK fangirl! I actually have the knowledge/passion/energy to provide 24/7 Shahrukh only posts. But I am resisting my natural urges, because that’s not what I aspire to be, I want to be more than that.

          So I can see Anupuma and all the other sites and places that use the Shahrukh name, and I can understand why they are doing it, it’s cold practicality, you can write your review or your article, and then if it is a Shahrukh thing, you take a second pass and push it to extremes for the views. They don’t really “hate” him or anything like that. But I do have a hard time with it, because here I am, an amateur, trying sooooooooooooo hard to be as objective and honest as I possibly can be, or at the very least acknowledge my own lack of objectivity when it comes up, and they are actively rejecting objectivity in an effort to increase views.

          On Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 10:13 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • I honour this, Margaret, because it is – in general – the other way round as you rightly perceived: ShahRukh is used…and the line between using him or reflecting (over) him is thin, really thin.
            I agree to Carol about Anupama…she comes across like being in a hopeless love for ShahRukh resenting that he doesn’t show more interest in her than in other journalists. The interview in Lisbon wasn’t because it was him who wanted to do an interview with her, it was she who used a connection to someone who was sheduled to have a certain interaction with ShahRukh at this time and just travelled with them. ShahRukh is a generous man (the most used term when one speaks with people who work with him), so he did this interview somehow closing a period where he disregarded any of her attempts to get an interview from him (like he is doing since Dilwale with Jitesh Pilai and Filmfare). I wonder how he might react to her poor understanding of the movie…especially after the lengthy interview in Lisbon and the insightful one with Anushka. And what I dislike, too, is the inaccuracy when there is interest to put someone down.

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  8. Oh dear KANK opens up fresh wounds which took a lot of time to heal. I could absolutely relate to Rani then as I can now to Sejal. But remember having tough time convincing people about the relevance of what Rani did. I kind of took the same decision for myself. Broke away from an unhappy marriage just so to find peace within which unfortunately my partner was unwilling to let me explore.
    But yes, even my parents who supported me in my decision were absolutely not convinced with Rani’s.
    Incidentally, KANK also ended my search for a loved one because I finally admitted to myself being irreversibly in love with SRK and happily intend to do so till the end of time. (May God bless him with a long, healthy, happy and peaceful life. 🙏)
    You know, after interacting with you, I’m more than ever convinced that SRK is the chosen one and history proves that the world has never been kind to such people but I also have this conviction that his innate goodness and purity of heart will protect him from all evil and harmful intentions.
    I’ve not watched Jagga Jasoos but yes read all the eulogies that critics and reviewers were so eager to shower on it. Again, an example of how people are victims of their insecurities and personal agendas, serving which they end up pulling down those in whose reflection their own weaknesses are magnified.

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    • OOH my God, OOH my God Alka, as if you were reading what was in my heart and my mind, this is what I felt and what had really happened to me

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  9. Pingback: Jab Harry Met Sejal Scene By Scene Index | dontcallitbollywood

  10. Butterfly is actually my most favorite song in the movie. I love the lyrics, the setting, its not just a “set” song for me. I find it deeply meaningful. He is calling her a butterfly, flittering hither and thither, if you look at it from a logical stand point of view a butterfly doesn’t even know what its doing, but we humans find it incredibly beautiful. And to see her dressed like a butterfly too, yellow wings and green body – beautiful! And her self-awareness in the lyrics- she finds herself beautiful and lovable when she realizes that she is his!

    It reminded me of the last scene from DTPH where Pooja goes into a monologue about why she loves Rahul (Its been my personal monologue for why I love SRK :P)

    “When he looks at me,
    I feel beeautiful,
    At the sound of his laughter,
    My soul wants to dance,
    when he turns away in annoyance,
    I want to hold him in my arms,
    And when he loves,
    My eyes fill with tears,
    He makes me feel,
    Like I am made for him,
    And he for me.
    I love him, not for a day,
    not for a second, but for all my life..”

    And that last moment when he holds her hands to his head like in worship or taking blessings from elders, its simply gorgeous. I cried all four times by that point. She means so goddamn much to him. He worships her. That again reminds me of Ved falling down in a full body namaskar to Tara as she laughingly “blesses” him at the end of Tamasha. So beautiful. ❤

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      • not “ruined for love”…maybe “ruined for compromises”…

        If one wants to be inspired, if one wants to learn, one can learn to love unconditionally – through his movies and his persona – and use it when meeting a probable life-partner. The love for ShahRukh – imo and feeling – isn’t excluding, it can be encompassing, if one chooses it to be so.

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        • I was being a bit hyperbolic. 😬

          I always love like SRK but most people hold back and since I can’t deal with that it always ends up being disappointing just a lil. No man I’ve met has stood up to that test. Yet.

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    • Well, first, here is a post I did back before this film even came out just based on the way he was looking at her in a still. Because yes, I feel the exact same way! i think we all do, it’s not that we love Shahrukh, it’s that we want to be loved by Shahrukh, to have that amaxing sense of joy and power and happiness.

      https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2017/07/14/really-good-shahrukh-photo-gets-me-thinking-about-why-we-love-his-romances-jab-harry-met-sejal/

      What I really love about the end of “Butterfly” (and i think this is Dips’s reaction in Tamasha too) is that they aren’t taking this worship as their due, the response is “what’s going on with you? I’m worried about you if you feel like you need me this much at this moment”. It is so lovingly aware.

      On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 5:11 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • No no. It’s not usually that way for me. I don’t typically wanted to be loved by srk. I am srk. 🤗 main Shahrukh khan hun !(in the words of alia from break ke baad)

        The old me would have said that Sejal doesn’t deserve harry. He’s too cool for her. But after watching Wonder Woman I keep going back to that line “it’s not about what they deserve. It’s about how you feel”. So if harry feels for Sejal then I guess she deserves him 😬

        Yes! Tara actually starts tearing up because she knows how much it must mean for him-all of it. And she immediately comes to him looking searchingly into his eyes and he kisses her saying it’s ok. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Uff! ❤️😍😭

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  11. Butterfly is my favorite part of the film also. In a “making of Butterfly” video I saw, Shah Rukh said this dance was the celebration of their lovemaking. I saw the film here in Iowa (six times in one week). I loved it from the first scene to the last! But the Indian people in the theater left while Butterfly was still on screen! And as I walked by a group of them in the lobby they were complaining about how bad the film was, and how SRK looked so angry all the time, and so tired! It broke my heart for Shah Rukh. I wanted to say, “Why can’t you appreciate what you have in Shah Rukh Khan?” Maybe it isn’t popular, because it may seem that it is about going back to rural India, and that is not a popular sentiment at this time.

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  13. And so the prodigal returns home. Both Sejal and Harry feel at home with one another but it’s important for Harry to complete his journey by actually returning home. I feel it cleanses and releases him finally. Sejal brings him happiness, but regaining his home and roots brings him joy. I’ve heard it said that happiness can be external, but joy is internal. What I feel in the song “Butterfly” is pure joy. I also feel at this point, Harry and Sejal have married, hence Mayank and Irina are there to celebrate with them. Sejal will always be Sejal (clumsy and brash) but Harry has finally found peace and can love himself and Sejal deeply. I think Imtiaz made the movie exactly as he wanted. Small, intimate and not meant to be a blockbuster. I also think maybe the trailers and it being an SRK vehicle may have hurt the final product. Audiences expect a certain kind of performance from an SRK vehicle and were not prepared for an intimate realistic portrait of a man and woman struggling with life and identity issues. I have bought this movie and it will become a treasured part of my SRK library. There, Margaret, is my take on this movie. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this journey. Thank you all so much.

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    • Congrats! You have finished your 27 comments! And also, thank you! As you can see from the responses you got, I wasn’t the only person eager for an excuse to talk more.

      And now, you can go over to the discussion posts if you wish and give your general take on the two characters, and what happens after the end.

      On Sat, Sep 9, 2017 at 8:19 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  14. I love the ending, I think it’s just about perfect. The scene where they’re reunited in the garden is just exactly the right balance of lighthearted and emotional. I agree with the comment on the last post that the tone of their teasing exchanges has shifted from pointed to affectionate in a way that holds the whole arc of their relationship.

    Harry’s little speech really stuck with me, I turned it over and over in my mind pondering how it fit their characters. I take it to mean that he has this missing piece that only she can fill, and that if she chooses to be with him, perhaps the person she becomes in order to fill that emptiness is also the person she would most want to be, someone who is loved and valued for who she is, free from the strictures that have made her feel wrong or inadequate. I see in their characters very strongly the idea that to be happy with someone you have to love who you are when you’re with that person. To me, the movie is about each of them becoming the best version of themselves because of how they grow to love and support the other.

    They offer each other so much on a practical level too. Margaret, I’m going to quote you here from the Raula post, talking about Sejal: “And for this particular character, the freedom available to the wife of a educated globe-trotting middle-class Punjabi man is a lot greater than what would be available to her as either a proper daughter to a wealthy father, or a proper wife to a wealthy husband. Not saying marrying some random Punjabi farmer would necessarily give her a better life, but this particular man, this aggressively free-thinking man, he can give her a whole new life.” She gives up a lot to be with Harry, but she gains the freedom to live her life on her own terms.

    For Harry, I think we see what he gains in Butterfly. For the record, I don’t believe for a moment that they end up returning to small town Punjab to live. But being with Sejal rewrites the narrative of his years away from home. Instead of being a failure, a guy who walked out on his family only to have his dreams fall flat, toiling for years in low status work as a tour guide, he instead becomes the cultured sophisticate whose mastery of navigating the wider world made him a match for Sejal, something he never could have aspired to had he stayed. With Sejal as his bride, he can go back home as a success, reunite with his family with something to show for his time away, and have a fabulous party – much more fun and beautiful than that stodgy wedding in Mumbai, which wouldn’t have worked for either of them.

    That last shot of them on the tractor just kills me. I find it hilarious, like a final wink from Imtiaz. The music ends and they’re just chugging along. Butterfly is so joyful and over the top, and there’s this final shot of Harry carrying off his beloved bride, on the tractor. It’s like hooray, he’s home, he got to put on his turban and revisit the past self he had lost, but this is so clearly not who they are now, it has a lovely touch of the absurd. To me, at least!

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    • I love your take on that last shot! That it is a little wink at how silly it is for them to be playing these roles.

      I really like your take on the last speech. It’s okay for a relationship to change you, so long as it is a change you want. So often the argument is “you shouldn’t have to change/let anyone change you, full stop”. But the reality is that a relationship will always change you somehow, the only control you have is to make sure it is the kind of relationship that will change you into a person you want to be. Shahrukh is saying that he has a lack which she can fill, and the person she will be in filling that lack will be someone who always feels loved and worthy. they’ve already tried on the different people they are when they are together, and they have had time apart to confirm that this is the kind of people they want to be for the rest of their lives.

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        • Make sure to check out my “after the end” and character discussion posts. There is some more fun stuff to think about there if you aren’t quite done with the movie yet.

          On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 11:02 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  15. Regarding the ending tractor scene: I just realized it flashes back to the first Harry/Sejal scene.

    Sejal: It’s so much better in the car, right?
    Harry: What?
    Sejal: I swear, I’m going to hire a car on my honeymoon. Just like this one, with an open top! (Presumably a *high-end* convertible.)
    I just need to find that ring.

    In the closing shot, she is indeed riding in an “open-top” car with her ring. It just happens to be Harry driving their tractor rather than Rupen driving a rented BMW.

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    • Oh that is so cute! You are right. And it speaks to her general craving for freedom. She has spent her life in closed up cars with her family, dreams that marriage will be an escape (but we know Rupen and know it will just be more of the same). And in the end breaks through all barriers and is sitting on the edge of a tractor with free space around her.

      On Fri, Mar 8, 2019 at 2:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  16. Has anyone ever figured out what Harry did to feel that he needed to exile himself from India?
    The crying scene at the church – “It’s okay, it happens” along with the lyrics of the song at the time make it seem like he did, in fact, “take her in the fields” as Sejal puts it. (Perhaps not Kulwant Kuar, but someone.) He did something ‘cheap’, and he continues to do so because you can’t fix broken.
    That beach scene calling Sejal in such a raw, exposed way kills me every damn time.

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