Well, now SRK is just exhausting me. I write this whole long thing for his birthday today, and he surprises me with another scene I need to discuss! It’s too much! I know he loves me, but the man has to let me alone sometimes. (full index of JHMS coverage here)
Thank goodness, this is a silent scene, so I don’t have to beg you for translation. But it’s also a really really sad scene. And kind of a confusing one, because it changes a bit of how we saw things happening before and after.
It starts with the bit we saw, after the fight, Anushka coming out and telling him she wants to go back, and Shahrukh bracing himself and then saying “Yes Ma’am.” But then it keeps going. She turns and walks away, and he turns and picks up a wine glass, slowly rolls it along the railing letting it drip out, and then smashes it.
Such a wonderful moment. The breaking of a glass and the pouring out of liquor has all kinds of powerful meanings in a variety of cultures. In Indian culture, I believe, breaking glass can be used to punctuate a vow or a declaration. The pouring out of wine or alcohol in European culture is something you do as a gesture of mourning, a tribute to someone who has died. And then their is the simple meaning of anger, of wanting to break something in misery.
All of those things are coming together here. Shahrukh is in mourning for something that has died, his time with Anushka and what they had together. And he is marking the end of it with the breaking of the glass. And at the same time, letting out his emotions in the only way he can, in one violent controlled gesture.
He goes inside and sets the broken glass on the table, but his hand is unsteady so it takes him a couple tries to get it set properly. He goes around the corner to look at Anushka sitting on the bed in the other room but can’t quite bring himself to fully make eye contact with her, just stays around the corner of the doorway.
Anushka, inside, is breathing shallowly. It doesn’t seem as though she is sad so much as in pain. In too much pain and shock to move or do anything. She is aware of him there, but not capable of turning to look at him.
Shahrukh walks away, and Anushka lays down on the bed, arm beneath her head. Shahrukh settles on the floor in the other room in the same posture, arm behind his head. Both of them, or one of them, or Imtiaz Ali controlling the film, suddenly remember their previous nights. Sleeping in increasing closeness, where now they are far apart.
The next morning, Anushka comes out of her room fully dressed and packed. Shahrukh is moving in the kitchen. He puts out a plate of toast on the table, then a glass of orange juice, then turns as though he has suddenly remembered something and comes back with a mug. He stands back for a second, as though waiting acknowledgement, with a very slight nervous look. Anushka looks at him, then puts on her purse and turns dragging her suitcases behind her.
There are two big points that I find from this new sequence. Neither of them contradicting the rest of the film, really they were there all along, but they do slightly change how it feels. The slightly less surprising one first. Seeing the way they sleep identically even while separated by a wall, combined with those flashbacks to their previous nights, gives us the message, again, that these two people are mean to be together, belong together. And gives it to us in such a way that we can’t ignore it, that it is kind of reassuring. They may be fighting now, but we can see that fate will win out and bring them back.
But the second is their contrasting attitudes post-fight. Both are sad, yes, but Anushka is sad and hurt and Shahrukh is sad and apologetic. They both know that it was he who crossed the line and ended this. He breaks the glass in anger at himself, not her. He is too ashamed to go in and talk to her, although he wants to, knowing it is up to him to fix this. She is too hurt to see him there.
The next morning, the breakfast, it feels like an apology, like an “can we start over?” Again, he knows he is in the wrong. And I don’t feel that Anushka is spurning it, just that she can’t forget that easily, she is too hurt. And notice the final action of the scene, for her, is to put back on the purse. The purse that we the audience know contains the ring. She is trying to find comfort in her previous life.
So, with these two new ideas (that they are definitely fated to get back together, and that Shahrukh is apologetic and Anushka is hurt), the next scene is very different. For the audience, we can relax a little, because we know that they will get back together later. It’s not quite the heartbreaking wrench. Which is a loss, in the film as we got it, Imtiaz dialed back the “fated!” moments right before the end in order to create uncertainty in the audience if they really were fated.
But the hurt/apologetic dynamic, that really changes things. Shahrukh gives her the tickets and tells her to take care of herself. It’s not just that he is sad to see her go, he is guilty, he feels like he has to send her off with some kind word, he truly is worried about her, but he doesn’t feel he has the right to say anything more, not after what he has done. He can’t say “I love you and I have been looking for you”, that whole speech he gives after she walks away, but he also can’t say nothing at all. And Anushka, telling him about the ring, that is her moment of “I am still hurt, but I forgive you”. More than that, “I am still hurt and I can’t be sure how you feel because you hurt me, but I also need to say this”. She can’t say “don’t put me on the plane” because she doesn’t want to get hurt again. But she also can’t say nothing at all.
In the film as it stands, we had lots of lovely discussion over who was right and who was wrong and where this fight came from and why they didn’t say more at the airport. Generally speaking, we could fill in the gap, a sleepless night, an early morning drive to Amsterdam, good-bye at airport. But there were other emotional gaps that we could fill in for ourselves.
Now, those gaps are gone. Shahrukh was wrong, Anushka is the injured party, they both know this. And now, so does the audience. And that’s a loss, to not have the gap any more to be filled in by our own experiences and interpretations. So I am sorry to have lost this amazing moment of acting from Shahrukh, but I think it was probably the right decision to cut the sequence.
dontcallitbollywood 
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I personally had the same vision without this scene.It was his fault .So for me this scene will simply enhance the experience ..emotions…I would say for western mentality final version is perfect but not everyone is capable to see and understand things which are beneath the surface…thats why all those scenes should be in the movie so everyone could understand and appreciate it.
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It matches my vision as well, but then there were discussions here which made me realize that it is open to other interpretations. So, I am glad to have the confirmation that I am “right”, but then I also really enjoyed the discussions that came about through the gaps that were still open.
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I would really like to see a cut of JHMS which has the pre-Gas cafe scene and this scene included. The cafe for the lovely transitional pieces that conversation puts in about what Sejal is feeling and thinking about Harry and her own behavior, and the extra connection with Manky and his engagement/wedding; and this scene purely for the angst and the lovely body language. But, I’m not sure how it would have flowed: fight, Sejal’s call with sis and Rupen, the “Yes, Ma’am” moment, then this scene, then car. I can also respect that leaving this scene out makes the moment more about Sejal’s journey, again, than Harry’s.
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You’re right, the fight is about both of them, and the car is about both of them, but this scene is really about Harry’s unhappiness.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 8:34 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I respectfully disagree with you on a couple of points. The first is that it is Harry who is at fault here for what has happened (or at least solely at fault). He was reacting (both in the included scene and in this deleted one) to what Sejal said in response to Manky’s questions to her in the doorway. She said, completely without consideration of what her words would mean to Harry, that her ‘real’ (read: important) life was in Mumbai with Rupen everything else there. I understand why she said what she did~and her words WERE slightly tempered by the fact that she also said that she was happier with Harry than she had ever been in her life.
But in the end, she said, as if it were a given, that she would return to her old life. And this proved to Harry precisely what he most feared~that HE was not layak; not worthy. Especially of this woman he loved so deeply and with whom he had opened up so completely. The fact that she said what she did so matter-of-factly made it even worse. After everything they had been through, including her vow to save him, she was re-iterating to him exactly what she had been saying all along: that he was just ‘for the moment’ and that ultimately she would abandon him without a second thought, None of this was, in fact, true~but she was too…not sure what, but something…unself-aware? insensitive? Unintuitive? to realize or admit it. And she neglected to consider how incredibly vulnerable Harry is~though she was well aware of it.
She hit him in precisely the worst spot possible and he reacted predictably~he retreated into his old protective shell of ‘This is what I deserve and what I expected. And I’ll deal with it. Just as I always do’ Being (technically if not emotionally) older than Sejal he probably should have been able to transcend his pain but, in truth, he was in many ways at least as young emotionally as Sejal. And so he took refuge in what had always worked for him in the past. Of course, theirs was an entirely different relationship than he had ever been involved in. They were deeply in love~soul mates~ and so it was precisely the wrong thing to do.
But it was done; they had each acted and spoken~ and now they were stuck with what had been said. And what only moments before had seemed destined to end in happiness had now been destroyed. For me, this was so REAL and; so much like life (and so far beyond cinema) that it seemed believable that they would NOT manage to get past what had happened. Harry tried with the breakfast thing (and even the night before when he had stood before her so hopefully) to make things right and get back to what they had had and could have. But Sejal had been hurt as well. She had ‘technically’ been offered nothing in the way of an alternative. And she also retreated to what she knew., what at least was factually on offer.
The second point on which I disagree is that this scene dilutes the ending. Or at least telegraphs it.
As I said, I think this story is so authentic that it was possible that there would be a different ending.
Like you, and so many of your other readers, I feel that a lot of plot and ending possibilities were explored. I also feel very strongly that one of the reasons for the lateness of the trailer is that for whatever reason the story was being edited and reworked up till the very last minute. I’m not sure why but it seems as though there was an attempt to ‘popularize’ or salvage the film based on people’s early (pre-release) responses. I myself loved the released version of JHMS but I love it much more now with the ‘release’ of the deleted scenes.
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The only thing that I see differently here, which I think makes me reach different conclusions, is that Anushka doesn’t say she will return as if it is a given. She says it with hesitation, even makes it a question at one point “but it’s not real, right?” There is an opening there for him to leap in and reassure her, to say “it is real” or even just let her keep talking through things. But instead he is the one to move away and say “Vacation’s always end”. Obviously, yes, he is hurt, I just don’t see that she did anything “wrong” here, or breaking their promises to each other, spoken and unspoken. She is articulating the situation and waiting for his response, and his response is to tell her she would be a “bad woman” if she stayed with him.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 9:02 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yeah, I don’t think it was his fault or that he even really believed it was his fault. Sejal had been cruel to him, especially because she made those comments about going back to her real life in front of his friends – making him out to be a fool even in front of others, so for him he was just reacting to what she started.
When she made those comments, it did sound like her mind was made up. Maybe she was confused and tentative but that didn’t come across. So for Harry it was time to put an end to this because he wants to get off the ride. Even if he continued the charade with her and spent another 2 weeks together in Switzerland or wherever she wanted, he realizes the end is still going to be the same – she will go back home. Why extend the pain and make things even worse for himself? He’d rather end it now and prick her bubble too that she can’t keep playing with him if she’s going to go back. If she wants to talk about reality now, she has to face it in all ways. If reality is Rupen and her parents and business, then reality is also that she will lose Harry and she has to face that. He won’t let her continue her game with herself. She can’t have it all and keep continuing to live in that middle hazy space – “beech beech main” – like she has for the trip so far.
Apart from his sadness, there actually was the practical discomfort. He had gotten so used to sleeping next to Sejal that suddenly he doesn’t know what to do or where to go and paces around trying to figure out where he’s supposed to sleep. If Sejal had come to him in the night like she usually did, everything would have been resolved early. But she didn’t have the confidence to do that after the fight and I think the recent contact with her sister and Rupen had also brought her crashing back to reality.
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This scene was tragic and I would have loved to see it in the film. However I saw him peeking into the room and her staring back at him slightly differently. Notice the trajectory of his walk to the room after smashing the wine glass. He turns around, stops sharply as if breaking out of a thought, slowly starts walking again while looking towards the room’s direction, stops again as if trying to decide if he should keep going, starts walking again and comes to a halt just a peek from the door’s entrance. Initially it looks more like peripheral view for both of them, where they know each is slightly beyond the wall but can feel each other’s presence on the other side. While he keeps standing, she eventually leans back a bit on the bed to see if she can spot him and see if he indeed is standing right there. He takes a few steps again, but seems to stop himself just before he can see her. You can sense his agony to take the natural course and just go to her. He finally takes a few more steps and comes to stand in front of the doorway. That’s when the flashbacks of them sleeping together are thrown in and the audience is made to understand that he might not be looking to make up or apologize or talk to her. He just wants to follow their normal routine and go to bed with her. He stares at her for a while, probably willing for her to give him a hint if he’s allowed to come in and lay beside her, then looks behind him to see if that’s where he’s supposed to sleep today. But his expression when he turns back again to look at her is so on point. Harry’s vulnerability of not knowing how to sleep without her (especially after the emotional embrace they had slept in the previous night) and feeling like a lost child, turning back to literally beg her through his eyes to just let him inside the room is absolutely beautiful.
The location he chooses to lay down is very interesting as well. There is a couch available right there. But instead he chooses to lay down on what looks like a bench press and his head on the stairs. Although it looks uncomfortable, I feel like he might have chosen it because it leaves some space for her if she decides to join later (the way she has previously).
And then the breakfast in the morning. His hand gesture at the end of smiling nervously and trying to invite her for what he had put together almost makes it seem that he wants her to stay but just can’t say it. And she needs him to say it, which is why we see her putting on her bag instead and walking towards the door. I definitely feel there are pre and post scenes for most of these deleted scenes. I just hope they release those as well, at least on DVD.
Just a quick question – Does Harry seem like the kind of man who would make breakfast? I wonder if him making breakfast for her has more meaning to it.
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Oh, that is a great interpretation! That he is waiting to be invited in, and leaving space for her to join him. One other thing I saw with his choice of where to sleep was that it was another punishment, to sleep on the hard ground instead of the soft sofa, because he no longer felt “worthy”.
To me the breakfast had a few layers to it. There’s the husband/wife apology part of it. But it was also an attempt to have a chance to take care of her one more time. It felt similar to how careful he was to make sure she had her ticket and boarding pass and all of that at the airport. He wants to take care of her, he likes having the right to take care of her. And she is rejecting that, she isn’t ready to forgive him and take anything from him.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 9:13 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Love your interpretation ….I do not know about others but I am making my own version of the film with all the deleted scenes included.
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Do you mean that literally & if so ~how are you doing it?
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I agree with everything you’ve said (beautifully!), and I interpreted his movements and his looks toward/at Sejal the same way before he lays down (I think directly on the floor?). I didn’t think about the fact that laying there leaves space for her to join him later. Another poignant stab to the heart.
I think there is another layer to Harry making breakfast besides the ones Margaret has already mentioned. It shows what a decent, well-mannered man he is at heart. This is his home; he is her host. Hosts make breakfast for their guests.
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Wonderful interpretation, but I think that the place he chose to sleep expresses Harry’s condition after she leaves, although he is at home, but he He slept in the worst possible way, even worse than the train station chair, Sijal became his real home
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It is a remarkably uncomfortable looking place.
On Thu, Oct 19, 2017 at 4:54 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Now I need to check back to see if the way she wears her bag has changed. I rarely put my bag on across my body, especially with such a short strap, and when I do, it is a deliberate act. It means I am feeling less safe or secure. I never do it thoughtlessly.
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I know she wears it the same way in Yaadon Main, and just over the shoulder in the first airport scene I think.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 9:47 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think I agree most with Erica. When she said, “Its not real.” He can’t in front of Manky and Evelyn say, oh yes it is. She is doing EXACTLY what he predicted and I don’t care how immature emotionally or whatever she is, if she does not see that hurt on his face, she is really playing unfair. Right now she is completely self absorbed almost because she has to be. She would need to throw off her whole life and everything she was meant to be and that takes more courage than simply keeping her there which is all he has to do. By virtue of the fact that he has to go HOME to India to get her is the journey HE has to make in order for it all to be complete and more even. I think this shows that they will make their home in Europe but that’s another post. The morning breakfast is SO real. One party wants to make up and the other just can’t and so makes it even more hurtful. It happens to real couples all the time. Also, the uneven sacrifice of way of life matters. I know someone who very very reluctantly moved to marry, moaning all the way that it wasn’t fair. I kept thinking “but if you love him..” and it turned out she did not really and the marriage ended.
Also, hurt as he is and sad as he is, he knows in his deepest heart she has to make the real decision in India. Maybe he was hoping for a “let me go home to think..” but he only got, “book a ticket.” Of all the deleted scenes, this is the one that would have made the most difference.
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I completely agree. I see the burden landing much more heavily on Sejal. Also, great point about him realizing that she would need to be pushed back to her reality in India for him to completely have her for himself.
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People are blaming either Sejal or Harry…. and no one is blaming Mayank? I don’t know anyone who would ask someone such a pointed question in front of everyone. He really put Sejal on the spot, in an uncomfortable position. Given her sheltered narrow life, she might have said what she did not so much out of honesty but in order to save face, to give the only answer that a woman in her position could give publicly, given that she & harry hadn’t talked about it otherwise. So it was basically a non-answer, and Harry should have recognized that, being a Desi who understands Sejal’s subculture, and the position she’s in as a woman (or the position she thinks she’s in).
I guess Mayank represents the audience, or the director, a plot device used at the point where the stakes needed to change. But the actual action makes no authentic sense to me. Maybe had it been Mayank, or even better, Irina, asking Sejal privately, and SRK overhearing it accidentally (a plot device often used in soap operas, lol), that would have been more authentic.
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I think Manky saw it as such a foregone conclusion that Sejal would stay with Harry that he never even imagined that she would come out with what she said. After all, he had seen them together on several occasions.
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One more thing: she sees or at least hears him break the glass. Isn’t that an admission of love or something? But she doesn’t react. That hurts even more. The door slam in a fight only works if the other person reacts. If they don’t, you are more angry more sad…
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Yes, she definitely heard him breaking the glass. She always knew he was upset and angry. I really don’t think Sejal was confused or reconsidering her decision ever while still in Europe. She had already told him earlier that she will be sweet to him but she will leave eventually so he should handle himself and not worry about her. Harry isn’t going to bother trying to convince her. He is not the type of guy who will ever beg for anyone’s love so if Sejal was waiting for something like that, it was not going to happen.
Even at the end, she tells him she realized what she felt for him after coming back to India. She genuinely thought once she was back with her family, she would forget Harry as a passing fancy and a nice memory. It makes sense too. She had only spent a week with him and despite the intensity of what they went through, almost nobody would throw their entire life away after just a dreamy week with a sexy stranger.
It was when she was back in India that she realized that everything else pales in comparison to being with him. Even if he never came, she has to get out of the pathetic life she had gotten stuck in because now she realizes life can be so much more. That’s why she cancels the wedding.
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I agree wholeheartedly and I think he is angry not so much at her but at kismet..fate that sent him his soulmate under these circumstances. I have always maintained that he KNEW she had to go back to make her decision, he just doesn’t want to give up being “the queen sized bed”. He knows how important this is because he misses her with all his heart and no sex has been involved unlike all his other relationships where that was all there was.
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And really last thing: the not knowing where to sleep and remembering sleeping in her arms is so moving and telling. He doesn’t flash back to almost kissing her or sexual moments, but to those domestic, comforting moments. That is what he wants most and more but he does know that sexual desire and compatibility matter so at the end he knows that’s what he needs to not tell her but show her. She knows the other is there.
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Which goes back to the very very last time they are together, they don’t follow the kiss with more kissing, but with physical comfort, holding each other, that is what is most important.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 11:34 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Exactly. If you watch airport reunions (Love Actually with Hugh Grant ends with great footage of real people in airports) people hug, not kiss. If you are seeing a loved one for the first time after a long time you hug first kiss later. He only kisses Sejal to show her that her worthiness extends to that as well.
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I found this to be such a heartbreaking scene. When she tells him to book her flight he is crestfallen but responds as the tour guide. His pouring out of the wine is the loss of the relationship he felt he had with Sejal and the breaking of the glass is the final break. When he comes to the doorway, the look in his eyes is almost a plea to recover this relationship but neither will make the move. As he recalls the times they have slept in each other’s arms, he feels the “home” he had with her is gone. I also felt the last smile he gave her when he sets the coffee cup down is very close to him crying. My late husband always said the best relationships are based on communication. Sejal has never been allowed to be her own person (up until Harry) and Harry has always covered his emotions with other things (women, drink). They will have a great marriage later (when they are both honest and open about their feelings) but not now.
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The fight itself is what gives me the most hope for their future marriage. Because you have to be willing to say the unspoken things, not just in the light joking way they have been trying them out before, but the stuff that really matters. He has to be able to confront her with all his ugliness, and she has to be able and willing to stand up to that.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 11:41 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The beauty of this movie is that all interpretations seem to fit in without taking away the seriousness of the plot. In fact, each deleted scene is giving it more depth and more layers to interpret.
I also feel that Sejal was not at this point that she could have a future with Harry. She had not become a complete woman, someone who had the conviction to take decisions of her own life and Harry understood this. He wanted the caterpillar to turn into a butterfly naturally rather than plucking it prematurely out of its cocoon. I think here lies the significance of that last Butterfly song.
He probably wanted Sejal to understand his love and need for her which he had never concealed from her. So it was Sejal’s decision to make, whether she made it then or later after going back. Harry is the one who knows what he wants and he throws the question at Sejal whether she would become that ‘cheap’ woman who leaves her fiancé for a tourist guide? It was for Sejal to answer that question and Harry was waiting for her answer all night and in the morning while making the breakfast and while finally bidding her goodbye at the airport.
Later after a few days, when he finally realises that he is not strong enough to live without her( I think he would have just pined away without her) that he decides to take another chance and this time not to the ‘right’ thing of being very moralistic or virtuous and see if he could get her back. And thankfully, for his sake as well as ours, Sejal had become mature and strong enough to say and do exactly what was needed for the happiness of both of them. The BUTTERFLY had been born.
I just want to add here that the sublimity of their love is shown so eloquently by the way Harry acknowledges her love with gratitude and complete devotion. No one but SRK can actually act like this. I wonder if he was even acting in this movie?
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I love the butterfly metaphor!!! It’s just what she has morphed into & I cannot believe that I missed it! This is the second best aspect of this blog~first we get to express our feelings about this incredible film in ways that I for one am unable to do with anyone in my real life (I have 3 friends to whom I’ve introduced SRK & who adore him & will see FDFS with me & are willing to listen to & participate in a certain amount of gushing plus 1 much younger Indian NRI friend who likes him & thinks he’s hot but really prefers HWood films). The second thing is that I’m always introduced to elements or details that I’ve completely missed. This is such a pleasure for me!
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As much as so many people see Sejal’s ultimately ending up with Harry as a form of closure for Akira & Samar, I think it also serves as a form of closure for Naina & Aman. Perhaps even for every film of SRKs where he and the girl don’t end up together? DilSe? OSO? Raees? Dear Zindagi? Ram Jaane? A bit out there, I admit, but speaking for myself after Raees I don’t think I would have survived another tragic ending!
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This is making me think in even bigger terms, the “twist” of a man doing the noble correct thing and stepping back, and the woman taking the leap. Which I feel like we see in many SRK films with happy endings, it’s not because of what he does, or not only because of what he does, but because of what she does as well.
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I don’t know if I saw it like that. I actually thought JHMS was the more adult, older, more dangerous version of DDLJ. Both are similar in that the guy is the man of the world, possibly untrustworthy and the girl is sheltered and naive. But JHMS ramps everything up. In DDLJ, we knew Raj was harmless and Simran’s fears were always unfounded. His dangerous streak is nothing but a bit of beer drinking – just enough to make him cool but nothing more. Harry can actually be scary – a real womanizer who roams bars and clubs, who has truly broken hearts and caused pain, who is alone and completely detached from society and it’s rules. Raj still has his dad to temper him. Sejal too is a more real version of Simran – she doesn’t beg to travel Europe with friends. She almost manipulates her way into it and jumps out regardless of what anyone thinks. At one point we hear her talking to her sister and asking her to calm down their angry father. She wants to explore her sexual side and she likes the idea of tempting the guy she’s traveling with. Simran will scream and screech at the idea of being in the same room as Raj but Sejal will never sleep anywhere except in his arms.
And despite having the same big family of aunts and uncles and parents the way Simran does, this time they are completely ignored. Their wishes and feelings and all that is irrelevant as Harry and Sejal make their own internal choices and decisions. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks and they’re willing to live with the consequences.
I think SRK and Imtiaz Ali thought the intervening 20+ years had matured the audience enough to accept this version of DDLJ, where the characters are more adult and less sweet, more sexual, less concerned with family obligations, and thinking for themselves. It’s actually more romantic in a sense because the rest of the world doesn’t matter to them. But I guess they were wrong at least as far as India is concerned.
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I agree with this completely. If Raj had lost Simran and if his father had died soon after, maybe he would have turned into Harry in 20 years time.
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Or if Raj had never met Simran. I see Harry more as a Raj who was always waiting for his Simran and is beginning to be worn down by the wait.
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That is the impression you have of Harry’s character initially, especially the way it has been introduced. Actually Harry believes himself to be a cheap immoral person who doesn’t deserve to be lived honestly, probably he has succumbed to his weaknesses and can’t find the strength or even a reason to overcome them. But later as Sejal realises and so do the audience that he is not that kind of a guy. In fact, he is just the opposite. A sweet caring sensitive person who is capable of committing himself in an emotional loving relationship.
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He even says ist (after Radha):
Sejal – No wife? Girlfriend? Sorry. You don’t need one, you get enough action.
Harry – If I had someone, I wouldn’t look for action.
He is ‘homesick’ in several ways, only one being his natal village. And he knows exactly what he is seeking yet is genuinely surprised that Sejal should be the woman who would make him feel like home (“even I don’t understand”, he says to the hotel waiter).
I love that Imtiaz took a line (“what you seek is seeking you”) that is as open to interpretation as so many things in this film.
And I love all your thoughts!
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the ending of Raees blew me away. I never saw it coming or did the head in the sand thing. I really dislike seeing SRK getting killed in a movie. It is really distressing.
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this was in response to mjpollak.
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Okay I’m obsessed with this scene and I just realized something after I watched it again. I think he never made it to the entrance and she never saw him standing and contemplating whether he could go in or not. Look at their backgrounds closely and you’ll notice the difference. It definitely wasn’t shot well and seems a little confusing. And when he eventually walks away, you still see her staring at the door and then the ceiling and still giving it a few moments for him to maybe come in since she had heard him shuffling outside. This makes much more sense for two reasons. First, her posture on the bed was inviting. She’s sitting there for him to come in and do something…anything. And when he eventually doesn’t make it, she sighs and falls back on the bed. Second, his breakfast apology is his first try to make up, which is why I think his smile looks so hopeful.
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Thank you for bringing this up..the way its shot IS confusing! But may be it was the idea?
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That was my first sense of things! That he was coming and she didn’t notice him. And again, it all feels very “long time couple”y. They are supposed to fight and then make-up, not fight and then run off and marry someone else or something similarly immature. It’s just that they haven’t quite figured out either how to fight “fair” (without making wild hurtful attacks that are impossible to respond to), or how to make up. She is waiting for him to come in or something, and he doesn’t figure it out. He makes her breakfast, but she isn’t ready for that yet. 5 years from now they will have huge fights over, I don’t know, him forgetting to pay the utilities bill, but they won’t cross the line into questioning the other person’s very identity, and they will have some standard way to make-up, perhaps that sleeping together, he would sleep outside, and she will come to sleep with him so he knows he is forgiven. But right now they are still trying to figure it out.
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I think whether or not they are fully in each others’ line of sight, they can hear each other moving, breathing, and feel that this is a moment when one or both of them could reach out to try to repair the rift, or at least comfort each other on their last night. But neither does–for lots of reasons, some of which they don’t even know. Just lovely. And, for me seeing this in theaters, seeing them apart this way in Frankfurt would have wonderfully added to their embrace in the garden in Mumbai. They’re both so brave in this movie!
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I also wonder how much of SRK is acting and how much is real. He always says in interviews that he’s not a romantic person in real life. Well, here’s how I look at that. Either he really IS the world’s greatest actor (which I happen to think he is) or he’s not being totally truthful about his real romantic feelings. What do you think?
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When he says that, I think he means that he isn’t the bold, sexy guy that he plays in movies. He can’t make those kinds of moves and steal women from other men and all that type of stuff. He would never say all those embarrassing lines like ‘aur paas, aur paas.” hah. But besides that, even his wife says he’s very romantic. She mentioned that for the last Valentine’s Day, he had lit up their whole terrace with candles for dinner. She even says that she does nothing – she doesn’t even give him any gifts because there’s nothing to give since he has everything. But he does. He loves doing all that stuff. Mannat was a birthday present for her. For another birthday, he had bought her a convertible. He loves going over the top and making big gestures.
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I completely agree. However, I do believe he has very bold sexy side to him as well, almost bordering on darkness. He talks about it sometimes and it comes out a lot through his (insanely brilliant) humor and sarcasm. Like he says, he was forced to grow up too quickly after his parent’s death and never got to experience the recklessness of a young man. So he definitely has a very risque side to him. I believe this makes him even more irresistible to women in general.
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It’s a culmination of both. Yes, SRK is an absolutely brilliant actor and despite what he says, he is a romantic person. It’s not a popularly known fact, but he’s been barred by Gauri from talking about her or them as a couple.She’s mentioned this in interviews about how sweet it is of him to be so respectful of her wishes. So you always see him skirting around their real life love story (which is so beautifully romantic if you read the details in one of his books) or not talk about romantic things he does for Gauri. But bless her interviews, we end up getting some tidbits. Like how he surprised her with a candlelit dinner on the terrace last Valentine’s. But more than that, he comes off as a complete romantic at heart. Here’s a man who loves his poetry, enjoys writing, is a voracious reader, is learning how to cook, is obsessed with his kids, and believes to have a very strong feminine side to him. It’s just who he is in real life that comes out so strongly on screen as well.
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I’ve watched SRK in enough movies, interviews etc to believe that he is love incarnate. I feel so connected to him that I see my eternal soulmate in him. I agree also that he is the world’s best actor too but no one can ‘act’ so realistically unless they actually give a part of themselves to it and he himself says that every film of his has a part of him♥️😍
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What a breathtaking scene. Just tense, romantic, with a hauntingly simple score. Imagine if this scene (and others like it) had been released individually as the promotional campaign (teasers) for the film? I think it would have right-set expectations and brought in the intended audience for the film.
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The breaking of the glass…the law of attraction…to get back to what love is really about …oh, oh, so much Rumi.
I got the most touched by the silence…everything that had to be said had been said…
the ‘pactical’ Sejal: I can’t leave without my ring! – Not going without my ring! – Not going without the ring!….I know myself. Harry, I am very selfish. I play cute now, say all the right things, pretend I’m your girlfriend, but when we find the ring, it’s bye, bye. I’m not the type to get hurt. But watch your heart. – When we find the ring, I’m gone. – It’s a dream, it’s too good to be true. It’s not real, right? It’s not true. My life is in Mumbai. My life plan. Family, business, Rupen. I have to go back.
the ‘practical’ Harry: Forget the ring. – A time will come when you’ll have to leave. No matter what happens between us, you must leave. Just don’t look back. – There is no time left. And you have to leave. It’s a farce, Sejal.
Yes, indeed, it is a farce. So, if there is anything that would make sense, it would be a “new rule”:
“Where do we go from here?” – For Harry, it seems to be clear…”High hopes.” – Sejal: “You have high hopes, right?” – Harry: “Sweetie! We’ll see about those high hopes.” – Sejal: “Ok. We’ll see.” …it’s back to “Yes, ma’am.” Still his feelings are ‘high’ – yet without the hopes.
Harry doesn’t break the glass in a fit of anger, he breaks it matter-of-factly. He isn’t unsteady either – he doesn’t even look where to put the glass, his focus is to where Sejal is.
Do you remember what Mayank said? “Confide in her”…Harry went to her room, Sejal went to her bed, sat down, waited for him to give his ‘excuse’. Harry got closer & closer: from the door to the cupboard to the table onto the chair nearer to her going onto his knees almost touching her legs.
Now, Seejal is sitting on the bed again, waiting (?) and Harry gets closer… to do what? To confide in her. But there are no words, only images and feelings…and any excuse wouldn’t change that Sejal indeed isn’t ‘ready’ yet:
http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/lakeshore/la956?id=Dzvv60&fmt=jpg&fit=constrain,1&wid=400&hei=300&fmt=jpeg&qlt=100,1&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bilin&op_usm=5,0.25,25,0
(I was surprised that I did not think earlier at the time, the little caterpillar needed to become a butterfly…from Sunday to Sunday (8 days) to eat and grow and building the cocoon.)
At Harry’s third approach to confide in her, she is “ready” 🙂
So, after the “What you are seeking is seeking you” (law of attraction) and the “Zero Circle” or the “Circle around the Zero”
http://sillysutras.com/the-circle-around-the-zero-by-rumi/
there is this wonderful scene where Harry breaks the wine glass.
I join the chorus of those who love to gather new ideas and express the own ones. Thanks for this opportunity you give us, Margaret 🙂
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So interesting that you’ve brought in so much more Rumi. (And also The Very Hungry Caterpillar–my kids could never get enough of that story!) I admit I’m not too familiar with his poetry. But it is well known that Imtiaz loves Rumi and references his poetry in his movies. Breaking the wine glass and falling towards the glassblower’s breath–that is really amazing. Thank you, Claudia
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I’ve made my viewing experience even better – I save the deleted scenes, watch the movie, pause when the deleted scene would have fit it, watch the deleted scene, then return to the movie. Little by little, I’m getting a much bigger movie. Works for me anyway.
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Yep, did so, too…maybe, one day, I do my own ‘viewer cut’ 🙂
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I’ve done the same thing! I just wish we could eventually get a director’s cut with all the deleted scenes in it–it would save the start and stop business. But I agree,it is fuller to see it with the deleted scenes inserted.
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“We are too dull-eyed to see the beauty”
Ain’t that the truth, for too many.
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Hundreds of years and no change in t h a t … random trait or just part of the flaws of the ‘Ghost in the Machine’?
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I read all the comments about the beakfast scene…the first idea I had was Suri preparing the table for Taani…and I think it is the same idea behind…I also saw that:
It’s the third movie, ShahRukh and Anushka did together…the third gives stability to the previous two, more profile, more presence while four (the next movie) is a kind of highlightening the meaning of the previous three, makes it even more solid, it’s a kind of climax. In music the three-four time is considered as the most perfect one, in the past represented as a circle (waltzing is turning around and around).
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Now you’ve got me thinking about Shahrukh’s most famous Jodi, Kajol. Which also has a distinctive series of 3s. DDLJ, K2H2, and K3G are a clear trilogy. Before, you have Baazigar and Karan-Arjun which are something of a matched set (in both Kajol is a rich girl while Shahrukh is a poor boy with a violent past), and after you have MNIK and Dilwale which are a matched set in how dissimilar they are from each other.
On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 5:19 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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2-3-2 or 3/4 or 7…a very prominent number that is topped by 8 (there is still a movie coming…the mature love story)…btw, the 8 is an important part of the Tango Argentino (the most intense love-dance). 🙂
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Did you notice Suri-Raj’s T-shirt? The reverse is used by Sejal…
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Now this whole thing is getting spooky! But I love it!!!
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Just watched this again and noticed, as Sejal is lying down on the bed (around 2:20), the now wilted garlands from the other deleted scene, hanging next to each other near the door. Oof. Right in the feelings, again.
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I rewatched the post Raula fight, and the garlands are hanging behind Sejal the whole time she’s talking to her sister and Rupen on her ipad. Sigh.
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Hi everyone, thank you for your wonderful comments and you mredlich for your blog, it’s such a joy to read your thoughts. I apologize for any language mistakes. I hope i’m understandable.
I simply adore this scene. It’s so powerful and has so many layers in it. Their fight was painful but this silence afterwards screams even louder. I find that moment of Harry on the balcony quite dark. All his sinister feelings form safar – his anger and disgust at himself – resurface. Then he picks up his wine glass… I love that angle, when the glass is right in front of his chest (his heart) he breaks it. On my first watch i nearly flinched myself. He kows he f*** up even more than she did, that he hurt her and drove her away and in doing so he broke his own heart. After that we get this little mirror shot from the fight. Now it’s her sitting numb inside and he is the one emotional standing outside. And i got a little worried that he safed the broken glass… (for later?) Now it gets more heartbreaking. Both waiting, longing for the other but unable to reach out themselves. It was a given for both that they would sleep together, it’s their routine after all. But especially this night, her first time in his apartment, they would sleep together in his bed. That the opposite happens and that this becomes also their last night is a painful stab to the heart. It doesn’t get better in the morning. Harry tries with the breakfast but he still can’t go to her or tell her not to go. For me it’s also his last chance to take care of her. Sejal on the other hand just looks beaten. All night she didn’t sleep for a second and had to face the decision that she must go back to her old life (cage). That maybe this new woman in her isn’t real, Harry wants her to go and she doesn’t belong. With this in her mind she doesn’t know how to react and then there is still his hurtful ‘yes mam’…
Another tiny detail i noticed is a wrapped up guitar standing against the wall in his bedroom. (stop at 2:54) So Harry doesn’t only sing and write songs, he also plays at least one instrument. It’s another small parallel to JTHJ if you like.
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didn’t think about the possibility of using the glass later. It adds to the depth of his pain at that moment. Which turns into something else by the time “Ghar” starts. I think the good-bye at the airport is more hopeful than this scene, it feels less like their hearts are breaking, and more like they have already broken, and they are trying to figure out how to live with that. Shahrukh gives his speech, which she doesn’t hear but he still had to say, and she tells him the truth about the ring, which is as much for her to just say it out loud and admit it to herself as it is for him to hear.
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I wouldn’t call the airport good-bye more hopeful. But I totally agree with you that both are trying to be “practical” and that they are trying to figure out how to move on. At the same time both want the other desperatly to say something, to take it all back. Both hope the other one will stop this. And the pain is right back full force when they are truly separated. (when she is on the plane and when he is driving back) I imagine him breaking down when he gets back to his apartment, kinda like his breakdown before radha, then forcing himself to shove it aside, to go on. Sejal tries to fit back in in her old life and her old self. But of course she can’t. Being without Harry, the only person she really felt safe and loved must be so painful for her. Then there is Rupen and i think the thoughts of having to marry him, to be intimate with him become repulsive to her.
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I agree with you, Lilli, no hope anymore after the fight until the 25th of November where she hopes that Harry will come and he hopes that he can talk to her.
I still think that the breaking of the wineglass had nothing to do with that Harry did not feel ‘worth’ but that he wanted a Sejal with a clear heart and mind, a Sejal free from any doubt, from any lie or cheating…because he himself had become clear, free and had left his past behind with the breaking of the glass. He would never again “looking for action”.
He was focused on going to Sejal when he put the glass out of his hand, his steps at first with energy…he would tell her about his love … and then, he hesitated (it reminded me Suri in front of the door where he knew Taani behind and then not knocking but wanting to care for her)… Sejal had said she wanted to return even before the fight…all along the journey he had let her make her own decisions…no, he could not tell her what he wanted…it was not up to him to close the gap between his and her position. When he hesitated I knew he should not go although he wanted to know how she was, care for her, make it easier for her to leave.
I may be the only one but I think it was Sejal who hurt Harry. There was no reason to ask him what he wanted – she did not know what s h e wanted. She wasn’t yet sensitive enough to value his feelings more than her being ‘practical’.
Yeah, one can see the guitar already at around 1:20 🙂
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