Some consider it the most romantic season in a year. Some regard it as a disruption to daily life with traffic snarls and crawl. However, the celluloid medium has always glorified Monsoon in all its magnificence and splendor- why? Because when it rains every spark becomes a flame!
It’s amazing how a few precious droplets from the skies can bring forth a plethora of options for a creative soul and hence, the rains are used differently in different situations. The chemistry goes beyond just molecules of hydrogen and oxygen, becomes a metaphor for romance, desire, passion, craving and finally the consummation of love.
Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua (iconic rain song in Sri 420) – well this is how we feel when the first rains arrive. So stop cribbing while stranded in ankle-deep waters and try and remember a sensuous Madhubala, a “laadki bheegi bhagi se,” clad in a wet sari, to any modern day heroines- all emerging victors in the monsoon test directed to them at some point in their careers!
The rains are playful and inviting in Jene kelly’s ‘Singing in the Rain’-an M.G.M. classic, bleak and foreboding in Hitchcock’s “film noir.” Au contraire to idyllic sunlight, ‘The Blade Runner’ is bathed in the incessant waters of the rain which advances the plot of the story. Would Noah build an ark if it didn’t rain? For mere peasants in classics like Lagaan and Mother India, the monsoon is both a harbinger of abundance and destruction respectively.
Sometimes the downpours are a reflection of shattered dreams, crumpled hopes, and broken hearts; other times the deluge dispels doubts and clears clouds of obscurity thus unraveling a plot so-far shrouded in mystery. The storm raging outside is synonymous with the storm inside, and when the storm passes, the refreshing blessed showers bring about transformation.
Let me take you back to your childhood when an intriguingly haunted and supposedly”ghost story” would invariably begin with torrential downpours lashing the abysmal darkness, as the Big Ben strikes midnight and then the quintessential mystery man covered in black is seen walking the deserted streets…a distant gunshot immediately gripped us with apprehension- the sound of thunder creeping in the uncanny.
Bitter-sweet moments of rains captured and seen through the lens makes it timeless. Much in the same vein, we are caught in a time warp walking in the rain, and this is where the “reel” and “real” meet. Happy Monsoon!
P.S. Don’t forget a steaming cup of joe after a good drench.