There’s a song I watched on TV
when I was a kid. And I never recovered. I was done for life, I was doomed to
become a hopeless romantic… not necessarily languishing in love, but constantly
yearning for that glorious rarity, that wonderful element that our mundane
lives lack – constantly searching for Charm.
Which song was it? Maybe you can
guess. It’s one of those vintage evergreen classics that make you wonder if you
were born fifty years later than you should have been, and whether the world
you would find charming just went out of fashion after 1955…
1. A
World without colours: There’s
a special kind of magic in the black and white setting of this song! Coloured
pictures are like our lives today, and like some of our music: short, sudden
explosions of joy and glamour and then gone, poof! But those old B/W ones are
like impressions in your memory, the essence of a time gone by, linking you
forever to this era of cobbled-stone roads and beautiful street lamps…
2. A
World where words still carry weight:
Which means that the lyrics of a song are deeply meaningful, or, that poetry is valued, or, that people stand by what they say, or, that letters – handwritten, on real
paper – still exist, or, that our
words are actually bulky, in the
shape of magnificiently old, dusty hardbacks… interpret this one in any way you
want. Or in all of them.
3. A
World where men are men…
with moustaches, and valour and courage, and firm handshakes, not boys with ear
studs and waxed chests. Where chivalry still counts for something, and when it’s
raining, you’ll give your umbrella to the lady, but not share it yourself until
she asks you to. And where courtship is still done wearing a suit, even if it’s
only an old tweed jacket.
4. And
women are women, and
can carry off a gown or a dress with panache, or a saree with Nargis’ grace,
and need neither tighter jeans nor shorter skirts to assert their femininity…
ladies who kept their secrets, didn’t swear, and retained those last bits of
demureness and shyness that are lost in the name of ‘empowerment’ today.
5. And
simplicity is still valued: There
is charm in simplicity, in wisdom and in modesty. There’s charm in the way a
person might be comfortable with what he is, and not requiring a fake
‘attitude’ or false flamboyance. The way Raj Kapoor starts playing his
mouth-organ and dancing is almost comical… but it’s heart touching. As is the
simplicity of a world where dusk’s rain and humble umbrellas can still be
considered beautiful.
If you haven’t figured it out
already, I’ll tell you: the song is the timeless ‘Pyaar hua ikraar hua’ from
the 1955 movie Shri 420.
And watching it once again now,
and reminiscing about an era that ended much before I began, I begin to think
not all of it might be as far away as it seems. Yes, we might be in too much of
a hurry to notice it maybe, but I think it is still all here, waiting and
wanting to be discovered. Somewhere deep within ourselves, hidden, till the
time that we truly realize what ‘Charm’ means.
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