Aare Biba… Aap Maanatein Bohat Manti Hai… Puri Toh Ek Bhi Nahi Hoti!
The best part about Canberra skies is that they kind of talk to me. And today they said, “Aare biba… aap maanatein bohat manti hai… puri toh ek bhi nahi hoti!” (English translation: Husband says, ‘Oh, sweeti, you do a lot of prayers for your wishes…’ Wife replies, ‘Not a single one gets fulfilled ever’!).
This sweet but eventually deadly line is from the 2004 Hindi movie ‘Maqbool’, which is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. This movie primarily captures a single emotion/feeling/thought and that is “guilt” (very much like “greed” in the 2018 Hindi movie, Tumbbad, or “obsession” in the 2006 classic, Prestige). It beautifully shows the effect of “guilt” due to “greed and obsession”, especially how the guilt begins slowly deep in one’s ‘stomach’ (literally here) and then eventually takes over their entire life. It also aesthetically shows the power of this runaway emotion. I think such a runaway invariably ends in a massive disaster and if you ask what went wrong, the reply usually is “Dariya ghus aaya hai mere ghar mein” (another poetic dialogue from Maqbool, English translation: A river has forcefully entered my home!). What do you think?
Now, to give you a context on the line, “Aare biba… aap maanatein bohat manti hai… puri toh ek bhi nahi hoti!”. The husband in the movie (a powerful mafia leader) laments to his wife saying that she is praying and offering a lot to God for her wishes, to which the wife replies yes but not even a single one of those gets fulfilled. At first, you might think this is part of the normal ‘Tom and Jerry’ couple relationship but it turns out to be much more evil. Maybe it is an attestation to the fact that “Duniya mein sabse gehri dushmani miya biwi ki hoti hai” (a dialogue from the 2009 Hindi movie, Ishqiya, English translation: The deepest animosity in this world exists between a husband and wife).
In fact, the only wish the wife has is to completely overthrow the husband and be with her lover (who is shown to be a staunch follower of her husband). Moreover, during this interaction, she is very much looking at her lover with anticipation in her eyes. Almost like “kab khoon khaulega re tera?” (a dialogue from the 2012 Hindi movie, Gangs of Wasseypur II, English translation: When will your blood boil?).
Eventually, the wife influences her lover and comes up with a brutal plan to kill her husband using his bodyguard and a situation as tools. They do succeed in killing him and the lover acquires the entire empire including the wife. The new couple while figuring out all the recently acquired power create enemies along the way. But their most lethal enemy turns out to be actually inside them, “guilt” (more so, literally inside the wife). They try multiple ways and with all the power but nothing works in their favour. The guilt slowly eats them up from inside and that also helps their enemies outside. This often happens in life, something destructive inside you helps the people outside to harm you nicely. The only silver lining then is you need not take responsibility for the harm, even though it is very much yours. The shift of responsibility (more correctly, blame) is easily possible. This indeed is best explained by yet another classic line from this movie, “jis insaan ka maqsad sirf nuksaan ho, usse kisi ka fayda nahi ho sakta” (English translation: A person whose intention is only to decimate/damage… no one can benefit from them). I think this includes “the person” too.
While I was thinking along these lines… and also thinking of the duality of what is inside you vs. outside?… the duality of two people in a relationship?… the duality of intention vs. action?… and the eventual wish of understanding the duality of life?… the “clear” sky stopped me and said “Aare Amit… aap maanatein bohat mante ho” … I hopefully replied “puri toh ek bhi nahi hoti”!
