Dil, Dosti etc.

Disclaimer: This is not a movie review rather my views on certain issues raised by the movie. The ideas expressed may not go down well with everyone. Please use your discretion.

Just watched the movie Dil, Dosti etc, a couple of hours back. There's not a lot that would strike you in the beginning. It sounds just as another movie that portrays the changing lifestyle of our youth. However if you think about it a bit, just a bit, what comes up starts to bother you (well it at least bothered me!).

I would but pick a few instances form the movie to act as pointers along the way.

Take 1: Prerna asks her dad his opinion of Sanjay: "...middle class values in place..."

Take 2: Snajay "What about my values, my struggle..."

The question that we, and the Indian society as a whole faces today has been brilliantly put forth in the movie. Unlike RDB, where the message was obvious, Prakash Jha has put the art of subtlety to great use.

The issue of westernization its negative impact on the Indian issue has been debated a lot. However we need to understand that its not westernization that is the problem rather the problem is the blind copying of all western practices. Are we ready to live in a society with high infidelity? Are we ready to accept extra-marital relations as a norm rather than exception?

How many of us so called westernized generation next are comfortable with their spouse sleeping with their friends or worse still siblings? What Prerna and Apoorv did may have happened because of the circumstances, but wasn't their one act of betrayal enough to end Sanjay's life? How many of us would be willing to pardon our spouse if we found that he/she was sleeping around with their best friend?

There is no reversing of the process of westernization. It has taken grip of today's youth and wouldn't be stopped. What we need to realize is that all that we are trying to accept is not good. There are a lot of good things inherent in our culture and present social structure and these traditions need to be preserved. If not then we would be heading towards the same society with skewed relationships, high divorce rates among couples and increasing insecurity among the children. What Prerna's father scoffed at wasn't the middle class values but the Indian traditions, values that have been preserved over centuries which no doubt has it flaws but is certainly better than the social environment we are trying to adopt.