To Stay On Top, Is Tough

For every rise, there is a fall
Ask the meteor, once a twinkling star

Fire turns to ashes, life nurtured through generations
As a wild one pierces out, life in food cycle

You climb a mountain, a step at a time
And roll below, in the blink of an eye

Its difficult at the top, lonely with no balance
Although it is where, we look up in silence

About First Love and Indian Cinema's exploring it in 90's

Ah the unquenchable pangs of first love. A feeling one never ever experiences after. The heart lives in a ceaseless feeling of pining for being with the loved one. A couple of movies recently brought back the memory. Significantly, Indian movies. The decade of the 90's was spent by Hindi movies exploring various forms of love. There were numerous boy-loves-girl and wins over the obstacles in various films including "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" in 1995 (the topic was so coming-of-the-age that this movie became the longest running in theatres, beating the previous record held by Sholay in 1975). This decade itself was heralded by the biggest movie of this kind (until then), when "Maine Pyar Kiya" released in December 1989. The various themes of love were explored by most of the films of this decade. Most of the successful films in this decade were of this genre. Some of the facets explored, were obsession ("Darr" in 1993), the fine line between friendship and love ("Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" in 1998), familial love ("Hum Aapke Hain Kaun" in 1994), loving a person much older than self ("Lamhe" in 1993), first love in the midst of class-war ("Raja Hindustani in 1997) and maturing into marital commitment winning over first love ("Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" in 2000). No other decade, before or after, has Hindi films experimenting to such depths on the concept of First Love. Not surprisingly, this is also the only decade where films exploring facets of first love were the best film Filmfare award winners of the decade.

Here's the list of love story award  winners during the 90's:

- Qayamat se Qayamat Tak (1989): Exploring love staying true despite all odds, in life and tragically, death

- Maine Pyar Kiya (1990): Love wins this time, against all odds

- Lamhe (1992): Exploring contentious issues at the time, like loving a girl older than oneself, and then marrying a woman much younger than self

- Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993): A simple love story

- Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1995): Saga of love, pouring within a joint family

- Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1996): As mentioned earlier

- Raja Hindustani (1997): Love in struggle against class barriers

- Dil To Pagal Hai (1998): Just what was missing, a love triangle in this decade of love stories

- Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1999): Exploring the intriguing theme (but taking a safe stand) of mixing friendship and love

- Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000): It's remarkable that this film tries to give some rationality to the heady feeling of love, pitching commitment over love. Almost a sign that the trend was coming to its natural end.


If you observe the best film award winners, these start leaning towards love stories as you approach the 90's, and likewise start leaning away from "first love" stories, as you move into the 2000's. Uncanny, but its simply the sign of the times. In one sense, a decade of first-love stories, is too much of sweetness; people must have had enough. If you look the big picture of the economy, India had liberalized in the 90's. The economy started booming. People were happier, and happiness, well, has more room for love. With the heralding of the new millennium, India started realizing it's rise was not just a fluke. It had an important role to play in the century ahead. People started feeling more mature. So, guess what goes first out of the window: adolescent concepts as first love!

Verses for the Day

Snow ablaze white
Only Gusty winds in sight
Though us at home in fright
I see gutsy birds in flight


In human will, lies his fortitude
And in his greed, is the breach


Corruption brings misery, or the other way round
Would this have happened, if honor were abound


My friendship has failed, in the fire of expectations
It could have prevailed, in the warmth of your trust


Fail to believe in self, narrowed by our thoughts
Of what use are dreams, if broaden horizons naught?