Bhansalism...

It’s been three nights, three consecutive nights that I have been listening to the music of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movies. He is one of those rare filmmakers of India who work so meticulously on every aspect of movie making. Very few Indian filmmakers have been so committed to the holistic beauty of cinema. Raj Kapoor, Gulzar, Subhash Ghai, Vishal Bhardwaj are other filmmakers who can be named other than Bhansali who believe in working on each and every aspect of their movies to make them a true piece of art. Their movies not only dance, sing and celebrate on celluloid but also breathe and speak through their audience, live and die with those who cherish them. But this post is not about these people. This post is about a painter who knows how to fuse life on canvass. This post is about a poet who doesn’t only rhymes words with words but also rhymes them with air we breathe. This post is about a musician who not only creates music but also allows it to flow and vibrate in our systems. This post is about a man called Bhansali who is a painter, a poet, a musician, an artist and a director. This post is about Bhansali and his ability as a filmmaker to blend poetry, art and music in every frame of his movie.

Every time I listen to the music of Bhansali’s movies I am transported to a world which is beyond the world I live in. This world is a momentarily created, illusionary realm replete with thousands of beautiful colors splashed randomly on a huge canvass of life. This world is like a small island in the middle of blue sea on a starry night with music reverberating in atmosphere from all the possible directions. This world is an intoxicating dreamland where I see myself dancing and rejoicing all through centuries and ages. Jhonka hawa ka, Devdas theme, woh chand jaisi ladki, daras bina, sawar gayi, yun shabnami, dhundhli dhundhli are those compositions which are conceived once in a lifetime. His art is like a fascinating irony on this insensitive and ruthless world we exist. Whenever I listen to the music of khamoshi it makes me believe that silence not only speaks better than words but it also resonates and pulsates in the ambience. The music of hum dil de chuke sanam tears me apart and of devdas takes me back to an era where devdas would be living getting intoxicated in the memories of his beloved. Black too leaves an everlasting impression through the rousing background score given by Monty Sharma. The music of much criticized saawariya has a special place in my heart because I consider it Bhansali’s most well conceptualized and accomplished work ever as a musician. The music of this movie seems to flow in layers, falling one over another, integrating and breaking further into many more layers creating magic and spark in the air which surrounds me. I listen to the music of saawariya and sense the current passing through my body. I get hypnotized and lost in a moment full of music and light. I listen to guzaarish and feel that life is sad but too beautiful for all this sadness. The musicians don’t compose music for his movies. He makes them compose it for him. Bhansali creates a symphony with thousands of violins, guitars, synthesizers and drums echoing in harmony with life. Bhansali is a master magician who creates life and makes it breathe through celluloid. His movies are like beautiful exaggeration given to a poem by a poet. He may not always be original. And he may not have much to say every time. Or he may be saying it again and again. But he believes in saying and he believes in saying it beautifully. And this is what Bhansali is all about.