The wink that made all blush

Ashima Sehajpal Batish 

 Everyone’s hungover. It’s been a week now. The wink in slow motion made all blink and smile and enveloped everyone with its aftereffects. Viewers are going back to the video and watching it one more time, sharing it on one more social media platform, referring it to one more friend, till the cycle repeats. But did just someone, read Priya Prakash Varrier here, wink for the first time in the history of attraction or love! Has it not been there forever, at least for as long as flirtation existed? 

The playful gesture broke the internet for several reasons, all of these in stark contrast with what is otherwise depicted on screen. It made us slow down in the age of high speed internet, and match the unhurried pace of the background track. It made us once again appreciate the importance of eye contact, when admiration has conveniently developed a new language of likes and emoticons. 

That is also where the realisation strikes about the recent Bollywood offerings — something’s wrong with them. The want of the heart is attraction, holding of hands, romance, a gentle kiss, and … in entirety organic love, where one thing leads to another. But then what is often offered is fast food — girl meets boy, irrespective of love or not, they get intimate. Anything wrong with that? Nothing. Only there shouldn’t be any pretension of love being served on a platter. No one has appetite for synthetic expressions. It could be termed ‘junk love’ — to be discarded as soon as constructed. We don’t know if Oru Adaar Love will take the same path, but the abridged version of love, lasting only 30 seconds, makes one yearn for a story that cinema lovers haven’t consumed in a while.

Filmmakers often term their products as new-age cinema, one that is inspired from the young generation and their ways. But emotions aren’t technology that gains memory space with advancement. Their status quo makes this video a hit, a rage among all age groups, among those also who don’t understand the language of the song. They are simply abiding by the laws of attraction. 

Ira Trivedi, author of The Great Indian Love Story and There’s No Love on Wall Street, says it’s the girl-and-boy-next-door characters in the act that have made people relate to it. “The video has some very real emotions. There is innocence and vulnerability at the same time, and that’s how youngsters are.” The video has garnered more than 21 lakh views in five days of its release and in the meanwhile made the 18-year-old girl an internet sensation. She set a record as six lakh followed her on Instagram in a single day. Her total following there now stands at a staggering 35 lakh.

Innocence is a rare commodity and that’s the reason it is being valued. It is like the skin you shed as you mature. The video promises that, besides acknowledging the attraction between two people. It celebrates the proverbial puppy love, or what is also referred to as infatuation, minus any frills. It doesn’t have the chic costumes of Student of the Year or the grandiose of Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela.  Sumrit Shahi, writer of shows like Sadda Haq — My Life, My Choice, says, “It’s after a long time that people saw credible, unadulterated emotions. Those who could relate to it felt nostalgic and relived the time gone by.” According to filmmaker Habib Faisal, the video is a welcome break from fabricated love staple of Bollywood, “All expressions tug at the heart.”

May be we have become used to the extravagance of love and its peripheral emotions. To its absence in the video, we are happily raising a toast. Celebrating love as it should be. Being hungover feels good at times.

Meanwhile on Twitter ...

Akshay Jain @AkshayKatariyaa

Priya Prakash Varrier gave all types of expression in that two minutes what Katrina Kaif couldn’t give in her entire Bollywood career

Comedian Praveen @Funny_Leone

Breaking news — Priya Varrier  laughed twice, coughed 4 times and was breathing throughout the day today