Bucket List

Forgiveness. What does that word mean? Does it mean choosing to shrug off the pain of the past? Or the deliberate turning of face, to look into a different direction? Is it the tired sigh of resignation, To make room for the hope of a better future? Or is it the stubborn denial that, what feel like shards in your chest Exist no longer? Is it the sign of a bigger man? Or reconciliation with the fact that your expectations lie shattered, Only to be trampled past and forgot? Is forgiveness, the feeling that seeps in, surreptitiously into your dreams Knowing that you won't allow it in the daylight? Or is it just peace, borne out of habit?

Far too much has been written and said about this film. However, when I finally watched Padmavat today, I was left with the most crushing feeling of oppressive sadness. I actually quite enjoyed the movie. It was interesting, a magnificent spectacle (I've always loved Sanjay Leela Bhansali's opulence), amusing in parts (the insanely funny over dramatization of the headless Rajput warriors swinging their swords), slow in some but largely entertaining. I loved how beautiful Deepika looked with the septum ring, how absolutely gorgeous kaajal on Shahid Kapoor was, how brilliantly Ranveer Singh acted and how ethereally Aditi Rao Hydari had been transformed by the Bhansali hand. What I couldn't accept was the demonization of Muslims and the only explanation I could give myself to make it easier for me to tolerate it, was that it was shown to polarize the audience's opinion. Leading them to think that there was no better option than jauhar in the end, for the women, who we...