This week, I just want to write about Cinema. I wrote today’s column while listening to a mix of soundtracks. I began with the world’s most romantic movies, got a little of Braveheart and Thomas Newman BGMs and then, ended it with Beethoven’s Symphony 9. With the mood set, this column is intended to be an Ode to Joy that Cinema brought into our lives. Films that mattered to me and which left a part of them in my personality. I’ll encourage you to put some music on yourselves because today no one is talking about GCCs, AI, Future of Work, Leadership, or Frameworks… Just pure cinema and the crowns of it. Hoo ah!
We’ll think of Hugh Laurie cracking the wisest joke, or Hugh Grant giving us a smile which will make Mondays likeable. Colin Firth with his sturdiness mumbling in Portuguese because he’s in love, and Jack Nicholson coming out from his mental cocoon, because a woman has inspired him to become a better man. De Niro, Al Pacino, Harrison Ford! It is hard to quantify the exact weight they’ve had on my life. Cinema is about that primal urge to stand your ground. It’s Harrison Ford, battered and bruised, reminding us that sometimes the only way through an impossible situation is a loveable grin and a lot of luck. It’s Pacino demanding our absolute attention with a single, deadly stare, or De Niro, young Vito Corleone, quiet as a closed fist, building an empire out of loyalty and grief.
“I am only getting warmed up…”
Lets visualize going back as far as Audrey Hepburn running buoyantly through the plaza, or the patient Helen Hunt hiding her sorrow behind an honest smile. Meg Ryan reading another email with the senses of heart and not just eyes, the overwhelmed Julia Roberts buying the dress that brings her back to her truth or Nicole Kidman who illuminated the screen with a tragic, blinding brilliance. All of them tell us that the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return. Do you want me to go on and on? Because I’d now love to see what the cherubic Drew Barrymore will come up with. Perhaps stumble into love with that innocence of hers reminding us that vulnerability is not weakness.
This is the kind of cinema that gave us a shared emotional vocabulary built entirely on joy, grand romance, and boundless optimism. I long for such a time and sometimes am able to make space for it to switch on one of these warm, cosy and comfort-movies. Reclined at 45 degrees holding a cup of ginger tea with some osmania biscuits is bliss. Meanwhile, we have these celluloid heroes subtly showing us how to navigate life with style, wit, and a brilliant soundtrack. They prepare us as quiet guides that things may get just right towards the end or they might just not, yet we can endure. Scarlett O Hara in Gone with the Wind went deep in our hearts to tell us about resilience and focus, when she said, “I won’t think of it now. I’ll think of it later when I can stand it.” This line has so much weight given what she went through. These movies tell us that big dreams can be achieved if you give in your best putting in all the courage we have. Just as Robin Williams urged us, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” Cinema of this league amplified our best qualities and gave shape to our ambitions. It taught us how to love grandly, dream big and laugh wholeheartedly at the beautiful adventure of life.
And maybe that’s the quiet philosophy cinema leaves us with, that life, much like a film, is not about chasing the perfect climax. There is reward in the chase and we should savor the scenes that make us feel alive.
Among all of these, the cinema that is my I Ching and I think for everyone who has either read the novel or at least seen the first part is GODFATHER. If Marlon Brando were to lean across the desk right now, his voice barely above a whisper, he would say, “Sonny… A man who dreams, he is already halfway there. The other half, that is just showing up. Your dreams, you protect them. Like your family. Like your name. You do not let the world talk you out of them over dinner.
And you must evolve, Fredo. The man who grows, quietly, without announcing it, is the most powerful man in the room. I learned. I watched and I waited. You watch, you listen, you understand, and you become better with every step. That is the only way.
And Michael and Connie, at the end, at the very end, it is the family that remains at the table. Not your ambition. Not your victories. You don’t go against blood. The people who saw you struggle and stayed anyway. You give them your best, my sons. Not what is left over.” Pressing a hand firmly against his chest, the Don leaves the words hanging in the quiet room.
That is perhaps where cinema leaves you. Not with answers, but with a feeling that stays. We carry these moments with us. The moments of inspiration and motivation. And suddenly they become a part of our lives. Maybe that’s what makes it all so special and that’s As Good As It Gets.
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