Why I love Rom-Coms

How many times have you left the theater with a feeling of Déjà vu after watching a Hollywood movie? How many times have you ever walked out of the theater with a smile on your face after watching a Sci-fi thriller or a horror flick?

Movies like books have a solitary purpose that is to provide ersatz thrill, to lift the reader/viewer from the travails of daily life. They impart an impulse, a thrust which inundate you with self confidence, esteem and makes you believe in yourself but this confidence, esteem is evanescent.

Vicarious thrill’s the USP of these mediums. Life’s a bitch as one of my friends used to say and it is these things which make us emerge from the ‘sea of troubles’ even thought it might be for just a fraction of a second.To be reminded again in the span of the movie about the skullduggery of the politicians, of people suffering from ailments in a remote part of the world; the conspiracy hatched by corporations; all of these certainly do take the piss out of the fun.

Who wouldn’t be like to be in the shoes of Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan’s character in the mail You Have Got Mail , boys and girls alike? Who won’t be able to relate to Hugh Grant in Notting Hill ? [At least I can].The catch in these movies is that I and you can relate to them; it is the common joe’s story. There have been innumerable instance where I found myself in the exact scenario, same position in which the protagonist of the film finds himself in. This is what imbues rom-coms to my heart and lastly they do provide a flicker of a hope to the hopelessly romantics like me. It is an honest confession and I do hope the readers will appreciate my candidness and in case ….[ you know my contact number right].

Well jokes apart , the USP of Rom-coms lie in the simplicity of their story line and the happy ending. Well I know that most of the Bollywood potboilers by definition would qualify as Rom-Coms , but comparing them to Rom-Coms will be like comparing an evolved species like the Humans to their primordial cousins “ the apes or the chimpanzees “ . The wheels of evolution have started rolling in indian cinema and in time they may and I do earnestly hope that they will be able to catch up with their hollywoood counterparts but till that time the schism between the two will remain.

I can think of only one bollywood movie that can qualify to be categorized as Rom-Com and that is Andaz Apna Apna. Other than this I cannot recall any other movie which even comes close enough.