THE POWER OF STORY-TELLING








Every great epic is a simple story, told very, very well. So, from this yardstick, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Iliad, Old and New Testament – are, first and foremost, are well-told stories, And, imagine the kind of shelf-life these stories have had and continue to have!

One reason why I loved the latest Hindi movie ‘Raazi’ is for its brilliant story-telling. It’s a traditional – time-tested – way of story-telling. As I was coming out of the theatre, after watching ’Raazi’, my mind went back to some of my favourite movies, both Hindi and English… ‘Sholay’, ‘Deewar (Yash Chopra), ‘Shakti’, ‘’Munna Bhai’ (Both), ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Lagaan’, ‘Black’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Ten Commandments’, ‘Ben Hur’, ‘’Enter the Dragoon’, ‘The Sound of Music’ and many more. I had loved these movies for the way their stories were told.  In fact, years later, the stories have lived in my mind…

With ‘Raazi’, young director, Meghna Gulzar, has carved a permanent place for herself in the league of master story-tellers. Yes, acting of Alia Bhatt and others in the movie, music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, cinematography by Jay Patel are all top-class. But, it’s the story-telling department that shows the way to all other departments in the movie!

During out P.D. sessions, I show our little ones and young ones, both, scores of videos just to make this point: ‘Sweethearts, if your story has a soul and if you tell it well, it will touch our hearts… It will live in our hearts for a long, long time.”

Therefore, learning, early in life, to tell whatever we want to tell like a great story – yes. it is the key to the creative things we do later in life. But, it is sad to see around us the lukewarm emphasis being laid on story-telling skill. This is rampant in the world we live in, today… Little and young boys and girls do not easily believe in showing their emotions when they perform - speak, sing, dance, play, draw, paint, or do whatever they do… I see them constantly wearing a mask and more and more cut-off from life!


Everything in life is a story. And, it has to be told well. I cannot put it in simpler words… If we are all driven by the same human passions and emotions, we need to believe in the power of story-telling…

‘Raazi’ has reinforced this truth…






And, that’s the main reason why I encourage my friends and well-wishers to watch it. Here, there is a story with a soul… and, it’s told brilliantly well!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Hindustan Times/Internet

Videos: YouTube


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