EVERYTHING LIGHT TOUCHES IS OUR KINGDOM















“Believe in yourself and there will come a day
when others will have no choice 
but to believe with you.”

- Mufasa


On last Sunday, when my wife and I walked into the cinema hall to watch ‘The Lion King’, the house was almost full… And, it was the second week, mind you! There were grandparents, young parents, young ones and little ones… And, like most of them, my wife and I, too, had watched the original version (1994). And, like, most of them, here we were - dying to watch this one, as well!


‘The Lion King’ is a great story – a story with a heart. What else explains the reason for our ‘dying thirst’ to watch it?


We, as human beings, live not on ‘bread’ alone. The body needs bread; agreed. But, our hearts need great stories to keep going. Hence, our spiritual books are, essentially, supremely-told stories… Take ‘The Ramayana’ or ‘The Mahabharata’… Take ‘The Old Testament’ or ‘The New Testament’. To me, they are powerful stories… stories with a heart. Take Kalidasa’s ‘Shakuntala’. Take Shakespeare’s classics – including ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘King Lear’, ‘The Merchant of Vance’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Othello’ and ‘Hamlet’ (By the way, “The Lion King’ is inspired by Hamlet)… Shakespeare and Kalidasa are master story-tellers. That’s why their stories are legends!


Great movies. Great books. Great musical concerts. Great poetry recitals. Great ads. Great sports-spectacles… just anything around us. If they live longer in our hearts, they must’ve been presented with a great heart. Disney movies – often produced keeping kids in mind - are so mystical, that we all end up watching them like those kids…


For, kids that we, truly, are!


This version of the ‘The Lion King’ makes you feel, that real lions and real hyenas have acted in it. Every time little Simba calls out ‘Dad’ in the movie, I can hear my own Simba… and, every time Mufasa calls out ‘Simba’, I can hear the Mufasa in me!

The characters look real. The dialogues sound real… The story feels our own, real!


“I am only brave when I have to be. Being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.” Do I say this to my own Simbas, very often?


And what about this: “Look Simba. Everything light touches is our kingdom.”?


Yes, everything light touches is our kingdom. Just as we all leave alone those ‘elephant graveyards’ - where hyenas live… where light does not touch!





GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Entertainment ie

 Video: Walt Disney Studios


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