KADAMBARI SRIVASTAVA
NOSTALGIC
NOTES
Nadaan Parinde, Rockstar - A Medley
of Love, Loss, Longing
The stage is set. A rockstar full of angst is approaching as
the crowd is growing wilder by the second. As he drinks
himself into insanity and pukes on the red carpet he is
supposed to tread on, you brace yourself for a noise fest which
is what most of the music today is. Instead, when Jordan
grabs the mike and starts singing, it’s an ultimate ballad
of love, loss, and longing. Nadaan Parinde comes forth and
Rahman’s finest melody syncs with Irshad Kamil’s words
and Mohit Chauhan’s voice as Ranbir Kapoor emulates
the pain of a man not wronged by anyone but himself.
As the song flips back and forth in terms of the highs and
lows of notes, with the intensity of it piercing through the
listener’s consciousness, you realise that the Rockstar’s
journey is coming to an end. The great love which he lost
to get the pain which would set him on the path of stardom,
also set him on the path of an unforeseen destruction, which
came with a pain he thought he could handle but couldn’t.
Rockstar will forever be cherished as one of the finest
albums of Hindi cinema. But Nadaan Parinde is special not
only because it touches and shakes your very core, but also
because it brings Janardhan’s story to a conclusion. He
achieved success at the loss of Heer, and he is lamenting,
aware of himself yet unaware, lost in a medley of past and
present. As the song concludes and he has a vision of Heer,
the curtain falls on two lovers in two distant lands, as Rumi’s
quote sums it up — Out beyond the ideas of right-doing
and wrongdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.
Many among the audience went home with the impression
that Nadaan Parinde was Jordan’s last ode, an obituary
to the love he lost, Heer, and a celebration of the love
he achieved, music, and the madness in between as his
worlds collide, leaving him on the brink of insanity.
So, did he die?
Well, the filmmakers denied the same. However, the death
was indeed the part of the first draft that Imtiaz Ali had
created. Come to think of it, if the audience went home with
the impression, it would have been way too predictable;
the death of the rockstar who rose only to fall. But it was
written off. Because this was the story of that rockstar. It
was a story of him reaching his zenith, as he stood on the
pyre of his biggest loss, his love. His suffering was what gave
him strength. It would have been an injustice to the story
as well as lamenting anthem he sung, to let him just die.
Instead, Nadaan Parinde was the grand finale, bringing forth
all the emotions that Jordan had experienced till then, all the
happiness, all the love, all the hope, despite the hopelessness
of it all. Because no matter how intense the notes became,
Nadaan Parinde still had the stanza which delicately sung of
an innocent hope which pined for one last sight of the beloved.
Nadaan Parinde was a conclusion, but not on the setting
sun of the rockstar, it just shut the curtain on his single
act, only to leave hope for another one. Jordan leaves one
stage, dreaming of Heer, only to suffer more, yet live more,
sing more, create more, and maybe, hope a little more.
The
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