My Thoughts on Freedom on 'A Wednesday'

At first go, it seemed like – Man, I should have watched it when Saagar’s (a good friend of mine from college) mom recommended me this movie way back in 2008. Since that day, I never really bothered to watch or think too much about the movie. I was on my way to higher studies and this movie never crossed my mind until few days ago when I saw a status on my wife’s Facebook wall. The status read this way - “I was watching A Wednesday some days back and loved it for the sheer cheek of Nassiruddin Shah as a common stupid man! I think now we need more and more of them!!”

I didn’t look at the reviews and neither I knew what the plot was.  All I knew; it had Nassiruddin Shah and his role was really good as told by Saagar’s mom. After reading the status last week, I got interested and I decided to watch this movie. Sheer coincidence I chose a Wednesday to watch this movie.

The screenplay was quite impressive and I liked the flow with which the movie moves ahead and concludes. No songs and that’s a plus in such movies and there wasn’t any violence in the story. It was artistic and movies are all about communicating one’s stories and this definitely did.

To add my personal view, somehow I always got a feeling while watching the movie, the stupid common man played by Mr. Shah isn’t a terrorist nor does he have grand plans to upset the normal public life. It was his way to deal with the justice. “We are resilient by force and not by choice” and frankly this line quite sums it up the voice of a common man. We live in a country where a common man is suppressed to make his choice, by and large forced to make a living. The patriotism in us isn’t just talking about injustice; it is about making a difference and showing the way.

I read a quote yesterday – “An activist is not a person who complains about the surroundings being dirty, an activist goes about cleaning them”. This very act of his seems foolish to most of us when he could have led a less stressful life by not getting into it at all. This quote summed up as to why the protagonist, the unknown caller calls himself as a ‘stupid common man’.

  

I have been asking this question since my college days to myself – “What it takes to lead a better life?”  Over a period of time, I have come to understand that, the answer lies within us. Only I can define the better life I want to have and for that, I need to get to know my inner self and where it wants to be. This I believe is an on-going process and will only get better with time. If I am not happy with the surroundings I am in, all I can do is, change it and hope for a better tomorrow.

We fought for our freedom and finally a date was chosen, 15^th August to celebrate our freedom. But deep down we all agree with ourselves we are far away from freedom. And what is the meaning of having freedom? It is to live by choice and not by force.

To be free isn’t just having a corrupt free government, it goes beyond it. Although it isn’t easy for me to accept this wholeheartedly at times, but the truth is, each individual gives his/her best act based on his/her set of beliefs at any instant of time. In an ideal world, everyone can do anything and yet no single individual will suffer. This is the definition of freedom according to the ideal life. In practical terms, what (freedom) seems like a panacea may actually be a potion that would stop our evolution as a human.

I am attached to a lot of people, things etc unless I get rid of each and every one, I may never be able to attain freedom. Or is it a restriction I am putting on myself? Well it is all about my choice. I just have to accept the fact that, I just have a place in this world and I have a role to play. And at the same time, acknowledge the fact there will be others with their own set of ideologies living around me. There will be a clash in some way or the other from time to time. That’s the very essence of work in progress.  On the other hand, there will be some wonderful moments. Important is to strike a balance according to one’s idiosyncrasies. Understanding oneself seems the most effective solution according to me. It is by far the best homework to understand others.

With respect to freedom, all I can say from my experience is that; there will be brief moments in life where our mind will think, our heart will feel things without any notion of fear. Such a condition to me is freedom especially in the world we live. How long it lasts? I do not know but I can safely accept the fact that I look forward to such moments more and more.

‘A Wednesday’ is a 2008 thriller movie made in Hindi. Directed by Neeraj Pandey, this movie was well received by the audience due to its brilliant story and a well twisted ending. The cast apart from Nassiruddin Shah includes Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Deepal Shaw and Aamir Bashir in supporting roles.