Christmas and Avatar

It was a usual Christmas... Worship service in the morning, heavy lunch and the guests throughout the rest of the day. What was unusual though, about this Christmas was the plan for the evening that we friends had instantly charted out. No, it wasn't about 'Kankaria Carnival' (though even that could have been interesting). Nelson, Roger and I decided to go for a movie. Somewhere in its corner my heart screamed, "How in the world can you plan a movie on Christmas day? Blasphemy... that is blasphemy." But then in the same breath it inquired, "Well, what is wrong with that?" I had nothing else to do. I followed my conviction and decided to go for a movie. The movie selected was James Cameron's much awaited 'Avatar.' So we were off to theatre at 9:15 pm for the last show.

As we settled down in theatre, we watched the preview of "My name is Khan." And I heard a dialogue from Shah Rukh Khan, "My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist." And the very second, I thought to myself, "oh no, one more movie on the same theme. Another 'New York.'" Actually, I got annoyed, and a thought came, "Will we have movies presenting the case of Hindus in Kashmir, and Christians in Iran? or religious minorities in Islamic countries as well?" But I had not come here for discussions and so I stabbed that lingering thought to death. I was interested in Avatar. And so the movie started.

Only in theatre, I came to realize that the movie was dubbed in Hindi, and that put me off for sometime. But as the movie started, my mind was diverted to understanding the seemingly complicated story and the scientific, technological, biological, 'chemistriological,' vocabulary. It seemed to be a sci-fi movie. I hate sci-fi movies, or perhaps I am too dumb to understand them. So I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. And it did. By the time of interval, I was completely into the movie. And after the interval ... it was a Christmas treat. I was entirely taken by the movie, its script, the idea, the story, the technology, cinematography, just everything, so perfectly delivered.

The story revolves about man's hunger to take over the 'pandorum' planet, inhabited by the 'Navis.' Its about man's use of his unbriddled strength and mind to destroy the weak and feeble. And not only people, but also animals, trees and the entire environment. For me it was a story of man's destructive spirit, and yet thankfully there are at least some (and I am surely there will always remain some), who will choose to make right choices, morally upright choices. Finally, the weak and feeble win because of the strong will of such people, but also because God is on their side. That triggered in me a strong idea of connection between the movie and the message of the Christmas, but again, I though that was reading too much into the movie, and yet I could not deny its possibility.

I should also not forget to mention at two annoying things. Firstly, the 'oohs' and 'aahs' I could hear from people sitting behind us, every time the hero and heroine would carass or kiss each other (oh gosh, we still find such people even in multiplexes) . I tend to think that such people would have never kissed their wives in such a passionate manner at home, and thats why they find it very unusual and exciting. And the second thing was a comment by a person at the end the movie, who said it was a 'cartoon film.' That was hilarious but also irritating at the same time.

Anyway, at the end of it all, thanks to James Cameron for a good Christmas treat.