Alif Rant Review

A Spiritual Awakening or an Existential Crisis?

As I kept watching the next few episodes, an odd sense of discomfort began to creep in on me. As Abdul Ala repeatedly questioned and attacked Momin's ideals, I felt almost as if he were attacking me at a personal level. Because Momin and I (and I'm sure many others), are pretty much the same person (here, I'm doing my thing again where I relate to one character and view the entire show from his lens. I don't know if this is a flaw of mine as a critic or not, but it's just my nature). I wouldn't go as far as to call myself an atheist, but over the years, I've definitely turned into an agnostic of sorts. Perhaps all the science I've studied has made me dismissive of religious customs (not that my family is religious in the slightest, but me even less so). Also, just like Momin, I'm as materialistic and blunt as it gets. 

So, when Momin comes up with arguments defending his work (commercial cinema that contains item numbers that his grandfather considers vulgarity) and fame, I scream, 'Right on!' and take his side. Especially because you see that Momin isn't really a bad person, as much as he's a self-absorbed one. He truly respects and cherishes his bond with his grandfather despite the difference in their outlooks.

And it got me thinking, why is it that commercial cinema is deemed 'soulless' by some pseudo-intellectuals (here represented by Abdul Ala)? Some of the greatest financial successes in Bollywood are those films which had 'heart' more than anything else. They had characters whose emotional journeys viewers were invested in. Take '3 Idiots' for example. Or even 'Dangal' or 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' for that matter. 

Also, the initial conflict between Abdul Ala and Momin treads on propagating quite a dangerous idea- the fact that only movies with a religious intonation can truly touch the lives of the audience, or in other words 'ruhaaniyat' or 'spirituality' is always religious in nature. When Momin takes up the challenge of making such a film with a spiritual theme, almost all his sponsors and actors start backing out of the project. But it isn't this fact which is the most worrying to him. As time goes by, he realises that he has absolutely no vision or idea with respect to the fictional world he's supposed to create. And this is apparent to every one who is linked to the film, be it his trusted crew, Tina and Dawood (who are excellent and very supportive assistants), his lead actress Shelly, or the reporters in the media. LOL. His responses whenever anyone asks about the story is almost always channelling Munna Bhaiyya in this scene-

Eventually, he realises (as well as me, of course, cause I'm walking along with him on this journey) that his characters on screen lack depth because he has locked up a whole barrage of emotions within himself, related to his past, and has been hiding under the guise of a non-believer to do so. His crisis is as much existential as it is spiritual. He starts to question every thing he knows to be true as all his fame, success, as well as interpersonal relationships start to abandon him. And that's when he decides to go on a path of self-discovery and dig into his past.  

This is also when we get the exact significance of the title of the show as explained by Momin's grandfather. 'Alif'  is the first letter of the alphabet as well as the word 'Allah'. It's a metaphor for one's relationship with God or equivalently self-satisfaction or mental peace. If you're able to write it straight without any jaggedness, you've achieved that tranquil state of mind. If aren't able to, then it's time to introspect and see what's lacking in your life.  At least, that's what I made of the metaphor. It's of course, open to different interpretations. It's only when Momin dwells on these ideas that he finds inspiration for his project based on his own childhood, and as expected (and this is where I broke into a huge smile) christens it 'Alif'.