I had no clue what this movie 'The Great Gatsby' was all about until I impulsively decided to watch it yesterday and am glad I did that before its withdrawn from theatres in the city! Surely one of the unmatched Classics of this century, it revolves around the riches, power, true love, friendship, and betrayal and yes also the well known open secret that history is not always written in its true factual sense.
The character of Nick Carraway, in so many ways reverberates my thoughts... seeing things as I have seen...thinking as I have thought.... pondering about the variety of lives on this planet, peoples’ fickle minded souls, the changing times and changing faces and much more...and well ofcourse one more similarity between him and me; that is “Writing”- to find solace. I could so entirely relate with him and the gist of this wonderfully portrayed story!
Initiating with the scenes of mystery the movie slowly raises the curtain into the real story,beginning from the world of affluent people, digging into their dark secrets of life, moving to Gatsby’s unfulfilled dream of achieving his love, the insensitive Rich & Famous and the catastrophic end as a consequence of Gatsby’s belief in the Lady he loved.
I could see myself in Nick Carraways character, watching the lives of the influential people from a very close quarters, knowing a lot of inside things but keeping to himself the truth. His strong willpower and firm conscience which doesn’t get carried away instead of being in the company of “the bunch of rots” reminds me of my similar experiences in life. And yes, I did become vulnerable and shaky on occasion but thanks to the strength lent to me by Vipassana meditation, I thankfully realised in time and retreated to my pole of Vipassana knowing that the glitterati is not worth at all.
Coming back to the movie, Mr Gatsby - a Man of immense potentials who could truly achieve the Sun if he wanted to, gave up all for just his imagination of ‘Love’... for the Woman who would never care enough to turn back and appreciate the sacrifice he was willing to make for her, the woman who ran away to save her skin without even kissing last goodbye ! It so truly speaks about people who are turned on by the power, status, riches, comforts and their greed for every sensual gratification loose out upon the genuine hearted loyal people who love and care for them to the extent of exchanging their lives and comfort for happiness of their beloved. Like Daisy, such fickle minded people will never even realise what a crystal clear hearted person like Gatsby they have lost for a selfcentered and wickedminded pretentious Mr Buchanan who could trade anyone.... even Myrtle for their self interests!
What is saddening is that Gatsby’s pure love goes unrecognized even by the Lady for whom he toiled so much to be with. It stresses once more that your true emotions or feelings of love for a person is not under obligation to be appreciated by that person and it may just die with you in your heart.. just like Gatsby’s ! Maybe Love is just a mirage in one’s own mind... and ofcourse on the other hand this Movie also highlights the beautiful relationship of genuine friendship devoid of expectations shared by Gatsby and Nick
Makes me wonder if a real life Mr Gatsby exists in this age ? doesn’t matter if he is not a prince... need not be ...only what matters is unceasing true love,a genuine character and a will to be with the one he loves.
Everything in the movie seems larger than life, a life of grandiosity one could ever dream of but also clears the air about the buried secrets in the hearts of Rich and the Famous, the devastating power of the emotional drag, the opportunistic lover, the short memory of common people and their ungratefulness to a benefactor like Gatsby and the very faint and fortunate chances of having true friends like Nick Carraway. Truly the world today is no different from the Times gone by... ages after ages human needs, tendencies,aspirations, emotions and desires remain the same... Jo daur kal tha woh aajbhi hai aur kal bhi rahega..hamesha!
Leonardo surely played his time-tested trick of becoming a martyr of love very well, very much similar to his role in Titanic and Toby Maguire also has enacted his role of an empathising honest friend similar to his role in Spiderman extremely well and both are best at it! The most striking feature of this movie is the point it makes about stark realities of the Big Bad World unlike make-believe fantasy happy endings of Bollywood movies. After ages a movie could move me into tears , the last time was after watching Titanic...another Leonardo Di Caprio’s masterpiece ; the only difference between these two is that Jack dying for Rose was well worth but Gatsby dying for Daisy isn’t ! No wonder I am in love with The Great Gatsby.... both the character and the movie…
The character of Nick Carraway, in so many ways reverberates my thoughts... seeing things as I have seen...thinking as I have thought.... pondering about the variety of lives on this planet, peoples’ fickle minded souls, the changing times and changing faces and much more...and well ofcourse one more similarity between him and me; that is “Writing”- to find solace. I could so entirely relate with him and the gist of this wonderfully portrayed story!
Initiating with the scenes of mystery the movie slowly raises the curtain into the real story,beginning from the world of affluent people, digging into their dark secrets of life, moving to Gatsby’s unfulfilled dream of achieving his love, the insensitive Rich & Famous and the catastrophic end as a consequence of Gatsby’s belief in the Lady he loved.
I could see myself in Nick Carraways character, watching the lives of the influential people from a very close quarters, knowing a lot of inside things but keeping to himself the truth. His strong willpower and firm conscience which doesn’t get carried away instead of being in the company of “the bunch of rots” reminds me of my similar experiences in life. And yes, I did become vulnerable and shaky on occasion but thanks to the strength lent to me by Vipassana meditation, I thankfully realised in time and retreated to my pole of Vipassana knowing that the glitterati is not worth at all.
Coming back to the movie, Mr Gatsby - a Man of immense potentials who could truly achieve the Sun if he wanted to, gave up all for just his imagination of ‘Love’... for the Woman who would never care enough to turn back and appreciate the sacrifice he was willing to make for her, the woman who ran away to save her skin without even kissing last goodbye ! It so truly speaks about people who are turned on by the power, status, riches, comforts and their greed for every sensual gratification loose out upon the genuine hearted loyal people who love and care for them to the extent of exchanging their lives and comfort for happiness of their beloved. Like Daisy, such fickle minded people will never even realise what a crystal clear hearted person like Gatsby they have lost for a selfcentered and wickedminded pretentious Mr Buchanan who could trade anyone.... even Myrtle for their self interests!
What is saddening is that Gatsby’s pure love goes unrecognized even by the Lady for whom he toiled so much to be with. It stresses once more that your true emotions or feelings of love for a person is not under obligation to be appreciated by that person and it may just die with you in your heart.. just like Gatsby’s ! Maybe Love is just a mirage in one’s own mind... and ofcourse on the other hand this Movie also highlights the beautiful relationship of genuine friendship devoid of expectations shared by Gatsby and Nick
Makes me wonder if a real life Mr Gatsby exists in this age ? doesn’t matter if he is not a prince... need not be ...only what matters is unceasing true love,a genuine character and a will to be with the one he loves.
Everything in the movie seems larger than life, a life of grandiosity one could ever dream of but also clears the air about the buried secrets in the hearts of Rich and the Famous, the devastating power of the emotional drag, the opportunistic lover, the short memory of common people and their ungratefulness to a benefactor like Gatsby and the very faint and fortunate chances of having true friends like Nick Carraway. Truly the world today is no different from the Times gone by... ages after ages human needs, tendencies,aspirations, emotions and desires remain the same... Jo daur kal tha woh aajbhi hai aur kal bhi rahega..hamesha!
Leonardo surely played his time-tested trick of becoming a martyr of love very well, very much similar to his role in Titanic and Toby Maguire also has enacted his role of an empathising honest friend similar to his role in Spiderman extremely well and both are best at it! The most striking feature of this movie is the point it makes about stark realities of the Big Bad World unlike make-believe fantasy happy endings of Bollywood movies. After ages a movie could move me into tears , the last time was after watching Titanic...another Leonardo Di Caprio’s masterpiece ; the only difference between these two is that Jack dying for Rose was well worth but Gatsby dying for Daisy isn’t ! No wonder I am in love with The Great Gatsby.... both the character and the movie…