Raincoat

Yesterday I was watching this movie – Raincoat – a brilliant story according to me, based on a novel by O Henry made into a movie.

There’s this character of a village woman Neeru, who is very young, has an affair with her childhood lover Mannu for almost 8 years. Barely educated and a little crude in behavior, Neeru always dreams big – of being rich, having lot of servants to take care of her house, car, jewels, lavish life. To quench her thirst, Neeru ditches her childhood lover and heeds to circumstances ending up in an arranged marriage to a rich guy. Neeru is convinced that her parents are also happy about this. Her lover is young, a struggler, yet to start making money and he gives up too since he feels helpless.

They meet after a 6 years of gap, Neeru lives in a city with her husband and Mannu comes from his (and her old) village to her city. Mannu’s situation is pathetic. He is a total loser. He is a failure in his job and he desperately needs money. So he comes to meet a friend in the city to borrow some money and ask for help from his other friends who could help him financially. He carries a letter to show to all his friends that better explains his situation, so that they can read it and help him out. Mannu is unmarried yet. He is depressed and miserable. His friend feels very sad for him and lends him some money and recommends more friends from whom he could go and borrow more money. In the process, he decides to meet Neeru and her husband and God knows what struck him to check her well being after such a long hiatus.

Mannu comes to Neeru’s big house. He is taken aback to see her in a very pale condition after years and they end up having a long conversation, since Neeru says her husband is away, in Japan on a business tour. In between their conversation, the door bell rings. Mannu asks her if he can open the door. She shudders and says it must be some troubling neighbors and refuses to open the door. He is surprised at her strange behavior. He also notices that all the windows are closed and the house is very dark. She says that since she feels cold and it is rainy season, she keeps the door shut always. Her living room where they are sitting is full of handsome furniture. He is not able to understand the situation exactly and feels confused. They get back to their conversation. Both of them camouflage their identities estranging themselves from reality telling each other tales about their dream lives, like as if they are living lavish lives at present. She says that her husband is very rich, keeps traveling abroad, she has servants, jewels, lavish life and she is happy and gets bored coz of excessive pampering. He says he is a very successful businessman, running his own television company, very rich and happy in life. Both of them can clearly see that they are lying to each other, but both don’t want to give up in front of each other. They don’t want to regret that had they been married to each other, situations would have been different or rather better for both. In between the conversations, she asks him for Tea and he says okay. She goes to her kitchen and makes Tea for him, singing loudly in the kitchen trying to show like as if she is really enjoying making Tea and hence loving her house, her married life, daily routine, etc. He observes that and feels happy that she still has her childhood habits. They again get into conversations. Not willing to regret and not ready to accept, they both lie to each other more and more and portray happiness in their individual lives.

In between there’s a twist. She asks him for lunch and he agrees. She says, she needs to go out and buy food for him since she is lazy to cook and the servants are on leave. She leaves him inside the house. He is sitting and smoking in her living room. She has left to buy food for him. Suddenly the door bell rings again and a man pops in. He claims to be the landlord of the house. Mannu ends up having a conversation with the landlord, only to discover that Neeru and her husband are big time into trouble, the house rent was not being paid from almost a year, Neeru’s husband is a fraudulent businessman who has debts to pay, an alcoholic who comes home only late nights to escape from debts and people, to top it, they both give their living room for hire to a furniture shop fellow who keeps his furniture every night and takes them back to his shop next morning, which is why their living room looks so lavish. The landlord is pissed off coz of this illegal business and says that he has filed a case in the court and will be throwing Neeru and her husband out of the house soon. The landlord asks him to see the rest of the house apart from the living room, so as to make him aware of the actual situation. Mannu hesitates initially but then takes a look at the house – which is extremely filthy, barely anything that is in a usable condition, not even a proper vessel in place and is taken aback. Shaken by this harsh reality, he decides to pay her house rent with the little money he would’ve borrowed from his friends. The landlord is more than happy to get 3 months rent and moves out. Neeru comes back with food and serves him. Mannu eats and stealthily leaves the house rent receipt and a letter for near the sofa, stating that he has paid the rent.

They depart. After returning, Mannu finds something in his raincoat pocket. Neeru would’ve kept her (very few) marriage jewels in his raincoat since she ends up reading the letter from his raincoat – the same letter which he had carried to his friend’s house requesting for money. She realizes that he is in dire need of money. And there ends the story.

Nice isn’t it? Kept me thinking for long.

• Neeru could've given her jewels to her husband as well, but she dint.
• Mannu feels extremely bad for Neeru, and does the least he could for her, without even thinking twice.
• Neeru still felt jealous when Mannu mentions about a lady secretary in his office.
• Mannu feels terribly guilty when the landlord tells him the reality and also mocks at Mannu for being a loser, who could not get his lover, and instead trying to show his concern after she has landed in such a soup.
• Neeru's immature materialistic ambitions did not lead her anywhere.
• In the end, Neeru is still as helpless and unhappy as Mannu.
  
  Every woman has desires, different kinds of desires. Some pursue them diligently, some get trapped blindly. Either ways, struggle will always be there in different ways. Sailing through the storm and again charging up to face the next storm is what life is all about. :)

Happy weekend!