Image Courtesy: Mohammad Abdullah on Freepik
The Hindi cinema, as we had known it
Depicted all colours of life-
bright, radiant, grey, dark
In a single movie, you had
romance, conflict
Grief, happiness, fights,
disappointment
Plenty of songs reflecting
the various moods
the hues of life, that
became super-duper hits
remembered fondly to this
day with the
singers, lyricists and music
directors becoming legends
youngsters recreating them
in music competitions
Celebrations of festivals
like Holi, celebration of seasons
Like spring, monsoon,
winter, meant a splash of colours!
Then, we compared with the
West, criticized our natural selves
Made fun, dismissed these
films as “Masala, formula films”
Gave up our own natural
flavour to “get rid of songs”
Restrict them to “one or two”,
at best
Yet, the cold,
expressionless, dead pan style of western pictures
Are not us- Indians are an
emotional people
No matter, how much we try
to ape those held “Sophisticated”
We are what we are! It is
necessary to be
Who, we are in the
inside, sans pretensions
Life is not about any one
colour, it is an admixture
A tapestry of the highs and
lows and the moods in between
“Living life to the Lees” is
about embracing all the colours
Accepting everything, not
rejecting anything…
NB: This poem was composed for and recited at the Seniors Today online poetry meet on 13th March 2026.
