And They Didn't Live Happily Ever After...

In a utopian world, a love story ending on a happy note would be considered ideal. But in Bollywood tragic endings often make for better films, says Viraj Sawant.

 

- Viraj Sawant

Where’s the fun in clichéd love stories? And like Kurt Cobain says, “Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art.” Out of the distressed tragedies, Shakespeare wrote some of his best plays. Our Bollywood directors also make some of the most powerful love stories using tragedies from real life.

The latest sorrowful love story that came from the house of Bollywood was by Karan Johar. Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL told the story of a boy stuck in a contemporary concept of being friend-zoned for life. He falls in love with a girl who fancies him only as a friend and cannot accept him as a lover. While he tries to escape from this situation by getting involved with another woman, it does not pan out well either. Destiny brings his first love back into his life – this time with the knowledge that she has been diagnosed with cancer, with very little time left. Thus he diligently devotes his life to her. While these two lovers do not have a ‘happily ever after’ life together, he finds solace in caring for her during her illness. And if that’s not true love, what is!