Plot
The central figure of the film is represented by a mysterious figure called "Gaja Gamini" (Madhuri Dixit), who inspires, arouses, and confuses the common man. "Gaja Gamini" is the inspiration behind Leonardo Da Vinci's (Naseeruddin Shah) 'Mona Lisa', Kalidas' poem "Shakuntala", and a photojournalist named Shahrukh's (Shah Rukh Khan) photographs. The mysterious "Gaja Gamini" appears as four characters, one of them being Sangeeta, a blind girl from Banaras at the beginning of time, who inspires village women (Farida Jalal, Shilpa Shirodkar, and Shabana Aazmi) to revolt against a male-dominated system and carve a niche for women forever. Another character is Shakuntala, who is the subject of Kalidas' poem of the same name. Shakuntala incites jealousy in the women and love in the men around her, charming humans and animals alike in the forests of Kerala. "Gaja Gamini" is also Mona Lisa during the Renaissance, the object of painter Leonardo Da Vinci's obsession. Finally, Monika, the most confusing sector of the film, is supposed to represent the woman of the New Millennium. Kamdev, the God of Love (Inder Kumar), walks the earth throughout history, attempting to win the love of "Gaja Gamini".
Thrown into this mix is a large black wall, separating two different time periods, and confrontations between Science (Ashish Vidyarthi) and Art (Mohan Agashe) at different points in history, showing that the world itself can change, but its original ideas will always be the same. For example, a play by Shakespeare written and performed by actors in the 15th Century will still be performed in the 21st Century, but with different actors. The confrontations between Art and Science also bring about the idea that while Science is firmly set on believing that which can only be proved, the basis for Art is that which can be proved, and an intuitive sense that can be felt. Science uses the brain, while Art uses the brain and the heart. Another interesting facet of the film is a "gathri", a small bundle which a woman carries upon her head, like a burden, with which she must walk forever.
Read more about this topic: Gaja Gamini
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“There saw I how the secret felon wrought,
And treason labouring in the traitor’s thought,
And midwife Time the ripened plot to murder brought.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)