Udaan: The Flight to Freedom

Just came back after watching Udaan. And if some one asked me to sum it up in a line, the phrases which would come to my mind are, ‘the flight to freedom’, ‘the flight to BE our SELVES’ etc.


And also the other aspect of the same, running away or may be pushing away who we are not and what binds us.


This blogpost is about this second aspect. Without going into too many details of the movie I would just focus here on what intrigued me the most and kept me thinking long after the movie was over:


Turning away from who we are not.


We all seek an idyllic island where we can be with like minded people and be ourselves. What we ‘do’ then becomes secondary. It might even be something as ordinary as a restaurant/ dhaba or perhaps just a ‘chai ki dukaan’. As long as meets our basic needs, and allows us to be ourselves/free, we enjoy it.


Success/money ? Somehow the freedom to BE ensures that the necessary material accomplishments follow you, because you are in FLOW, and naturally the best comes out of you….and the world…which I consider to be an active, dynamic and responsive field of energy (refer Alchemist & E=mc^2 :) ensuring that the best comes to you.


However, this we all know. What intrigued me is whether BEing ourselves is a function of external variables? Do we HAVE TO be in the RIGHT PLACE & among the RIGHT SET OF PEOPLE to BE….our selves ?


Aren’t we always (& all ways) our selves ?


Can’t we be our selves even in the midst of a battle field (like Arjun) ?


Isn’t all that matters is whether Krishna is with us ?


And isn’t our SELF Krishna himself?


Thus, aren’t we always who we are…..Krishna ?!


Being here or there…doing this or that……being with him or her….are they really determinants in deciding whether we can BE our selves?


Having raised this discussion to the highest philosophical argument I can conceive of, I would like to bring it down to the movie and the terra firma on which we live?


Could that boy be him self living with an abusive, insensitive & cruel father ?


Was running away necessary ?


The immediate gut feeling is to say, YES.


But what about the OTHER possibility. Could he have stayed back and still followed his heart and ensured that his younger brother also did the same ?


Let me now elaborate this line of thought further.


Wherever this young man goes, all he has is his self belief and faith. There is no guarantee that he’d become a writer or even that the restaurant he runs is going to be profitable & thus something which can sustain them.


It is just their belief in them selves.


What if he had stayed on with the same self belief and gone on writing ? What if, for some reason he was bound to stay back with his father ?


Now, going back to the initial argument that our SELF is always (& all ways) the same everywhere & anywhere. There is really no force in nature which can take that away from us.


Yes, our bodies can be hurt. Our mind can be tortured. But again is BEING a function of what the body does or what the mind thinks ?


And if we not, aren’t we perennially free and isn’t the ‘udaan’ actually INside, to the island of freedom within rather than a physical movement ?


Of course, the field may be responsive and circumstances may be favourable to such a flight. But what if they are not ?


What if we are like prisoners, like Krishna’s parents who were in Kansa’s dungeon for many years ? Were their selves not free ?


Did not Krishna himself come to free them (physically too) ?


So isn’t freedom a function of what’s within rather than an external contingency ?


I liked the movie but I believe that a sequel to Udaan which talks of the flight to the self is also a story waiting to be told…


For now, do watch this movie. Totally loved it !!


PS: With the same thought in mind, and referring to Shakespeare’s ‘all the world’s a stage’, aren’t our roles merely a ‘play’ ? The way Mani Ratnam casts the same guys as both ‘Ram’ & ‘Raavan’ in Hindi & Tamil versions, does God make us play the same way on this stage in life ? Where are our selves remain the same and perceptions of good & evil (& situations which cause them) being temporary constructs to ensure that a script can be written with heroes & villains, with joys & sorrows & enough drama to ensure that we enjoy the show !! ….because the show must go on…… ;)