Destiny. What does exactly this word mean? Is it something like
some pre-defined screenplay and we’re all just the actors who are performing on
the stage of life OR is it some is it some randomness introduced into that
screenplay where the algorithm of life works exactly how we want it to work
except in some cases where it acts completely self-driven random OR is it chaos
theory in which each event is completely random and outputs are unpredictable
as hell!!
Well, I don’t know but it’s something!! Something really good,
something really exciting!! As Einstein said, ‘God doesn’t play dice with
Universe’. I like to believe it!! There is no randomness in relationships
because there is no randomness in feelings. We humans (except some werewolves
sitting at Parliament), are feelings-driven, and feelings is organized chaos, a fuel driving our vehicle. We try a lot to keep everything
planned, well-organized, predictable BUT that’s when life plays its mysterious
role. You can’t keep your feelings organized for long, because it’s fluid of
emotions, chaos is its nature. It will slowly find its way to organized anarchy.
And love, relationship?
It is exactly same, driven by feelings, finding its own way just
like river. If you try to control it, it will still find its own way!!
*****
Natalie was perfect, a perfect 10!! Beautiful!
Smart! Talented! Successful! She had everything what any girl could dream for!!
Looks? Yes. Popularity? Yes! Excellent academic record? Yes! Focused goal? Yes.
Loving boyfriend? Yes... Loyal friends? Yes. Everything... Yeah Almost!! She
tends (not ‘like to’ because she doesn’t know what ‘unpredictable’ is!) to be
well-organized and focused!! That’s why she keeps her daily To-Do list. She has
got immense motivation (and pressure!) from her family to be incredible in
almost everything!! Her day starts with six-hour Tennis training followed by
school. She has rigorous plan to achieve maximum points so that she can get
scholarship at one of the top universities. She has also found equally
good-profile handsome boyfriend, who is top transfer-student from Brazil. They
start getting along with each other. Everything is perfectly smooth as it ‘should’
be!
Sometimes we don't know what void is inside
for. Everything seems cool until some unpredictability is encountered. Rain
keeps raining easily until its hit by storm. River keeps flowing
seamlessly until its adventure ride of ‘fall’ come in its way!!! One day, she
meets Harry in chemistry lab, as a lab partner. Harry!! a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky
guy whose behavior is weirder than his talks. A guy who doesn’t have any plan
where he is heading after finishing the current work! He loves adventures,
loves excitement of unpredictability. He is not doing anything in the way he is
supposed to do. He does silly things like putting bowling balls at teachers’ front
porch, breaches security into one of the corporate premises to have his lunch
in one of the meeting rooms.
She He lives life like there is no tomorrow! He
had no groups of friends, no usual aspirations for life!!! His spontaneous,
anarchic attitude towards everything had sort of contagious charm. Both were
the extremists of their kind. One is organized and the other is anarchic. One
is focused and the other is omnipresent. But now, in the chemistry lab, some
sparkling effects of his unusual persona start working on her. She finds him rude,
eccentric, and weird, which definitely he is. He is rude because he asks her
out if she wants help with chemistry assignment, assuring her that it’s not a
date. He is eccentric because he is like a mischievous kid who lives on his own
way without caring much about society, grades, future! Friends warn Natalie to
not to mingle much with Harry as he might be stalking her. But she has already
started falling into his rapture which is like unknown blind-mode
roller-coaster. She starts realizing that she was just breathing life rather
than living it. All success-proud and happiness was just a tip of iceberg.
Inside she was completely lost and unhappy. And Harry, he keeps putting
surprises after surprises in front of her, making her more lively. She realizes
that she has her own set of dreams and passions. She has realized there are more
possibilities to her, new dimensions which she never knew even existed.
But, there is something about his weird
behavior. On one side, she is becoming more and more affect ionate to him but oscillations of his
weirdo-act starts getting more intense. One day, both goes to the group hang-out
spot of their school, but on the opposite side of the river where Natalie comes
every weekend with her group of friends. So, they land up in a place where he
had always been and she has never been. She says, ‘I didn’t know there is other
side of that place too. So you have been coming here all the time, huh?’ Harry
says, ‘It’s the place where I belong to. But you didn’t like this place, right?
away from all your happenings and celebrations?’ Natalie says looking into his
eyes: “Nope, I think I liked this much better. I think you can’t even compare.”
And, they realize their moment and briefly kiss. Suddenly realizing, Harry
backs away quoting it has to be strictly lab-partnership. They leave the place.
But, from the next
day, Harry is somehow absent in the chemistry lab. But now, it has turned very
difficult for her to stay away from him. She becomes more and more restless as
he doesn’t come for two more weeks. She follows the address he had shared with
her but it turns out fake. She breaks into his college-locker and finds out his
real address. She rushes to his place where she finds out that he has been
lying not just about his address, but his family and everything. She learns
that his family is just his father. His place is filled with utter sadness. His
father tells him that Natalie is visiting him. He denies visiting her by
increasing his music stereo volume. She feels huge setback because of such an unpredictable
and intense behavior of him.
In the late evening, he comes out his place to
start his van. He rushes to his favorite lake spot. Reaching there, he stares
at the lake water for awhile. He seems frustrated with his eyes moistened. Suddenly,
he learns that someone is behind him, moaning. He doesn’t take much time to
realize that Natalie has been following him in his van. He doesn’t even have to
turn around to confirm.
“I don't... I don't
care where you're gonna be next year. I don't care if you're crazy. God, I just
know I wanna be with you. I don't understand what you're doing. It seems so
pointless, I mean everything... It just seems pointless but when I'm with you
it's different. I don't know why"
She can’t hold enough and starts bursting into
tears.
Harry takes a pause, deeply sighs and then
rushes towards her to take her into arms and kiss her. They may have kissed
each other for a while with eyes shedding tears. Then they make love in the
back of the van to lose her virginity, finally. After all this time, she
couldn’t move along with his boyfriend but now she finds his real-affection towards
Harry.
On the way back, she is seeking wonderful life
ahead with Harry but she is left heart-broken when Harry suggests not moving
their relationship further saying they are very different from each other. She,
with moistened eyes rushes to her bedroom. Her heart just had devastating
setback.
Now, she is living into some limbo with no
interaction with family and friends. Her performance starts deteriorating in
school, her tennis rank drop and she also dumps her boyfriend. One day, on the
way to back home, she learns that Keith is hiding some terrible truth from her.
Natalie confronts Keith in lab with frustration.
‘What’s this? Really... I always hated your
guts. I wanted to take you down. Can’t you see? I have screwed you, and screwed
you big time.’
‘Ok. You screwed me!! So what!! Me? I made
love to you…’
After looking straight into his eyes, confronting
his loose efforts to keep her away from his life:
‘Try again!! Try again!!’
Finally, Keith gives into her feelings. This
story is not about Keith, it’s about Keith’s influence on the girl who
predictably comes under his rapture and ends up into 360° transformation of herself. At
the end, she starts living the excitement of uncertainty and chaos instead of dying
every day in dread disciplines and boring plans.
*****
The movie is not so cult or great. Neither
its’ plot nor its’ story! But it’s so emotionally astounding that slowly it
grabs you in magnetism of intimacy, intimacy of chaotic adventures!
