Movies that will lift your spirits

           
In our daily lives, we come across people who have faced hardships in life. Their daily life is a constant struggle against adversities. Every day they wake up with a crisis to solve and tackle it with sheer grit and determination. It is this quality that leads them to the path of success. At times, they don’t get the recognition they deserve and may have faded out from public memory. Movies bring them back to life and give them the praise and recognition they are truly worthy of.  When these movies portray their life stories without the glitz and glamour of tinsel town, they become some of the best movies ever made. Here are three movies from different languages that have produced some unforgettable characters and made legends out of ordinary people with extraordinary courage.

•        Pursuit of Happyness (2006)   [English]

            

          A salesman gone broke with a failed enterprise, a man whose wife deserted him, a father struggling to make ends meet to give his son a better life, Apparently, this couldn’t be the life stories of one of America’s greatest businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and motivational speaker. This film encapsulates this and many more as it takes us through the memoirs of Chris Gardner, as he journeys from a life of bankruptcy to a Wall Street stockbroker. Chris Gardner was never the multi-faceted personality that we know today. It was his unflinching resolve and the need to survive in a competitive world in order to live the American dream that took him to the world of stock markets. His stint at the stock market wasn’t an instant success. It pushed him deeper into poverty and homelessness. Amidst all these hardships, it was his son who was his sole companion, the only person who made his life worth living. The film teaches a great life lesson – to never lose hope and to be willing to go the extra mile.

           

•          Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)  [Hindi]

          This film is a biopic that stands out as the best motivational movies ever made. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a film that doesn’t cater to our usual Bollywood palate of drama and stereotypes. The fact that this is true story of the legendary athlete Milkha Singh gives us further reason to believe that man is capable of achieving anything. The Partition in 1947 and the bloodshed that followed left a deep scar on Milkha Singh’s later life. He had to fight back those memories through his entire career. The film also tells us that human beings do make mistakes and are prone to temptations. But one must learn from those mistakes. Milkha Singh’s life is testimony to ‘what a man can do and what a man can endure.’

         

          

•        Celluloid (2013)   [Malayalam]

  This is a film that tells the story of J.C Daniel the pioneer of Malayalam film industry and Rosy, known as the ‘lost heroine’ of Malayalam cinema. This film is based on the life of Rosy, the leading lady of J.C Daniel’s film, Vigathakumaran (The Lost Child). It presents the early life of J.C Daniel, an

enterprising individual keen to put Kerala on the map of Indian Cinema. It also tells us the story of Rosy, the heroine of his film, and how she faced a tragic end as the upper caste society of the time ridiculed her

for acting as a high caste lady in the film.  J.C Daniel’s film was a social drama and did not conform to the caste system of the time. He was forbidden from showing his film in theatres. But his desire to fulfill his dream never wore off. His second attempt proved to be a failed endeavour. As time went by, J.C Daniel took his place among the unsung heroes of Malayalam cinema. But his legacy is revived and the history of Malayalam cinema is rewritten as J.C Daniel takes his place as the Father of Malayalam Cinema. The film gives us an inspiring message that one should not bow down to the ridicules of society.  The people may die but their ideas shall stay alive.