Dear Comrade – A journey that is emotionally overwhelming in a gently poetic and powerful sense.
The opening shot of the film is quite a badass one in relation to its entirety – a man pissing in an old restroom, lit in hues of yellow. We see his profile through a door . The man is quite hurt. In the broken mirror is reflected his wounded face brimming with agony. Bobby, we shortly learn his name is beyond pained that he couldn’t reach his lost love, get a word to her and from her . In his despair and desperation, he moves from one trapped surrounding to another in the initial few minutes : first, the restroom where his phone accidentally breaks raging him all the more. His friends, his comrades come for the aid, resolving the escalated conflict; the next is when he tries calling her from an yellow STD booth. He just couldn’t get to her. He screams aloud, unleashes his pain and breaks the glass.His comrades again get him out. Bobby Sobers up as a truck passes close them threatening to run over. He is startled but there is a lot more .His first meet with Lilly was indeed an accidental one and so will be the second.
The wrecked phone receiver hangs in his hands as he rides with his friends in a bike. He isn’t coming towards us but moving away, perhaps from his present and previous self as we hear / feel the voice over coupled with a very stirring background score carrying the same pain and its wails, ‘Why is it that love which gives so much joy when it arrives leaves us with so much pain when it is gone? ‘ He says his life was so different until he met ( or we wonder, left) Lilly.
The title appears : Dear Comrade
All this emotionally convinces us that this is about a man who reflects on his lost love and seeks to reunite. The break up triggers no self destruction as in Arjun Reddy where an impulsive man loses his lady love. Here, it is a remarkable self discovery that rebels against the destruction of one’s individual self. Dear Comrade surprises and fulfils in abundance for it is not merely Bobby’s reflection and reformation but Lilly’s journey towards her dreams with a lot more prevailing above , around and beneath their streak of love.
Bobby’s reminiscence arrives first taking us back in time . The vast seas and bright morning of the land seem silent, calm but the musical roar hits the sky echoing a spirit of empowerment. A group of students robustly driven by rebelliousness rush to protest against the fee hike in college , Bobby leading them all . Registration of this tendency to protest , raise the voice and fight accompanied by rageous impulsiveness is crucial for it is to be channelized into an incredible strength to build and provide. Dear Comrade makes a humble statement that your fight ,your rebellion need not be political or national , it ought to be be for what you love -for your dreams. Lilly says to Bobby that our fight has to happen within us ,not outside. It is these fights they have got to face and win.
Bobby is the grandson of Comrade Suryam. He is the guiding sunlight of Bobby. Comrade Suryam is dressed in white, not in red and he is surprisingly pacific than preachy, letting us know that rebellion and comradeship aren’t defined by rage but what we love and how far we go to fight for it, together.
In the first accidental meet with Lilly, Bobby stumbles as she crosses his path and he falls off the road. These simple events add up beautifully and easily on themselves – for instance, as an extension of the above scene in this lovely long movie, it is in the absence of Lilly and the pain inflicted by it that Bobby gets to the right path in life while the promising presence and perseverant support extended by Bobby enable Lilly brave her bruises ,come back and pursue the road of her ambitions. They both say at different points in the film that their paths are different. Indeed ,they are yet they converge in the tremendous support one extends for the other ( spiritually even in cases of no physical presence) instilling in the other the courage to continue despite crushing odds.
A buoyant friendship lays the foundation of their bond which gifted by the innocence of age gradually builds into love that is held in esteemed regard and treated with the same. It is Lilly’s dreams, her intrepid naughtiness and innate courage that pulls Bobby. He even tells her that she isn’t as beautiful as her sister on whom Bobby was once infatuated. The bond between Jaya, Bobby and Lilly subtly highlights the charming naivety of adolescent infatuation and the benevolent nobleness of complicated adult love.
Lilly goes about asking ,what does a comrade mean? She gets vague, ridiculous answers until Comrade Suryam tells her that it is how we refer to the ones who stand with us ,for us and by us, supporting us and our dreams. Cut to : Bobby playing cricket. He looks up at Lilly as she watches the game from the terrace. They are still friends. Later, post the bloom of love, Bobby tells Lilly that he wants not to be her lover but her comrade -Let me be your comrade.
We now know in delighting certainty that Dear Comrade isn’t a tale of romance .It is a moving tale of comradeship albeit the devotion of its initial half to the breeze and rains of love , building the base of what is to come in its depths. It soars beyond the rains of love and seeks the shine of comradeship.
Lilly tries urging Bobby to dispense his rage for the better . She fails but her spiritual presence in Bobby’s mind throughout his travel heals him as much as the sounds of nature .He records the experience of both, taping it in his spirit.
Bobby and Lilly are now changed people. In his case occurs a channelization while in hers a distortion.Bobby is now who Lilly hoped him to be – patient, prudent, insightful than impulsive. His reformation is the growth of the seeds she sowed. Now, it is bearing fruit, extending shade. A glow of enlightenment is spread in revived Bobby’s face which was once clouded by the trace of an impending storm. The visage reflects the cleansed spirit and peace in the heart. The emotion opposed to this holds Lilly in an unseen cage she builds for herself pushed by the inherent, invisible and almost invincible prejudices of the society.
Her attitude and attire have lost their original sense of freedom. She earlier wanders gracefully in skirts . Presently when Bobby suddenly takes her out, she grabs her dupatta before she sets to leave and we get to know why. She mostly is resorted to her house , rarely venturing out and only with Bobby. She yearns to be beside him , his warmth as the only part of her erstwhile and spirited self is retained in him. She seeks solace in whatever is left of her in Bobby . It is in it and him she gathers the strength to rage beyond the ruins of the odds.
It is not that the ones devoid of such strength are weak, they are but wounded , broken and need a heal. They need a hand of promise with no pity to pull themselves together, raise and fight like never before. To grab the hold of that hand is itself a feat . Dear Comrade understands and embraces this sort of an hurt and tends to it with respect, empathy and care . It denies chances to place Lilly in the pitiful holds of victimhood but lets us see her pain and wish her the will for triumph. Some of us are too hurt to fight. A healing might not mean a cure. Bobby heals Lilly while his comradeship cures her. The disease of imposed self destruction and vanquish of dreams is what we are talking about.
As the cure is complete, the bruises are proudly shouldered as scars of honour . Our comrade stands beside , saying not a word , giving only a brief content smile. Although Dear Comrade is more about the struggle than the triumph, it manages to disseminate this satisfying warmth of the victory and regaining of self. Statements bearing generalisations are profusely used in this discourse for Bobby tells us it is not only the story of Lilly and him but also us , the dreamers, the aspirers and our beloved comrades.
In a larger and profound level, it is in Lilly’s journey that Dear Comrade roots itself and its soul.
Vijay Devarakonda excels as Bobby with his emotionally rooted and veracious portrayal that allows us the fortune to arrive at the soul of the character. Rashmika enables Lilly blossom with all life , the withering and resurrection also are equally enchanting, authentic and hence affecting. The Kali like moment ( Kali: 2017 Malayalam movie)closer to the end where the anger of one transfers to the other is the return of the shed spirit. I wish the verbal discourse that follows had been as powerful as this, giving the rhetoric a more poetic touch.
The emotionally entwined music empowers , empathises and enhances the core of the feeling the scenes seek to plant and nurture. The rhythm, the sound of the film’s melodies and melancholy will now on bring back instantly to our hearts Bobby, Lilly their comradeship besides the flash of memories about our very own struggles and enabling comrades.
Dear Comrade is a journey. The different phases it assumes in the pursuit of its destiny are hence not matters of serious concern.
The more time I spend with these people, the more I get to know them, their lives and the more their hurts affect me and their triumph delights.The length of the movie helps strike an enhanced resonance with the characters giving us scope for our reminiscences and own reassurances.
Journeys matter as much as the destinations do and at times , even more, so do the ones who accompany us in our journeys . This is to all those Dear Comrades.
Dear Comrade – A moving ode to comrades and comradeship.
Mirra 