The master storyteller Shoojit Sircar, with his magic, wove a story of friendship, love, and grief all taken together between Dan and Shiuli, who fell in love in an unconventional way, in a set of unique circumstances. The story starts with the regular life of hotel management interns, working for a five-star hotel, staying together and living a “work hard, party harder” life. Dan, being a misfit by nature, had a habit of being unhappy about everything around. His work, the hotel staffs, the guests coming in and also his co-workers. A typical carefree attitude which made him go through multiple warnings at his workplace over and over again, making his relationship with his colleagues strained.
Shiuli, on the other hand, was organized and more of a ‘put together’ one. She was good at work, responsible and genuine. Their lives crossed each other’s every now and then at their workplace while she witnessed quite a lot of audaciousness from him without his realizations. Their lives take a sudden turn when, on the New Year Eve, while Dan was not around, the rest of the interns plans to chill out on the rooftop swimming pool area of the hotel. As the party was progressed, Shiuli while enquiring about Dan’s whereabouts accidentally slips and fall down from the third storeyed terrace. Post-hospitalization, Shiuli goes onto a comatose stage with multiple fractures and injuries.
This incident affects Dan far deeply than everyone around could ever imagine. From there on, starts the journey of Dan and Shiuli together yet in their own way. Falling in love and discovering it with the subtle hints that they could manage to exchange, it’s a story about the pure and simple love between the two, where the expressions mostly came in the form of pure and simple viewpoints of Dan and silent stares from Shiuli. As someone rightly said, “The movie October says a lot without saying too much”, the movie is more about feeling love and expressing it in an unconventional way. Varun Dhawan has been his best so far and Banita Sadhu with her silent expressions steal our hearts.
The fact that the movie is a silent tale of the two hearts itself makes it special, but what I got stuck with is the fact that even after the movie got over, I am still stuck somewhere in the “October- Fever”. I got stuck with the question as to, what happens to Dan after Shiuli? That’s the question haunting me ever since I experienced the love between the two. For me, a good movie is that which makes me think about it even after the movie is over. In this case, it's been quite some time and yet I am wondering about what happens to Dan after Shiuli? We have seen the few days when he was away from her working for a hotel in Kullu. He engrossed himself into his work there an unlike his regular attitude of complaining over issues, he was seen to be the responsible one, at times, just like Shiuli. So, maybe after Shiuli, all he could do was work and work so that his mind keeps away from her.
My mind wavers to the fact that he was deeply sunk in sorrow when he, for the first time came to know that Shiuli is no more. His initial reaction (as it happens to all of us when we lose our closed ones) were lost, directionless and left out. The days he spent with her in the hospital, toggling between his work, friends and every other thing in his life, were gone now. He was all free. No more visits to her place, to take her out for walks, to spend time and wait for her acknowledgment through the blink and movements of her eyes. Shiuli was no more there, neither was everything related to her. Now Dan had all the time on Earth to himself. But he almost forgot what he could do without her around.
Thinking more and more about her when she was gone, made him understand his feelings better. As his friends kept prodding him every now and then, for being too much involved in the whole matter, he never felt the need of being away from her. Her last few words before the fall, “Where is Dan?” kept revolving in his head, as he kept coming back to her again and again. His multiple encounters with her family and his fear of losing her if the plug of the ventilator is being pulled out made his feelings and emotions very evident for all those who witnessed. What is it that he saw in Shiuli those days, he fell in love with her? Is it her beauty? No, she was not beautiful at that point in time with pipes, tubes and lifesaving pieces of equipment strangled her all over. Maybe he discovered that more than the reason, it’s the feeling of love which is more important in life. And it was just the love and nothing else that he could feel when he was with her. The feeling of being with her was of utmost importance then.
Dan is seen to be back to the same hotel where he was working as an Intern, in the end. The same place from where he was thrown out. The same people allowed him to complete his internship, which in turn helped him to get the Diploma in Hotel Management. We find him being a responsible Chef, working as a professional in the end. Why was he allowed to come back to the same place? Well, like a lot of other unanswered questions, this was also left to the viewer to arrive at. Is it because of the commitment level that Dan showed towards Shiuli when she was in need? We are not sure. But for Dan, maybe the hotel was the only place that could remind him of Shiuli. Her dedication towards her job and the way she handled everything around was appreciated by everyone. Maybe he thought, if he could do that, he would be close to her. Maybe he and his friends requested the hotel management staff to consider allowing Dan to complete his internship on humanitarian grounds. Once Dan made his way into the Internship of the hotel, he gave his best and made his way as a Chef permanent in the hotel.
Now, how did Dan, from being someone who complained about everything, became permanent in the hotel kitchen? Apart from being like Shiuli in his way of living, maybe he also witnessed the magic of love inside. His relationship with his mom as shown in one scene didn’t appear to be very close. Maybe, being little different from every other guy of his age, Dan never experienced love in his life from anyone close to him. Maybe he was just another carefree guy living for the moment not thinking about anybody else. Maybe, falling in love with Shiuli and being loved in return kindled a soft spot in his heart where he felt the warmth of belongingness. The fact that Shiuli missed him when he was not around made him feel wanted and cared for. Maybe that love itself rekindled his spirits and made him see the beauty of things around. Dan, from being the one who complained about everything, became someone who accepted things and moved ahead in life. As the light washes away darkness, so does love to hatred.
Shiuli, leaving the world at such an early age puts herself into Dan, so that he lives his life being responsible and the “put together” one. Like the night-flowering jasmine (Shiuli flower as it is popularly known) she didn’t last long yet left a beautiful fragrance of her, touching the life of someone so deeply.
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