Deconstructing the design of the song ‘Ye Rojaithey Chusano Ninnu..’ from GULABI (1995)
The song starts from the time-code 01:35:00 in the movie. Here’s the link:
(In the video below I included the specific parts that I am gonna talk about)
The song is about JD’s recollection of his joyful memories with Maheswari when he gets almost unconscious due to heavy physical injuries. To convey the dream-like feeling the song has been cut non-linearly between the shots of JD Chakravarty’s abnormal pain and angst in the present and his sweet nostalgic memories with Maheswari in the past. The song aims at the feeling of mad emotional drive with which JD wants her back into his life.
SET-UP: The initial part of the song (until the music kicks in) works like a set-up for the audience to get used to the visual rhythm of song. It oscillates between the clumsy steady-cam moves of the bleeding Chakravarty and the static rapid cuts of his memories of Maheswari just the way it happens in a dream. Both the timelines are connected by a single sound effect of the raising tides of the beach. Beach works like an anchor that triggers the flow of his memories. As the shots progress he goes unconscious in the auto therefore the pacing calms down and then the soothing music kicks-in.
MEMORY TRIGGERS: Every time there is a cut from the past to the present a strong memory gets triggered in JD’s character. It’s mostly done subliminally but the one cut that stands out is the sound-match cut where Maheshwari punches him in the stomach and then he hysterically wakes up in the present timeline as the punch reminds him of the goons’ assault in the previous scene. As JD’s mind is unable to figure out what’s real and what’s not and as his memories are frequently shifting between the nostalgia and the brutality he has experienced in the previous scene he goes completely numb for a while and so the sound gets totally muted for a few seconds.
END SHOT: This is my favorite shot in the entire movie. It’s the final memory trigger. The song ends with their nostalgic images, the music slowly fades out and only the sound effect of a slowly beating heart remains. We cut to the top of the JD’s house but the heartbeat’s sound still continues. We tilt down slowly and as we move ahead over the grass surface for a while, (apparently three different shots are stitched together to create this oner) we see Maheswari sitting on the floor upside down and then we see JD Chakravarty secretly walking up to her. Until this point in the scene it all feels like a dream and then it gets real as she starts spilling water on to him. By the end of the scene JD tries to catch her but his father holds him tight. MATCH CUT to the present JD screaming her name hysterically as his father and friends hold him tight.