Yes the secular hybrid is being called to rise and be counted. And in a script, clearly for the 16-30 age group, it’s a nice signpost to carry. The young, upwardly mobile, tech-savy, world-wide Indians are beyond religion and its politics. They revere the pot pourri of ‘tolerance’ and sang-froid and that looks good in the face of all those screaming ‘fundoism’ as the Indian future. Good also because it seems to weave a common thread. Well the theme of young Saif and bubbly Preity explores a fairly out there ‘sexual’ taboo. Living together and accidental ‘baby’ as a natural condition, rather than the ultimate blasphemy. The director and script, have let it all hang out so to speak in this rather fast paced film. And there are other things too. Parents take a back seat to the couple and their dilemmas, culture and tradition are hardly bandied about and no one mentions that worn out word ‘izzat’ even once. Quite a first for Bollywood !

Since I am not reviewing the film for its directorial merits, I won’t comment on its loose ends and waning reality in parts. For me, the film is a first in many ways and a sign of our times. The question being (and I think that was part of the protesting voices) whose times does it reflect? Personally, I believe the mental times of our young, metro-based, west leaning, foot loose and fancy free young who abound. The film most definitely reflects a whole generation of youth whom we have reared and bred to do just that. Think, experiment, emulate modern lifestyles(granted western) and jump into the deep-end willing to take the fall. The poignant statement that both the movie and its protestors make is that there is a gap. A gap in the ethical/moral/lifestyle choices that this youth makes in its head and what it can in fact translate into reality. A gap in how we let our children access the global to learn and grow with and then we want to rein them in through tradition and ‘Indianness’ to ‘fit in’. I am referring to the fact that though Saif and Priety are two desis visiting Australia, their ‘lifestyle’ has to be physically set there. Would Mumabi, Delhi or for that matter Bangalore be a possibility for locale? We all know it would not look right.

And that’s the point. The film has been a hit with the Indian young. Those living right here, in the cities I mention and do not mention. So it must sound right in their heads as a theme, as a way of life, as coming of age to experiment outside marriage, as building intimacy on free no-strings-attached basis. For when Saif spooks at the idea of a baby and the sharp turn in the future of their relationship, the film paddles the waters of the ambivalence that he struggles with, rather than squeezing him into the callous lover mould. Interesting possibilities and truths for the youth to bend their minds around.

But we are still stuck in the gap. Some protest that such films are planting immoral ideas and western values, others call it packaging ‘wanton’ sexuality and so on. I say it’s the writing on the wall. Nothing can stand in the way of an idea whose time has come. No bars can imprison thought, aspiration or desire especially when the numbers who share that thought grow exponentially. Perhaps the writing does not spell doom or disaster. It does however point to the many ways we have paved the road for the young. They are not aliens but from our very own give-the –child –space to-be –and-think modes. If we are truly honest, we will see the continuum that the next generation always is. A continuum, of all that we as men and women desired / fantasized / aspired to be and have. WE carried a collective intention for space and blossoming to happen in wonderous ways for our young. It is now their time to be that which we perhaps just silently desired.

And is the news really all bad? If the title was not ‘accidental’ (and even if it was) does its resonance lessen? Some may say I am trying to read way too much meaning in the title. But I feel that in the subtle threads of change, is where the real messages need to be sought and found for they are the undercurrents of where the tide is headed. In the ‘melting-pot’ ways of our times, our children are also learning acceptance of difference, tolerance for all ‘others’, rising above (or better still, indifferent to) turgid cultural baggage of class, caste and religion. They are freer in their identities and perhaps tumbling into newer pens but it is their world and if it includes Salaam Namaste, is the news all bad?