Cobalt Blue

Cobalt Blue  written and directed by Sachin Kundalkar adapted from the novel of the same name by him in Marathi, and translated into English by Jerry Pinto. It follows a story of a brother and sister who falls in love with the same man, ensuing events shatter a traditional Marathi family. Thanks for the available ebook, with the release of the movie, got hold of it, and did re-read it. Produced by Priya Sreedharan, Wasim Khan, Zulfaquar Torabi  enacted by Prateik Babbar as unnamed paying guest, Neelay Mehendale as Tanay Vidhyadhar Dixit, Anant V Joshi as Aseem Dixit, Anjali Sivaraman as Anuja Dixit, Poornima Indrajith as sister/nun, Neil Bhoopalam as Literature teacher, Geetanjali Kulkarni as Sharda Dixit, Shishir Sharma as Mr. Dixit, the movie is captivating. Though the book is based in Pune, the movie is in Fort Kochi, Cinematography by Vincenzo Condorelli is amazing.

A typical middle class Marathi family , an empty room with a separate entrance that once was the abode of the grandparents, where the smell of amritanjan still lingers. In comes an unconventional paying guest, changing the lives of two siblings, the younger son and the daughter of the family. Tanay is the non-favoured son in the Pune-based Joshi family. A quiet child, with a funny walk.

The book is in two parts , first one a sort of conversation where the brother Tanay talks to the protagonist, taking us through their relationship and how it ended. It takes the form of a direct address to the missing young man. This immediately presented a small but telling problem for the translator. Tanay uses ‘re’ constantly. It gives his monologue an intensity, a spontaneity and an affectionate intimacy that has no equal in English. Translator tried to use the word ‘love’ as a substitute (as in, ‘You would, wouldn’t you, love?’) but it was not equal in valency or intensity. Tanay says things again and again, as if he wants to reassure himself, as if repetition will fix what has happened in his memory. Once you get used to this, you realize that this is how we grieve, how we remember, in the present tense and in the past, all at once, because the imagined future must now be abandoned.

His life changes when PG steps into it. He spends most of his days, and nights, with him. When PG leaves, all he has of him are a few stray photos, clothes...a museum of broken things. He can’t share his grief, so it consumes him. In short, broken sentences, he conveys his feelings of loss, longing and betrayal.

It states:

We hit it off immediately; neither of us liked the kind of girl who would sing syrupy light classical music—bhav geet; nor the kind of boy who would wear banians with sleeves. There was another thing I didn’t like: marriage. And the many relatives who made it their business to discuss the subject ad nauseam.

You had no relatives. After I got to know you, I wanted to know every little detail about you. Where did you go to school? Did you ever fall in love? With whom? How do you manage alone? What do you plan on doing? I would ask a flurry of questions and I would volunteer a flurry of details about myself.

I don’t know how you managed it: an intense relationship with me, an attraction to Anuja, and then to leave with her? To live somewhere else?

No one would visit us because we’d be living together as social outcasts. For most of the day, we would do what we liked.

or the next two years, through your first two years of college, the bitterness had not abated. Everything around you seemed odd and false. All relationships seemed temporary.

In junior college, you had no friends. In your free time, your pursuits were solitary. You would sit in your hostel room reading for hours. Or you would go for long jogs; or have a meal alone in a restaurant. On Sunday, you’d climb a hill and paint. Or play the guitar. 

We would both have liked this moment. We knew that it would be ours one day. But it is now mine alone.

Tanay dreams of living with PG, of being in a stable, monogamous relationship. “What do two men who decide to live together do?” he ponders. “Men who don’t have the old to look after or the young to raise. For most of the day we would do as we liked.”

It is interesting to see how two boys spending their time together is taken for granted. Tanay’s frequent visits and the long time that he spends in the guest’s room is never questioned, there is not an iota of doubt in his family’s minds. His angst at discovering that he is not inclined to the conventional manner of love, the casual relationships that he gets into and the lonely world that people of a different sexual orientation inhabits, is portrayed in a very matter of fact manner. 

Some contradictions are quite interesting and is reflective of how we, as a society is changing, while trying not to change too much. Anuja is portrayed as a non-conventional girl, who goes on treks and rock climbing, volunteers for a pro-environment organization and the like. Her family seems to have accepted this about her. But, in the true Indian middle class  style, she is expected to stay away from the male paying guest. 

The second part, as a story told by Anuja,  after she comes back from a six month long elopement with the same guy. The second half takes the shape of a diary that the sister writes. Now we see the same set of events from another position, another perspective. This often makes one’s heart ache; surely Anuja and Tanay could have talked? Surely, those years of growing up together in the same house should mean something? But perhaps they don’t; perhaps what really matters is the intensity of the time you spend together rather than the length of it. Anuja’s mourning is more visible. It takes the form of depression and crying bouts. Her monologue comprises entries in a diary that her psychiatrist tells her to maintain. Her section is more detailed. Anuja is a rebel. She has a few social skills. She suddenly takes off on treks and trips and volunteers with environmental organisations. She is the one who approaches the PG and asks him out. She doesn’t like the world of her mother’s religion and the cowardice of her father. Her love is no different from Tanay’s in its intensity.

Book - Realised smell is a matter of the mind , nothing is real. Some differences with the movie are:

Rashmi in the novel - is missing in the movie. Two days after Anuja returned, she was sent to a psychiatrist. She was sent to live with Sharayu Maushi for a change of scene. Rashmi took me into her care and managed to bring me back to my senses. It the movie it is the Nun, enacted beautifully by Purnima Indrajit. 

'Are you the only one who wants to live differently? Those who choose to live differently must suffer the consequences. They must take the pain their decisions bring. Anyway, you’re still young. Why should you accept defeat?’

The results came out. I got 89 per cent. I was delighted. I had planned on an MSc in the same college, after which I planned a master’s degree in zoo management. I had no worries, no cares. When the holidays ended, I returned the Green Earth forms and my report. That year, they had decided to pay volunteers a stipend. Two thousand five hundred rupees! My first cheque! I was over the moon. I thought I’d take everyone out to dinner.

‘Can I ask him too?’ I asked my parents. ‘It won’t look nice, leaving him out.’

‘Okay,’ said Aai. I bounced off to ask him. Once again, he surprised me. ‘I’m not coming. We can go out on our own.’

After the family treat, I had four hundred rupees left. I said to Anubhav, ‘I’ve decided that I want to taste beer and see. I’ve also decided that I can’t do it alone. And I want to pay for it from my own earnings.’ He was more than ready to come with me. On the way home from the beer bar, I felt light and happy. It seemed a wonder that I’d never drunk such a great thing before. I felt a great liquid love for the world surge through me.

That left two hundred rupees. Aai said, ‘Give me that passbook. I’ll put it in the locker with the others.’ And so ended my spree.

Why do we judge relationships only by their age? Why is it that only a long- lasting relationship may be called successful? Now I no longer feel like weeping over him. I just want to meet him once, to ask him why. Then I look at Anubhav and I think: what explanation? From whom? What will I gain by holding him responsible? So maybe it’s all for the best if he doesn’t show up.

At seven that evening, Tanay called from Mumbai. I answered the phone. He had arrived safely. He was at the address he had scribbled on the notepad. He said, ‘Because it’s you, I’m saying this. I won’t be coming for any engagement shit. Rehearsals start tomorrow. And I have to find a job.’

As he was speaking, it seemed like he had received a jolt and he began to talk to someone in English. I told him about the interview at Green Earth. He wished me and hung up. As I was going into my room, Aseem said, ‘When Supriya and her folks are around, could you please wear salwar kameez? For my sake. Until the wedding is over.’

I was struck by its simplicity, symmetry and daring. Its basic story is simple: a young man arrives as a paying guest and catalyses the lives of two siblings: a brother and sister. Kundalkar’s telling of it is likewise simple. 

Movie is a mix of Malayalam, English, Hindi and Marathi. 

Author’s dedication is For Umesh, while Translator’s dedication is 'To boatmen of every kind'.

What makes the story interesting is how each relationship builds, without either of them knowing the other part. One is left to wonder in between what sort of guy the painter is. He is introduced as a loner, with no close friends or relatives, living pretty much on his own very stereotypical guy – unconventional, brooding, aloof, very religious about his space and discipline. From the beginning he seemed attraction worthy he enjoyed the best of two diverse worlds and was cunning enough to keep his different shades completely compartmental and separate. The paying guest (PG) has no name or surname and no past. He is a man who lives by his own idiosyncrasies, a seeker who follows no rules. He likes Matisse, Rumi, Dali, rice pancakes, strong coffee, black and white photographs and Coke with a pinch of salt. He paints and plays the guitar. Being alone is a habit for him. The only thing that is known about his family is that his father was a consultant with the Indian embassy in Paris and that his uncle molested him when he was a child. There’s a lot you learn about the guest and yet, a lot you don’t know. Most of you know comes through Tanay’s narrative.

The writer has sensitively handles the topic of bisexuality, homosexuality and young adult fantasies but felt like it ended abruptly. For a book that was originally written in 2006, Cobalt Blue is ahead of its time. But the movie did raise few questions, though was an initial hit in Netflix.