Introduction
What if you could go into the future and see what your life would look like ten years from now? How about twenty years? Thirty? I remember watching an interview by Sushant Singh Rajput. In this video, he discussed his dreams during the recent success of M.S Dhoni. He recalled how he had “common man dreams,” which included a dream car, a dream house, getting millions of dollars in his bank, and so on. However, Sushant realized that when he got these material items in his hands, the excitement of having them lasted for a few days. Eventually, you get used to owning these items until there is no excitement left in having them. Hence, you become myopic and set more goals for yourself. It’s basically ninety-five percent of boredom and five percent of excitement. This is how I felt about Jai Verma.
Baar Baar Dekho is a science fiction romantic drama film directed by Nitya Mehra. It stars Sidharth Malhotra as Jai Verma and Katrina Kaif as Diya Kapoor. He is a math genius who travels into the future with no control. When he realizes his mistakes in the future, he aims to go back in time and fix his errors. When I got to know how many people disliked this movie, I was shocked. But at the same time, I wasn’t. Many people set numerous goals for the future but fail to be mindful of the “now.” As a result, we make mistakes or get angry when our dreams are not manifesting as quickly as we hoped. It’s best if I analyzed each part of this film to make myself more straightforward.
Jai and his world
Jai Verma and Diya Kapoor are childhood sweethearts who went to the same school growing up. Presently, Jai is a successful mathematics professor, while Diya is an artist making it big. Jai is feeling stagnant in his current teaching position and wishes to get a fellowship at Cambridge University. Diya is eager to marry Jai. Jai happily agrees with Diya until his mind suddenly changes. Jai has a crisis because the idea of seven vows and a million rituals is not what he signed up for. Throughout the setup, Jai acts negatively about the concept of marriage and how it only creates unnecessary stress in one’s life. He eventually gets a surprise apartment from Diya’s father, and for Jai, it’s the last straw. He tells Diya that he has other plans for the future, and she will not be a part of it. Diya walks away in tears. Jai drinks heavily for the entire night until he passes out. When he wakes up, he realizes that ten days have passed since his marriage. He is now in Thailand.
This showed me how important values are in the relationship and how having one person dictate your life and making decisions on your behalf is not necessarily ideal. Diya is desperate for marriage, but Jai is keen on growing his career further. If one person wants to go to L. A and become a film director while his partner wants to run a farm in the countryside, how will that relationship work? We need to sort out our individual values with all of our relationships and set the proper boundaries for it to work.
Jai’s 2018 and 2034
We now come to the year 2018 in the film. Jai wakes up in Cambridge to see Diya screaming his name over and over again. She has gone into labor! At this point, Jai understands that he has been traveling time and he has no control over it. This sequence is relatively quick, and we now shift to 2034. Jai wakes up and see’s he has gotten his dream job! A professor at Cambridge University. It has been eighteen years since his marriage, and he is horrified to realize that he and Dia are divorced. He returns home in tears, all alone in a big house.
Although the 2018 sequence was short, what stuck out for me was the notion of how quickly time can pass without anyone realizing it. At one point, your single. And the next thing you know, you’re married and the father to small children. As a result, one’s priorities change in life. The Cambridge one speaks for itself. In our life, we must strike a healthy balance between our professional and personal life. If those two ever intersect, things can get messy for every party involved. Jai’s professional status reached incredible heights, yet his relationship with Dia could never keep up.
Backwards in 2023
Instead of going forwards in time, Jai travels back to 2023. Its been seven years since his marriage. He juggles many priorities both in his career and family life. And as we know now, Jai values career over anything else. As a result, he sadly misses the first art exhibition of Dia. Instead, he goes to his best friend Chitra(Sayani Gupta) to help her break up. Chitra tries to make out with Jai. Jai realizes that the divorce with Dia was a result of having an affair with Chitra. He goes home to make things right, but Dia and the rest of the family are upset with him. Teary-eyed, Dia tells Jai that “nothing seems to be working between us.”
At this stage, Jai seems unhappy with his personal relationships and turned to any stream he could to get the personal satisfaction he was looking for. When an affair like this happens, it’s usually because one’s personal relationships are declining. This is the lowest stage of their relationship in this film. And everybody knows what an affair can foreshadow.
Jai in 2047
Jai is now sixty years old in 2047. He finds that his mother has passed away, and everyone has gathered for her funeral. After the funeral and last rites have been performed, Jai is saddened to realize that he and Dia are still divorced. Dia married the art gallery owner Nikhil Khanna(Sagar Arya). Nikhil balanced work and family life successfully. He gave the love to Jai and Dia’s family that Jai himself was never able to do. Because Jai never had time for them. He did not even have time for himself. Jai tries to recover from this blow and meets the priest who conducted their marriage at the beginning. He warns Jai that the importance of time in one’s life and how getting a second chance in life is something only a few people have experienced.
And thankfully, Jai goes back to 2023 to the same time and day, seven years after his marriage. And to the audience’s joy, he sets everything right. He spends time with his children, does his work well, makes Diya feel special, and attends her art exhibition. When he meets Nikhil Khanna, he tells her, “That I am Dia’s husband. She is and always will be my wife.” And he tells her, “You were my yesterday, you will be my tomorrow, and you will always be my now.” Towards the end of this segment, Jai is finally a happy man. In the present moment, Jai goes back to the day before his wedding. Jai quickly rushes to Dia, cherishing every moment when running to her. He also sees his mother and embraces her. He apologizes to Dia and promises to be faithful to her forever. They happily embrace, and the film ends with them getting married and erupting into a dance.
Conclusion
I never understood why this movie didn’t get the audience it deserved. It taught the valuable lesson of searching for happiness in the small things rather than solely focusing on material happiness. Pursuing passions is fine. But in a mathematical sense, balancing the equation of life is equally important. In the first half, Sidharth’s character was career-oriented. He didn’t have the time for his family and loved ones until he was put in a situation where his career wishes were fulfilled. But along the way, he had lost all the relationships he had built. The second half had him fix his mistakes so he could finally return to the present, evidently being more mindful of his surroundings. I can honestly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good watch.
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