All’s well that ends well

In a creative domain, end may hold more meaning than many philosophers might want to attribute it. An art not properly put to completion is as unfortunate as the one never initiated. Its like putting a restless soul to sleep. An effective ending is the ultimate signature of an artist. The thought came to my mind when I saw Forrest Gump yesterday. The feather that floated off in the air at the climax of the movie, just like how it started, completed it so beautifully and tied the whole experience together. Climax of a book or a movie is the most sensitive and yet, impacting point and only the wise can exploit it correctly. That is what makes Shawshank Redemption or Casablanca an all-time favorite to me. That is what makes O’ Henry so special. And, its not just a twist in the tale at the end that I am talking about. It may be as simplistic as Jab We Met, LOTR, The Notebook, HDDCS or Dil Chahta Hai. Or, it may be as speculative as Gone With The Wind, Aandhi (remember that ‘tere bina zindagi se koi shikva nahi‘) or Aviator. A satisfying end is the hallmark of an artist who has a good grasp on her subject. Dasht-e-tanhai by Faiz would probably be an ordinary poetry without the exceptional ‘yun gumaan hota hai..’ ending verse. All of Ghalib’s ashaar would qualify here too. Same with Rahman’s ‘Khwaja‘ sufi number from Jodhaa-Akbar and ‘Jaage hain‘ in Guru, where he takes the audience to a totally different level towards the ending of song. For that matter, watch Kie?lowski’s Trzy kolory: Bialy ( White from the French tricolor trilogy) for I have no justifying adjectives.

And its not an easy task either. There are plenitude of badly executed examples – any(ok, most) Subhash Ghai movie, POTC III, Spiderman III, Jodha Akbar and many more. Its not only about a bad or spectacular ‘end’ in the end but for me, I always have higher expectations for a crisp conclusion. Right now, I am stuck in a painting which I am having a tough time finishing. Leave apart stories, movies or poems; a picture not completed well is totally meaningless because that is the only thing finally visible to the eye.