I was occupied with my new clients, and I was travelling. Sorry for being MIA for a month.

I didn’t prioritize publishing Vikra’s Café until I got a message from a reader asking if everything was okay. Guilt 100xed, and I wrapped my work quickly to get on this ASAP.

Good to be back. Felt a little out of touch and rusty. Let’s see if I can grab your attention for the next five minutes.

What do I have today?

So I bought this cute notebook at the stationary a few days ago:

I decided to write my favourite English dialogues from movies/series in this notebook. No particular reason for doing it, just that it sounded fun and relaxing.

If I like doing this, I will keep separate books for Hindi and Telugu as well.

I mentioned a few of my favourite lines from movies in this issue—and the reasons why I love them. If this is a hit, it might have sequels—having themes to different editions.

This one is on death and goodbyes. Ready?

Death (and in many ways, goodbye) is closely connected to my life events. It makes me attach deeply to scenes and stories involving sadness, pain or grief. I am sure I have missed many scenes, but these are a few I could think of instantly.

Disclaimer: The content contains spoilers.

This is the story of a teenage songwriter who created a chartbuster single - clouds while battling bone cancer. The song is too beautiful in itself, but the lyrics hit different after you watch the movie and know the backstory.

This is the real-life story of Zach Sobiech, who died at 18.

Many many beautiful scenes in the film, out of which my favourite dialogue comes from Zach’s essay for his high school admission. It starts with how we keep postponing our dreams and ends with the line, “you don’t have to know you’re dying to start living.”

I don’t know, I love these kinds of films.
The films that show emotions and not force them.

I remember watching Life of Pi with my sister, and I was awestruck by the visuals, emotions, and dialogues. I was only 14 back then, but I exactly remember each frame of the climax and how I interpreted it.

I usually like to interpret what the artists show in my own way—in a way that aligns with my story, in a way that makes me sleep better.

My favourite dialogue from the film comes when Irrfan Khan narrates how he wished Richard Parker, the Tiger, looked back at him as a gesture of saying goodbye before they separated ways.

I don’t know if others felt this, but this is how I interpreted the scene:

“There was a shipwreck. Young Irrfan Khan (Pi) was cast away with a bunch of animals on a small boat, including an adult Bengal Tiger. All of them go into survival mode for weeks before they finally reach the Mexican shore, with only the boy and tiger barely alive.

By this time, both the boy and the tiger had formed a soft bond with each other. When they hit the shore, they knew they didn’t have any energy left. The boy falls on the sand while the tiger slowly walks into the forest by the beach without even looking back at the boy.

Pi desperately wanted to say goodbye to Richard Parker, but the way I see it, the only resource left for the tiger to survive is to eat the boy alive. My perspective is Richard chose to leave a boy on his own and just walk into the jungle—either to suffer, die alone or to find another prey instead of the boy.

…all because of the bond these two have formed.”

I don’t know how true this is.

I didn’t even rewatch the film while writing this issue.
But it is the version I like to remember.

As someone who grew up in a lot of solitude, I couldn’t connect more to the dialogue.

Into the Wild is a kind of story that wants you to leave everything behind and go on a journey to explore the world and discover yourself in ways you never imagined.

It is based on the life of Christopher McCandless, who abandons his life, donates his savings, and just goes into the wild, meeting different people and facing new adventures.

He wrote notes based on his experiences, and right before he died of starvation, he wrote: Happiness is only real when shared.

Coming from a guy who abandoned his family, career, and moved on with all the people he met with beautiful memories in his heart, I believe the soul of his philosophy peaked when he changed his opinion on happiness and realized “Happiness is only real when shared” in his final moments.

As if the entire movie is not mind-bending enough, the director decides to add one more dialogue thirty seconds before the climax to fuck your brains even more.

Without getting deeply into the spoilers, Leonardo’s final scene with Mark Ruffalo, where he understands reality and chooses his death over living with his consciousness, is peak dialogue writing for me.

I remember going “no no no no no noooo” when the scene was happening. It’s one of those scenes I’d love to relive for the first time again.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this film. I like the story. Not as much as many have liked it, but I did find the idea of a pre-funeral or attending your own funeral interesting.

I can’t imagine how people who know they will die find their strength from, but I guess that is what makes their story worth sharing.

Until next time :)

Love,
Vikra