Life's not all about second chances. Review on Ijaazat

What would I change about my life if I had one of those HG Wells' Time Machines? A lot. Life would have been a lot different if I had the second chance to alter some moments and some hot-headed speedy decisions. I'm sure, the idea of time machines crossed a lot of minds. A thought: ''Only if the streets of ignis fatuus ever converged with the big materialistic highway''.

Gulzar's ''Ijaazat'' is a dramatic illustration of love, relationships, bloopers and realizations. A tale of convoluted lives of a man and two women, Ijaazat happens to be one of the best movies from the enigmatic story teller, Gulzar. He makes a very far-reaching scrutiny of how people deal with intricacies in life and relationships.

Overture: On a rainy night Mahinder (Naseerudin Shah), who is on a journey has to change trains. As predictable as it could be the train is delayed and has to spend his night in a waiting room of some unknown railway station. In the same waiting room is Sudha (Rekha), who happens to be Mahinder's ex-wife. Circumstantially bumping into each other, Mahinder and Sudha get a chance to realize some forgotten facts of their lives.

The Thread: Mahinder, a photographer, is romantically involved with Maya (Anuradha Patel). Compelled by his benefactor (Shammi Kapoor), Mahinder marries his childhood prospective spouse Sudha, due to unavailability of the wanderlust freak Maya. Once married to Sudha, Mohinder attempts to leave his past behind and carry out his conjugal responsibilities. Despite his earnest efforts, Mohinder's world is haunted with nostalgic memoirs of Maya. Sudha recognizes and accepts the schmaltz in Mahinder's life. She reaches out to help him recover from his past and accept his present.

Returns the enigmatic Maya from her mysterious journey and is devastated by the news of Mahinder's marriage to Sudha. Unable to accept the realities, Maya vainly attempts suicide. Concerned Mohinder starts meeting Maya again only to rehabilitate and renovate her, which Sudha is unaware of. This time his relationship with Maya is platonic. Once Sudha discovers that Mahinder has been clandestinely meeting Maya, she immediately walks out of his life, leaving Mahinder with a massive heart attack. Now its Maya's turn to help Mahinder renovate himself and recover from his illness which she does willingly. In the meantime, Sudha who is unaware of Mahinder's illness, files for a divorce which makes Mahinder extremely upset. In order to reunite Mahinder and Sudha, Maya sets out on a bike in the middle of the night only to meet with a fatal accident.

Epilogue: The rain halts in wee hours of the morning. Sudha is sobbing on a railway-platform bench. It took her years to know the actual facts of her's, Mahinder's and Maya's lives. Now that the truth is out, its on the back of Mahinder's mind that it could be the end of the plights in his life. But... something shocking happens which I cannot reveal in this review. It would be unfair. You have to watch it. All I can say is, ''Sometimes second-chances come too late in life''.

Gulzar is known for his poetic and gilt-edged screenplays. This movie excels in both aspects. Adorable performances by Rekha, Anuradha Patel and Naseerudin Shah. Another highlight of this movie is the music. RD Burman composed the four best songs of his life time. ''Khaali Haath Shyam'', ''Katra Katra'', ''Mera Kuch Saamaan'' and ''Choti si kahani'' are absolutely fantastic songs sung by Asha Bhosle. Lyrics are very poetic and sometimes cryptic by Gulzar. It could take a while to understand them.

Ironically, neither Mahinder, Sudha nor Maya get a second chance to alter their irrational hot-headed decisions. Each time you watch this movie, it shoves a mirror in front of our life to show the reflections of our past. Again, ''sometimes second chances come too late in life''.

Ijaazat.... rocks