Where do you belong?

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Parents emigrate. Children are born in adopted country. They grow up.  They decide to go back to the original country to find themselves?  Will they? The Indian film, Aaja Nachile is not about the brilliant performance Diya (Madhuri Dixit) performed in the title song Aaja Nachile.  It is about decisions we make about our lives.  Why do I live here and not in Africa?
Why did you leave the Soviet Union or India for Canada, the U.S. Australia or Dubai?  In the case of this movie, you want to go back to India.  Is India under any obligation to accept you?  That is the essence of the film Aaja Nachile.

Diya goes back to India to save Ajanta, an open air dance theatre in Shimla, where she grew up.  Her parents never liked her dancing.  The city hated Dada, the long haired guru who taught classical dance in Ajanta. 
Dada dismisses that with, “art doesn’t need the city, the city needs art”.  Diya left India in disgrace, after she eloped with Steve an American photographer for the National Geographic.
Her parents were so hurt they left Shimla never to return.  Neighbors still remember Diya and don’t want to have anything to do with her.  Mohan, the man she jilted in order to run away with Steve the photographer still lives in the area.
What makes matters worse is that Diya comes back with a daughter and no husband.  I think the essence of the film is what the local politician said about Non Resident Indians (NRI).  It is a dilemma faced by millions of people who are anchored in two countries.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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