Calling “Lootera” (2013) just a love story diminishes its depth. This film is about a lot more: a meditation on love, art, loss, the fragility of being human, the art of loving, the cost of living, and the inevitability of loss. It is also about the truths we resist and the moments of grace that arrive when we least expect them. The film, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, moves at its own deliberate pace with emotions that simmer beneath silences and stolen glances.
Inspired by O. Henry’s short story “The Last Leaf,” the film stars Ranveer Singh as the enigmatic Varun Shrivastav and Sonakshi Sinha as the sensitive Pakhi Roy Chaudhary. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a changing India in the early 1950s, where personal tragedies meet with historical transitions, and we get what can be called a hauntingly melancholic experience.
Each time I watch “Lootera,” it speaks to me differently. And this time, I walked away with five lessons that I decided to pen down.
Never Find Yourself a Parrot
At the start of the film, Pakhi’s father tells her the story of a Bhil king. The king had tied his life to a parrot, so if one wanted to kill the king, they would have to kill the parrot. In a moment of quiet vulnerability, Pakhi’s father tells her that she is his parrot. This is an important scene in the film, as Pakhi would go on to internalize this belief. Later in the movie, as she suffers from tuberculosis, she clings to the last leaf on the tree outside her window. She was convinced that when this leaf falls, so will she. But her fate is not written on that tree, just as the Bhil king’s was not sealed in the parrot. The leaf, like the parrot, is an illusion.
We often look for reasons to surrender, to stop fighting, to let go. But guess what? Life is not about finding justifications to give up. It is about finding reasons to live. No talisman, no leaf, no external force can change what is meant to be. While we are here, we must live fully. We must let what happens to us happen—without fear.
Truth is Salvation
Varun spends much of the film running: from the law, his past, and most seriously of all, from himself. His life is built on deception, on stolen moments and false identities. He was living a life that he did not create, but a roadmap that was drawn for him by his uncle. But in the end, the truth does catch up with him. This film shows us that salvation does not come from escapes but from acceptance. No matter how far we run, the weight of our lies, at some point or the other, becomes unbearable. The truth is the only thing that can set us free.
Draw Your Masterpiece
There is a scene in “Lootera” that lingers long after the credits roll. Varun carries a canvas with him wherever he goes. He does not know how to paint, not even something as simple as a leaf, yet believes strongly that he will draw an unforgettable masterpiece one day. And sure enough, he does. When Pakhi becomes convinced that she will die when the last leaf falls off the tree outside her window, Varun, knowing that he himself is running out of time, paints a leaf and ties it onto the tree: a leaf that will not fall. This is his final act, his redemption, his masterpiece. He does not create it for glory, nor for recognition. He does it because he must, for himself and his love.
Art, in any form, is an act of defiance against time. We, in our own ways, can create something that outlives us. Not necessarily in grand strokes, not always on a canvas, but in the way we live, in the things we leave behind, in the moments we etch into the lives of others. Whether it is a painting, a poem, or the kindness we extend, our existence is validated by the things we create. Time will pass, and we will fade, but what we create might just remain.
Take Your Chance at Love
In the modern age, especially, we believe life will give us multiple chances at love. But it does not. Time, sometimes, is cruel, and opportunities slip away before we realize they were ever there. “Lootera” is a testament to love that is never fully realized, love that is weighed down by mistakes and missed chances.
Varun and Pakhi’s love is not perfect. It is fractured by betrayal, by silence, by the weight of unspoken truths and confessions. It exists despite. And that is what makes it real. Love ‘despite’ is more meaningful than love ‘for.’ We do not love people for their perfection. We love them despite their flaws, despite their failings, despite the hurt they sometimes cause. Do not wait for a perfect love or for the right moment. Take chances while you can, and even if you miss one and are lucky enough, you might get another go. For, as Gregory Alan Isakov says, “If it weren’t for second chances, we’d all be alone.”
Life is a Cruel Joke
A friend once told me, “Life is a cruel joke—one that the chowkidar (watchman) lives and the jagirdar (landlord) laughs at.” And isn’t that the truth? In “Lootera,” justice is arbitrary. The powerful manipulate, the weak suffer, and fate plays its own merciless game. Varun, despite his crimes, finds redemption in death, and Pakhi, despite her suffering, finds hope in illusion. And the world moves on, indifferent to it all.
But if I can tell you a little secret: within this cruel joke, there is still beauty, art, and love. We find solace in stolen moments and in acts of kindness and in fleeting happiness. The trick is to laugh back at life, to take whatever joy we can find, and to keep moving forward. Perhaps, if I watch “Lootera” a year from now, I will find new lessons, just as one finds different meanings in the same poem at different stages of life. That is the power of great cinema; it grows with us and reminds us that we, too, are ever-changing. And maybe, the next time I watch “Lootera,” I will find five other lessons.
