"WHEN HARRY MET SALLY" - A Love Language

We grew up watching Bollywood evergreen Maine Pyaar Kiya and its catchphrase "Ek ladka ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte" (A boy and a girl can never be just friends). I feel That When Harry Met Sally explores this making it the central idea of the film in its unique and exquisite way. Harry taking a ride with Sally who is driving to New York after completing university is how we first meet Harry and Sally. Unlike other romantic dramas, they don’t fall in love at first sight or wait for each other for decades, but it takes them 12 years and 3 months to be in love built on solid friendship.

It's everything we expect a feel-good, entertaining movie should have. It consists of great chemistry between the actors Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, the writing of Noha Ephron, and the direction of Rob Reiner. The film is rich in its setting and atmosphere of how Harry and Sally often walk on streets or when they walk through streets full of dry leaves beneath their feet with colors of autumn such as golden, yellow, and orange. But for me, all of its beauty lies in its conversations more than any other aspect of it. Harry won't stop talking about his deep and unique opinions about men, women's friendships, and sex while Sally disagrees sometimes agrees, or starts thinking for herself. Their gripping and spellbinding conversations gradually made them curious about each other. And this I feel leads to their beautiful bond, the combination of love and friendship. Such bonds are underrated as we have often seen love from the lens of passion, spark, and butterflies.

Harry is a chill-vibed guy and Sally is high maintenance as Harry calls her are amazing characters to watch. Even the conversations between Sally and Marie or Jess and Harry are catchy and you will start mouthing the dialogues along with them if you love it to the extent of watching it many times.

When Harry and Sally encounter each other after 12 years from their shared ride from Chicago to York City they start to hang out. Sally going through a breakup and Harry through a divorce share what it has been like. Both of them deal with this loss in different ways and meanwhile, they get close. They dwell upon the question they are exploring can men and women be friends, does sex always come in the way of it? They help each other get out there and start seeing other people again but their strong friendship sticks them together.

We need more of such characters who portray love as effortless (in a good way) as them. Harry could also say “It is so nice when you can sit with someone and not have to talk.” In long-term relationships we need an exact kind of person, right?

Sally when finds her ex getting married she expects Harry to be there for her. She has never let herself feel anything about Joe's loss but she cries out that night which changes their friendship and gives the answer. An affectionate hug while she cries turns into intimacy and we agree which Harry has been trying to say throughout the whole movie.

After avoiding each other out of awkwardness for a few days Harry and Sally finally finally confess their love. Harry's monologue depicting how he loves Sally with every imperfect small detail of her will have your heart. When you are friends with someone for a long time and one day they say they love you the fear of it must have been out of loneliness is what Sally feels, Harry's words while confessing he loves her bring the exact opposite essence of true feelings.

“ I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

The movie is enhanced by its stunning storytelling with interviews of old married couples sharing their unique companionship for life. They talk about love, second chances, and nostalgia with a ravishing portrayal of love. Harry and Sally's lives feel incomplete without their best friends who fall in love with each other in the most usual still beautiful way.

Noha Ephron and Rob Reiner in 1989 gave an amazing portrayal of love through this movie, what we call ‘love language’ today. Today when people fall in love quickly without knowing each other much and have multiple relationships, break ups, and rebounds in a decade of 20-30s, it's better to know someone like Harry and Sally do. Give a good amount of time and then have a healthy happy marriage like those old happy couples. Not all of us are meant to find our partner in that one definite way though.

Being in love with this movie, I hope we all too find someone to have mundane walks through the streets, empathetic conversations, and years of togetherness with “When Harry Met Sally” constantly on our watch list.