Explained: How Chinese colleges being given a leave to find love reflects cinema's most treasured genre

China, according to a report, has seen a sharp decline in its population. The government has now come up with a solution that’s both audacious and imaginative. Over nine colleges in the country are being given a seven-day leave from April 1-7 so the students can discover love, but love that also transcends physical and sexual intimacy. Run by the Fan Mei Education Group, the schools on March 23 said that they are going on a break from April 1 to 7 and tasked students with enjoying themselves.

This isn’t about loving your partner, it’s also about loving nature and loving life. Liang Guohui, deputy dean of Mianyang Flying Vocational College, said in a statement, “I hope that students can go to see the green water and green mountains and feel the breath of spring. This will not only broaden students’ horizons and cultivate their sentiments but also enrich and deepen the teaching content in the classroom.”

Cinema and Love

Our love for cinema could also stem from cinema’s love for love. For ages, across languages and boundaries, love stories have been born and blossomed out of the simplest of ideas. Take the love stories of Hindi Cinema, take Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha (2015) for instance, where two people meet and fall in love despite the condition of anonymity. The boy (Ranbir Kapoor as Ved) is at Corsica for a leave from his soul-crunching job, the girl (Deepika Padukone as Tara) is at the same place for a work assignment.

Ved can be here what he cannot be at his workplace. He uses this vacation as a tool to discover what he was hiding behind his monotonous and pretentious personality. And Tara helps him rediscover himself. Because no Imtiaz Ali film can be compete without this arc. When it’s time to go back, there’s a certain sense of heartbreak both for Ved and Tara, and us watching their love story.

Another example could be Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Again, a man, the money-man, Arjun (played by Hrithik Roshan). He’s too reluctant to take a holiday to Spain with his friends. Of course, the reason is more personal than professional, but one cannot deny he’s indeed a slave to his work, as rightly pointed out by Laila (Katrina Kaif). This may not be an Imtiaz Ali film, but there are touches of self-discovery, and montages of how life can be beautiful beyond your cubicles.

China has made a sensational attempt to let the students discover and rediscover who they are and how they can fall in love. How I wish this imagination was Made In India.

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