Any art-form must have a metaphorical ability. Cinema is regarded as an art-form for this very reason. Most of the visuals and sounds in cinema are the ones that have been borrowed from art-forms like Theatre, Painting, Music and Literature. Similarly, a lot of subjects are also borrowed from other art-forms. But Cinema must have metaphors and symbols of its own. Otherwise there is an underlying risk of the metaphor projecting itself literally, beyond the limits of reality. It’s not about what is acceptable and what is not. In fact, when it comes to our cinema, it has been an experiment that has been accepted, and celebrated even! For example, in a film, the metaphor of the hero with a lion’s gait, which is meant to depict his strength, translates quite literally on to the screen, when the shadow of the hero takes the shape of a lion! There is no dearth of such mind-boggling examples. Though the audience very well knows that it can’t be true, it helps in conveying the emotion to them. Then there is a breed of films, which while staying well within the limits of reality, uses the same metaphor with a tad bit of complexity. These films use details like sounds, language, visuals, acting technique and hues, to create metaphors. These films demand a greater involvement from the audience. Let’s discuss more on the power of these metaphors soon.