Robin Williams - The Genie.

I remember the first time I ever watched Alladin. Despite the very handsome Ali, the demure Jasmine, the very clever and dangerous Jaffar, the wise-cracking parrot and the utterly lovable monkey, there was one character that brought charm and heart to the movie. The Genie was crazy, classy, extremely intelligent, funny, sassy and a downright whack-job. He was also Ali's best friend and shared amazing chemistry with the magic-carpet. The Genie was noble, humble and understanding. At  age seven, I would've done anything to be his best-friend!

I was such a big fan of the Genie that when, seven years later I had the opportunity to own it's DVD set, my younger cousins, nieces and nephews would come over to visit, I would always coax them into watching Alladin, the movie, thinking it necessary education to know and understand the Genie, like a silly rite-of-passage with me. If they found Ali more fascinating than the Genie, I would get cross wondering why they wouldn't see the brilliance of the blue angel, shifting shapes and dancing proudly with his paunch out! They would wonder the same about me, though.

Years after watching countless Robin Williams movies, the cheesy, the whacky, the really bad ones and the brilliant, and while looking up a movie a friend had recommended, I stumbled upon Robin Williams' IMDB page. It said "Died: August 11, 2014 (Age 63)" right above an image of him with an Oscar. I didn't quite process it at first glance until I saw the date. It was yesterday! A whole day since the blue and hook-nosed genius passed and the world was continuing to turn. The wars that were being fought were continuing on, the unhealthy bureaucracy of various governments continued to exist, planes crashed, people died, people were born, babies cried, my mother continued to nag me about all the things I was supposed to do but haven't. A Genie's voice had ceased to exist but it's words and humour hadn't.

After all the singing, dancing, screaming, laughing, stoically watching, times of Robin Williams, in my mind, I cannot think of a more perfect fit than the Genie to the genius Robin Williams. Of course, there have been Rathbones/Cumberbatches to Sherlock Holmeses, Tennants to Doctor Whos, Amitabh Bachchans to Vijay Deenanath Chauhans, but Robin Williams was the human incarnation of the Genie. He will always be that for every child and adult who has grown up falling in love over and over again with that movie. Thank you, Robin Williams, for colouring mine and a billion other childhoods that fun colour of blue! Hope you find immense joy wherever you go on from here.