Three Thousand Years Of Longing follows the story of a lonely scholar who has a chance encounter with a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. The story might seem simple but it has a lot to pack in with concepts of love, loss and freedom tackled. I cannot proceed in this section without spoilers(as this film deserves to be watched, explored and discussed) and so viewers discretion is advised. The screenplay at about 110 minutes makes for a watertight watch but it still has a lot to pack in which I will try to explain to the best of my ability.

The drama opens with the introduction of the protagonist whom we know is a scholar and has hallucinations about Djinns. She does not want to address this issue and in fact in a weird manner enjoys these visions. It does show that the protagonist is lonely in life(something which she does refer to later on when she says that she has no siblings, no parents and no friends but she did have a husband once). Soon she has an encounter with a Djinn which changes the dimension of the story.

The drama has a unique charm to it combining events of history in a world filled with love and fantasy. The Djinn here is a far cry from the Genie that you would see in Alladin. One of the key elements of the drama is the storytelling which takes place within the narrative(featuring historic events which are tweaked). As they say, stories unite people as they broaden the mind and give you a different perspective(an attribute which I would dedicate to my Grandma and her unlimited stories, good old days!). So over the three stories, the Djinn does form a bond with the protagonist making her realise the loneliness which she has been through and is going through.

Another interesting aspect of the three tales is that the protagonist has the traits of each of the characters which are narrated to her. So she is quite impulsive as Queen Sheba choosing the Djinn over her love for scholarship(at a later stage). She is also like Gulten who is blinded by her love and doesn’t see the repercussions of it, by wishing to fall in love with the Djinn irrespective of the harm it is causing him. The protagonist is like “The Brothers”- one who prefers to stay lonely and only expresses herself through her books and the other who recognises her responsibility eventually and setting the Djinn free. And finally the protagonist is like Zefir too who has a passion for studying while it is implied that she was trapped in her own marriage too. Each of the cases result in missed opportunities of being granting the wishes by the Djinn.

As they say, love is a beautiful emotion which can blind you at times and make you oblivious of how the other person is feeling. So as a part of her first wish(which only happens in the final act), makes her wanting to fall in love with the Djinn. But love doesn’t behold any terms and conditions. And so when realisation does strike, she wishes for the Djinn to talk to her and eventually sets him free thus signaling her second and third wishes. But at the very end when the Djinn does come to meet her, it is out of his free will and not being bound by any of her wishes. Which brings us to the final question, is the Djinn real?

An interesting piece of information that we get right at the beginning of the film is that the protagonist is a loner and she does get visions often. This made me believe that the character of the Djinn might just be reduced to that in her book which she was writing(we see a glimpse of it at the end). There is an argument of how the character of the Djinn is introduced to her neighbours but as admitted by the protagonist, she has no friends or people around her. So all of it may well have been a figment of her imagination wherein to compensate for her loneliness, she had cooked up a story in her head, featuring the character of Djinn which was an extension of her imaginary friend from her childhood. What do you reckon?

But either way, the drama beautifully captures the essence of love and longing along with smaller nuances of understanding women, rather getting a sneak peek into their lovely minds which are filled with fantasy and at times detached from reality(in a good way, wish men had that ability too), which signify their needs and expectations which are rarely fulfilled in reality. The fantasy world is beautifully captured with effective storytelling, making for a fascinating screenplay which did take me off guard.