Jessie is the perfect example of behavioral conditioning. Behavioral conditioning refers to one's learned response to a particular stimuli; something that makes us do things in our everyday lives without thinking twice. Behavioral conditioning for girls in India is extremely different from boys. Don't mistake this for rules. Rules can be broken. Conditioning on the other hand, is more innate. You can't break them, because you are not even aware of them. Therefore Jessie is the ultimate Indian girl next door. Her character is often criticized for being selfish and confused. However, in reality, she keeps oscillating between her wants and her learnt behaviour.
Jessie's family background is not just a detail, but a prominent character in the movie. Jessie is from a conservative Christian household where cinema is considered a sin. This should say a lot. Cinema or any form of art, is a space where one has complete freedom to cognitively wander through several emotions and navigate through alternate realities. During their break up, when she talks about her dislike for cinema as a reason, she is subconsciously talking about her lack of complete ownership on her life. Of course, this doesn't make any sense to Kartik.
Even though Jessie falls in love with Kartik immediately, her conditioning restraints her. It is only when Kartik visits her in Alleppey, a behaviour that she hasn't experienced before, she is forced to respond differently.
Kartik seeks the tradition and confinement in her. And she finds his rule breaking, sexy. So for a short while in their relationship, Kartik becomes her reason to challenge her conditioning. To an extent, it works. But like any human being, acting out of emotional survival instinct, she trusts her conditioning and decides to let go. So the original end in the Tamil version, where she chooses her emotional conditioning rather than her challenged emotions, is most impactful.
If Jessie could have challenged her conditioning a little more, maybe she would have ended up with Kartik. Or Kartik wouldn't have found her so attractive. Who knows.
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