I have always admired Western films featuring the handicapped, such as Children of a Lesser God, Scent of a Woman, and the classic The Miracle Worker. So the last weekend, I decided to explore similar Indian films. Warning: this post contains spoilers.
Koshish (Effort) (1972)
Directed by the sensitive Gulzar, featuring stalwarts Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri, Koshish (IMDB) is about the life of a deaf and dumb couple who try to live a normal life in an insensitive society. It was very courageous of Gulzar to make a popular, commercial film of such an unusual plot, unlike the parallel art cinema of the times. After their first child dies due to an accident that they could not prevent as a result of being deaf, they get help from a blind friend to help raise the second child successfully.
It was heartwarming to see a film being made on such a subject using a popular cast. It does suffer from the usual drawbacks of popular cinema - excessive music, lot of melodrama, stereotypical villains, etc. However, viewed from a larger perspective, the director must be praised for taking the effort in trying to raise awareness among the masses.
There are touching scenes aplenty. The friendship and communication of the deaf and dumb couple with the blind friend is poignant. The anxiousness of the parents to have a 'normal' child is well done. Creative flourishes include a contraption used by the blind friend to alert the parents when the baby awakens and cries at night, and a scene where the young child is dancing to music from the radio and the parents touch the radio speakers to feel the rhythm. Both Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri play their roles very well and won the National Awards for Acting.
The artificial sets look too artificial. Another gripe I had was the same as Roger Ebert had with Children of a Lesser God - there is no scene without music to really let the audience feel how the world is for the couple. I morally disagreed with the plot at the end, where the son is virtually forced to marry a deaf and dumb girl. Overall, still recommended, as it is one of the rare Indian Sign Language Films.
Shwaas (Breath) (2004)
India's failed attempt at the 77th Academy Awards was the film Shwaas (IMDB), which was a Marathi Indian National Award winner after 50 years. A rural boy with a rare retinal cancer is brought to the city hospital by his grandfather. A life-saving surgery would render the boy permanently blind. This difficult situation is dramatized in the film sensitively or over-sentimentally - depending on the viewer's appetite for melodrama. While most Indian audiences find little or no melodrama in the film, most Western reviewers find it mawkish.
The long drawn out formalities in the hospital may appear too stretched, but that underscores the plight and frustration of millions of Indians who deal with the Indian medical bureaucracy. The hospital scenes appear authentic because six months were spent by the crew studying the goings-on in a real hospital. Both Ashwin Chitale as the boy (National Award for Best Actor), and Arun Nalawade as the grandfather deliver sterling performances. The doctor and social worker helping them cope with the situation are passable. The rural scenes of the boy's village are a counterpoint to the hectic city life. These are captured with cinematic beauty, an accomplishment for Sandeep Sawant's directorial debut. The music is generally fine, with an excellent interlude of piano with strings in the middle.
Among the negatives is an overly dramatized sequence when the boy 'disappears' from the hospital. The exaggeration is unrealistic. The parents absence from the key action seems implausible. The surgeries of other patients are postponed with an alarming insouciance. Despite these minor blemishes, Shwaas is a breath of fresh air about finding optimism in the gravest of circumstances. One of the finest Indian films in recent times.
Sparsh (Touch) (1980)
Sai Paranjpe's Sparsh (IMDB) offers an unparalled insider's view of the world of the blind. It is a very sensitively handled story of the romantic relationship between a blind man Anirudh (Naseeruddin Shah) who runs a school for the blind, and a bereaved widow Kavita (Shabana Azmi). The scenes of blind children of the school are used to form a backdrop to the central drama of the relationship. Of all these three films, this is the most 'artsy', the least melodramatic, and hence most to my liking.
Both the characters are living in a kind of a shell, afraid to open themselves up in fear of hurt. Anirudh is extremely independent, fierce in his determination, and passionately resists any attempt by others to treat him differently because of his blindness. His internal vulnerability is revealed later in the film. Kavita is living an isolated life while apparently cocooned in her bereavement. After a chance encounter, Kavita accepts Anirudh's suggestion of teaching the children at his school.
The scenes of the children at the school are endearing. The only sighted boy once has a fight with a blind classmate and shuts his eyes to have a fair fight. The children play games, act in a drama, create candles and artifacts, and all these scenes are without a shred of pity - rather they're a tribute to the triumph of the human spirit.
Soon, Anirudh and Kavita are in love, and they are engaged. This is where Anirudh's inner insecurity leads him to suspect that Kavita is marrying him out of sacrifice and compromise, and that she doesn't really love him. His dichotomy - on the one hand he wants others to treat him just like a normal person, and on the other, is hesitant to accept it when Kavita does - is extremely well handled. Naseer's performance strikes just the right tone. He won the National Award for Best Actor. This is one of the rare performances in Indian films where a lead actor performs a blind role without the use of opaque glasses. His method acting is superlative.
All scenes are given just the right emotional treatment, and the cast delivers Sai Paranjpe's vision of a sensitive film about intelligent, human characters. It was this film that inspired the poem in my earlier post "Blind Love". Highly recommended.
Related posts:
Hi Mahendra,
I have only watched Sparsh out of the three and whole heartedly agree that Mr. Shah is excellent in the film.
Having just finished reading ‘Slowman’ by JM Coetzee last week,
I was wondering about humans who lose a sense or a body part and have to continue living amongst those oblivious to their hardships.
But it is interesting to note that there are many who have not physically or physiologically lost anything, but every day their freedom is controlled or limited by people around them.
Mahendra,
Thank you for your review of ‘Shwaas’. All this time I had regrets about not having seen it. Now I don’t.
The movie scene in Marathi today is largely appalling, which is sad considering the generally high standards of Marathi theatre, and some outstanding films that emerged more than half a century ago. I suppose this has partly to do with the general absence of reservations about Hindi among Maharashtrians.
I once asked why she, as a sensitive and talented director, preferred to do Hindi rather than Marathi films. Her answer was simple, though it did not convince me: Hindi has a more paying market. If this were all that true there would not be such good films coming out with fair regularity in Assamese, Manipuri, Kannada and Malayalam (not to mention Bengali).
Pardon an omission in my third paragraph. It should read “I once asked Sai Paranjpye why…
I have watched Koshish and Shwaash. I don’t remember Koshish much now as it was a long time ago but I remember liking it. I saw Shwaash when it was released and I loved the film. One of the best films I have seen inspite of some amount of melodrama like you mentioned. But after all it’s a movie! I loved those scenes from the hospital, they were absolutely authentic like you said. I also loved the country scenes, the photography.
I loved Koshish and Sparsh.
SaiParanjpe has made excellent comedies also like-Chasme Badoor and Katha.Her favourite actors are Naseerudin Shah and Faruoqh Sheikh and they have performed well in the comic roles as well.
Excellent review Mahendra.
Loved Koshish. It was perfect for me who did not understand a single word of Hindi
But seriously, I remember the scene where they were heartbroken that the baby did not respond to the rattle thinking it was also deaf, but then their friend (?) demonstrating to them that the rattle they used was broken and just snaps his fingers to which the child immediately turns his head. A superb, superb scene!
Have you seen Mani Ratnam’s “Anjali”. It’s about a child with a mental disability. It’s very well taken
I have seen koshish and sparsh… dont remember much about the stories, but I do know that I loved these two movies… thanks for the recap
Weird Science:
That was…er…heavy reading! A pity it has to do with human occupations, not clever inventions — some of which, I am sure, could qualify for the IgNobel.
Mahendra,
What a lot of work you’ve done, watching and reviewing these three films, all following similar a similar theme.
I haven’t seen these movies, because I don’t watch much TV or get out to the art cinemas in my area (there aren’t many in Atlanta, GA), but I’ll look for them on Netflix.
When you get back I have something for you. http://mondaymorningpower.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-thank-you.html
Mahendra,
I’m not sure if you have time, but if you do I’d like to tag you for this meme:
SIX GUILTY PLEASURES NO ONE WOULD SUSPECT ME OF HAVING
SIX GUILTY PLEASURES I WISH I HAD THE COURAGE TO INDULGE
SIX PLEASURES I ONCE CONSIDERED GUILTY BUT HAVE EITHER ABANDONED OR MADE PEACE WITH
I had a lot of trouble with it, because to be honest, if I feel guilty about something I don’t do it. And if I still do it I don’t want anyone to know! I changed post to incorporate a few other memes. I’m just about ready not to respond to anymore of them, so I undertand if you don’t either. If you want to see a good example of this writing prompt, go to G’s site, who tagged me.
By the way, I see you haven’t posted in a while. I hope everything is going okay for you, and that it’s because you’re just having too much fun to be bothered with blogging.
where are You?
Ditto to Prerna.
‘Shwaas’ is on my list of to-watch movies. One of these days!
One of Kamal’s earlier efforts-Raaja Paarvai dealt with the life of a blind musician. Was what you might call a crossover film.
A couple of Suresh Heblikar’s movies in Kannada too. ‘Usha Kirana’ and ‘Aaghatha’ if I remember, dealt with psychosis.
A really moving ‘commercial’ movie was ‘Manasa Sarovara’ by maestro Puttanna Kanagal, again in Kannada with a psychiatrist as the protagonist.
Have seen Koshish. Yet to sparsh and shwaas…
After reading ur blog, they are on my to-watch list (urgent)!!
[…] in creating awareness. Mahendra has written about three Indian movies that deal with disability in his post. Out of the three, I have watched only Sparsh, which I liked immensely. Other are on my to-watch […]
i am watching all of these …thankyou!
i have watched koshish and sparsh and i loved sparsh… havent seen swash, will keep in to-watch list!
[…] Koshish (Attempt), the life of a deaf-and-dumb couple in India. Read my review here. […]
Thank you for responding!