_Film Reviews_
Khamoshi--the Musical
a film by Sanjay Bhansali,1996, 180 minutes
Reviewed by Sunil D. Khushalani
[Editor's intro: Sunil D. Khushalani is a final-year resident
in psychiatry at New York University. He received his
medical degree in Bombay.]
I went into the movie theatre to watch a Hindi movie after quite some
time, hoping only for a coherent and logical story. With
such modest expectations (not for Hindi films though) at stake, I came
out of the movie theatre saying: "Paisa vasool ho gaya."
Unlike many other Hindi movies, it got better in the second half
where the songs had become infrequent enough to allow some
stretches of dialogue to go by without seeming like commercial breaks.
Unfortunately, the template on which Hindi filmmakers have to
operate, one of multiple song-and-dance sequences, melodrama (in all
its upswings and downswings) and a happy ending can allow only a
particular kind of movie.
But one can see improvement, although minute--one can see the director
trying to change certain stereotypes, although he lets other ones
just be. One sees the hero, Raj (Salman Khan) unabashedly crying, when
he misses his girl Annie (Manisha Koirala); the father of the girl,
Joseph (Nana Patekar),although from a former generation, openly speak of
his affection and love for his wife (Seema Biswas); one can see superb
casting (an almost unknown art form in Hindi films) in the form of
the young Annie (Priya Parulekar) who plays the young girl's part with
restraint. The director has also stayed away from the Hindu-
Christian difference, besides a tiny reference-- this could have
consumed an hour more in this already long film. It is definitely a pleasure to
see the character of Joseph's mother, Mariamma (played by Helen in a comeback
after many years).
This film almost starts where Gulzar's Koshish ends: where one can
see the pressure on the child of a couple,who are both mute and deaf,
isolated from the rest of the unfriendly world to where, as this film shows,
their child ends up becoming not only their support, but also their voice.
She lives her life, always aware of this tension. This sense of being different is heightened, when the child's grandma teaches her to cherish her own voice,
the sounds of the waves and the sea-shells, and the music that emanates from a piano, owned by the family. As the girl faces the loss of the grandmother, a younger brother, mother's heart attack and her father's occupation threatened by an accident
at work, her sense of responsibility heightens. She likes music, wants to
sing in celebration of life, never forgetting the legacy that her
grandmother has left behind, and falls in love with a man who composes
music, all of which threaten the bond with her parents, and the sense
of guilt she experiences. One sees the hurt on the mother's face when after
a prolonged mourning she is reminded of her lost son, by the joy that music
brings to her daughter's face, and can't let go of her anger when the daughter can't
sense it. Annie deserves an independent life as she is reminded by a
family friend, Willie (Raghuvir Yadav), who remains faithful till the
very end. One can see the pangs of pain experienced by her father
when she tries to individuate, especially, when the man she loves
comes into her life, reminding him of her separate identity.
Manisha delivers a somewhat complex female character (for a change!)
with charm and some texture.
Even Nana Patekar has a chunky role, one can see him in jubilation,
when he discovers that his daughter can hear, and in agony when his
son dies(he can cry really well-with bulging jugulars and the works).
One can sense the estrangement he feels at that time, only to see his
faith return in the very end. But the tendermost moment in the film is
when he has to stand and deliver a speech with his son-in-law
translating for everyone, his bittersweet relationship with his
daughter--which is the central unifying theme of the movie.
Seema Biswas is comfortable in her new place, after her portrayal of
Phoolan Devi in the The Bandit Queen as the supportive, loving,
mother and wife.
Absolutely no villains in this movie, besides destiny and the lack of
safety (on the streets, in the church, and the workplace) which cause
their share of pain to this family.
Jatin-Lalit's score grows on you, especially the songs, "Mausam ki
sargam Ko" and "Bahon ke darmiyan" --after one hears them a few times.
After I heard a few Konkani songs on the gramophone, I greedily
wished that the director showed us a slice of Goan life, which one
doesn't really get a sense of, as the film rolls on. One sees major
events in the family's life, but not the daily routine. But to the
credit of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, I came out of the theatre having felt
that not only that I wasn't bored, but had some hope left for Hindi
commercial cinema.