1980 : Three National Awards!!!!
########## Heavy Spoilers ahead. Please restrain from reading this if you haven’t watched this movie##########
Motivated by this article by Punds, my old love for Sai Paranjape was re-kindled. My parents always used to talk high about Sai Paranjape when I was running around the house in elastic Chaddis (Elastic shorts). Those were the days when we used to have a Sunday afternoon session of “Art” movies on good ol Doordarshan (Ahh how much I miss DD). To me those were the days when AB Sr. and Mithun Da were my Gods, the way they used to bash-up baddies, the way they used to deliver punch lines, they way they used to dance… Those were the days when I thought Cinema wasn’t all about takes, re-takes, editing, etc. I was of the opinion that Heroes really were for real. So, out of curiosity and out of lack of knowledge, I a 5 year old kid asked my dad.
Pappa… Do these film stars really act like that in movies?
Yeah, they do.
Then do they really hug and kiss the heroines? If they do why won’t the hero’s real wife say anything to them?
My dad was really embarrassed by this question and I could tell even at that age.
That was the age where Nasser was considered the Sultan of Parallel Movies. Parallel movies were the movies to me then where they didn’t have action scenes, didn’t have Zing-Bang music, no nothing, just lots of crying, and slow pace to which I could have my Sunday afternoon siesta. But, one director was always mentioned in my house and I could see the glow in the eyes of Pappa (dad), Aai (Mom), kaka (uncle), and kaku (aunt). She was “Sai Paranjape”. The name has stuck in my memory for long. Later when I started adoring quality cinema, I always wanted to see off-beat movies, and the first name that would crop up in my mind would be Sai paranjape. I always wanted to see her movies as a grown up and one who could understand cinema. But, no… I couldn’t. The local VCR/VCP shop never carried movies of her, but, he would gladly recommend me Khatron Ke Khiladi of Dharam Paaji and say nayi picture hain, Zabardast hain (It’s a new Movie, Outstanding). But, thanks to so much advent of interest in quality cinema that I had the pleasure of seeing one of her masterpieces yesterday.
SPARSH
What is Sparsh (Touch)? It is a simple love story under extra-ordinary circumstances is how Dharmesh Darshan would advertise this movie. Sparsh is about complex human emotions. Would a person who is better privilged than you are would become your enemy? Who is more on the receiving end…? A visually impaired person or an emotionally challenged person? Sparsh deals with this complex situation in the maturity that is been unheard of in present crop of directors.
The story is of Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. Naseer is a visually impaired person who runs an institute for people/kids like him. There are no gimmicks to show how he lost his eye-sight during a terrible car crash, nor is there anything which shows how cruel his step-dad was that he put pani-puri masala in his eyes to make him blind so, that he can go out and beg. No sir, this movie is for someone who understands the nuances and the undertones. There is no necessity to show how and why Nasser is visually impaired. The very first shot in the film where Naseer walks the corridor and finds a kid reciting something and asks him to go to bed sets the pace. Nasser is assisted by Mohan Gokhale. Nasser doesn’t like to take help from anyone unless he asks for, it can be seen when Naseer says to Mohan that he burnt his finger while making tea, and when Mohan tries to lecture him on why he should be doing all this.. Naseer’s answer is blunt… I just asked you How the Tea was?
He accidentally meats Shabana Azmi once and then bounces into her at a party. Shabana is a widow who finds it really hard to come out of the little world that he she has constructed around herself. Her little world has her plants, her singing and her dear friend Sudha Chopra. Naseer asks her to join his institute to help out the students and create a bond. Watch for the scene where Naseer explains Shabana what exactly these kids need. Shabana joins the institute and becomes an instant favorite with all the students.
There are a few sub-plots running parallel without slowing down the narration which have been shown beautifully. The chemistry of the two kids Paplu and the other kid is worth watching. The feelings shown of Paplu who though can see but wants to blind himself because Shabana has sympathy towards the other visually impaired child is worth its weight in gold.
Naseer and Shabana fall in love and get engaged. But, Naseer is a complex character who hates others showing him pity but he himself is a self pitying guy, calls off the engagement and asks Shabana to leave the institute. He believes she will become indispensable in his life and he will have to depend on her all his life. The angle of this episode is shown through Om Puri. The climax is very subtle, and the reason for it to be the way it is, is to leave the viewers to do the guessing game. Something I hadn’t seen for a longtime. Last seen might be Dil Se.
The movie won 3 national awards
1 Best Hindi Film
2. Best Screenplay
3. Best Actor.
All three were very well deserved. Naseer shows us what he is made up of in the acting department. The intensity with which he approached this project, the heart and soul that he must have put in this project is seen to be believed. SUPERB PERFORMANCE Can you believe he never wears those characteristic black glasses throughout the movie. The wandering eyes have a story to tell. The story of a complex man. The story of a man who hates to take help. The story of a man who hates others calling him or people like him “bechaara”(poor Soul). The way he plays with his shirt buttons when nervous and the way he hangs his head down when he goes to Shabana’s house to break off the engagement, the way he talks, the way he walks.. Point me anything in the movie that Naseer does and I have only one word. WOW. Shabana matched scene to scene with Naseer if not bettered him. Pay attention to the scene were Nasser breaks off the engagement without giving any reasons, the scene were Naseer describes why he thinks she is beautiful, the scene were she goes to buy a saree and ends up buying a saree by closing her eyes and just having a feel of it. Amazing performance. Actresses in current Bollywood please listen to me. Please go watch Sparsh and learn from Shabana, you don’t have to go to any reputed film institutes to learn acting. We have a power house of acting in Shabana, just watch her movies and learn.
Other noteworthy performance was by Late. Mohan Gokhale. Alas we won’t be seeing him anymore, may his soul rest in peace. Mohan Gokhale as an assistant to Naseer is brilliant. He is a regular shy next door guy, the way he smiles, the way he moves his hands across his hips when he is happy, the way he flips his long hair back when complimented by Naseer… I just can’t get over it… Mind blowing. Sudha Chandra as Shabana’s childhood friend is her usual self. Good. All the kids in the movie especially Paplu are amazing. The scene where Shabana is reciting a story to Paplu of a prince and princess and he imagines Shabana and himself in it is so sweet.
Sai Paranjape…. What a director… What mastery over the craft… Amazing!!!! The research she had done for this movie is very credible. Where are you Sai? Bollywood needs you. I need you. I need you to make more such movies; Now that I have accesses to quality cinema I WANT you to please make more films for us.
Sparsh Rocks!!!!!!!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Oh Oh!
Wanted to review that one. Just downloaded the movie. Cannot get Sai Paranjpe’s movie from DVD shop here. But you have said everything.
I also wanted “Papeeha”. It had Milind Gunaji before he dropped to C-Grade movie. That is one Marathi actor who went from good to worse.
Also in Sparsh, the delhi climate. I guess it was delhi, right? The scene where Naseer meet shabana for the first time when she is singing. The morning is captured beautifully there. The paper wala who points the house to Naseer and then realizes his folly.
Brilliant scene
Punds
@ Punds I beat you at this one \:d/. Yes it is delhi and that scene is beautiful. The fog, the paperwala with sweater. He points to A3 apartment rather than A2. Havent seen Papeeha yet, would love to though
Yeah it is the beautiful delhi … Sai was in love with middle class small townish (in the 80’s) places. (Chasme baddor, Sparsh – Delhi and Katha – mumbai chawl)
car crash …. paani puri masala — hehehe (aankahen ???)
Naseer also literally forces mohan gohlke to stop spending his evenings with him and go onto ‘patao’ a girl (gives him suggestions as well)
Wonderful and delightful post Sumeet ….. very very nostalgic !!!!
And yeah sumeet, Sparsh rocks …..
SAI PARANJAPE PLEASE START MAKING HINDI FILMS AGAIN !!!!!! :((
well, technically she has made a recent hindi film.. albeit for kids. when i met with ms. paranjape earlier this year (my dad is good friends with her), she was getting ready to showcase her latest film “chakachak”, which aims to teach kids about environmental pollution. link:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=166673
she did mention she was also in pre-prod for “xapai” (”grandfather” in portuguese), a hinglish movie. if i remember correctly, i’d seen some article about how saif had said no to acting in her film.. dunno to what extent this is true. thanks for bringing up ms.paranjape actually.. now i can look at having an event with her in LA and NY with a possible screening!
@ Striker.. Yes Sai did Chakachak recently and Punds reviewed it. In my article i had provided the link for the review, infact only after reading his review was i motivated enough to force my dvd storewallah to get me Sparsh!!! Thanks!!!
You missed out on Saaz which I think was also a film with tremendous potential. Have seen all the movies by Ms Paranjpe mentioned here including Saaz.Each of them is a masterpiece.
I really like her daughter Winnie who by somehow has been away from media glare from quite sometime. She too is a very good artiste.
Regarding Papeeha I remember seeing it on good ol’ Doordarshan in the 90s. One thing I significantly remember about this film is a group song by the tribals. And the lyrics had something to do with lice or stuff, if am not wrong.