Gulzar's Koshish (1972)

(I'd written this in March 2009 - not in November 2020, as the datestamp here would suggest.).

Without the slightest hesitation, I can safely say I've just finished watching what is one of the best movies I've seen in my life.

When Koshish was released in 1972, I was very young. I remember the film being talked about a lot at the time. The universal opinion was that it was a very moving story, about a deaf-and-dumb couple and their experiences in life. That the performances of the couple in the film were just outstanding and that this was a landmark movie in Indian cinema.

You know what? I'm a bit ashamed now, but at that time none of this excited me. My eldest sister, who had seen the film and liked it a lot, narrated the story to the rest of us siblings. I understood it in bits – but I must admit I switched off for a large part.

It sounded quite depressing – not exactly my cup of tea. I was used to Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parekh and Mumtaz movies. Loads of masala, songs and action. Kati Patang types.

Now you come and tell me there's this excellent movie made about a deaf-and-dumb couple, and their experiences in life. You can't even come up with one song of the movie. I know it sounds very shallow, but, sorry, you haven’t the slightest chance of getting me interested. The only defence I have is that I was still very young at the time.

But the movie did remain in my mind all these years as one I wanted to watch. If only to see if  I have it in me to appreciate a film of this type. Am I less shallow today than I was all those years ago? :-)

Today I finally got to see the film. Quite by accident actually. I was on youtube looking for songs (as usual!). This clip "Koshish 01/12" caught my eye amongst the suggestions. I immediately clicked on it – and worked my way all the way to 12/12 without once losing interest. 

One good thing about the clips was that the film was sub-titled. Not that I needed subtitles – but this means it's a film that can be enjoyed by non-Hindi viewers also. Which is just brilliant – because a film like this deserves an international audience. The subject-matter is universal, the film  simple, with no exotic sets or grandeur. Maybe it's its simplicity that is one of its most appealing features.

Apart from this, I liked the film for a number of other reasons.

Firstly, it wasn't half as slow as I'd resigned myself to expecting at the start of the movie. I thought it'd be a typical “art” movie of the 70s – where a pot of rice would be shown boiling for 5 minutes. The rice would then spill over – symbolizing that a situation had gotten out of control. :-) No, this film had a reasonable pace about it.

Secondly, it is a very down-to-earth film. I like such movies – I can easily relate to them. And though the story is about a deaf-and-dumb couple, it is not presented in a pitiful, “preachy” manner.

Thirdly, the performances are absolutely top-notch. Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri are two of the finest actors ever to grace a Hindi film – and they do a fantastic job here. The other actors too have put in solid performances. This is a very welcome departure from the average Hindi film of the time which contained a fair amount of hamming and over-acting.

Fourthly, there are no unnecessary songs to dilute the flow and impact of the film. There's only one song I came across, although I believe there's another one by Sushma Shreshta that wasn't in this youtube version.

Fifthly, and probably similar to the fourth point above, there are no comic side plots to dilute the flow and impact of the film. Also quite unusual for the times.

I can go on and on.

There are many other reasons I liked the film. Maybe I'll mention just one more. And that's a very personal one.

Many scenes in the movie reminded me of my dad. His hearing was severely impaired in the 1950s (side-effect of an illness). So, from the time I got my senses, I only remember him as being hard of hearing. 

Later on in life, it got worse. Much of our communication to him would be in writing, or sometimes in sign language. We were all used to it in the family, so it was no big deal. In all this, he never ever let his hearing impairment or disability come in the way of what he wanted to achieve in life. And I don't ever recall him wallowing in self-pity, or anything of the sort. If anything, he'd laugh it off, joking sometimes that he was probably better off not hearing what his children had to say about him.

Of course, in his case, unlike that of Sanjeev Kumar in Koshish, it was thankfully only hearing impairment and not speech-impairment. Makes the whole situation very different, of course. But there are some scenes that were really close to home.

Like the scene where Sanjeev Kumar rushes to the doctor when he thinks his son could be deaf. It reminded me of the time when I was about seven and had a lot of pain in my ears. My dad rushed me to the hospital and insisted that the doctor check both my ears thoroughly. Perform every possible test. I remember him repeatedly saying to the doctor “Is he alright ? Is he OK ? I don’t want my son to become like me”. The doctor kept reassuring him that there was nothing to worry about, but my father was very worried that evening.

Anyway, I couldn't help remembering this incident when I saw a somewhat similar scene in Koshish today. I don't expect others to quite like this movie as much as I did. At the very end, there's a debatable twist, but we need to bear in mind that this was 1972 and, whether one agrees with the end or not, it does not take anything away from, what is otherwise, an excellent film, in my opinion. Very well-made. Oscar material. Or, at least nomination-worthy.

Definitely worth a watch if you care about meaningful cinema.