Director: Mahesh Bhatt; Producer: Tarachand Barjatya; Cinematographer: Adeep Tandon; Editor: David Dhawan; Cast: Rohini Hattangadi, Anupam Kher, Soni Razdan, Madan Jain, Suhas Bhalekar, Nilu Phule
Summary: Bhatt follows his successful Arth (1982) with
this expressionistic psychodrama about old
age, fading idealism and political corruption.
Old Pradhan (Kher, in his debut performance),
a retired headmaster, and his wife Parvati
(Hattangadi) learn that their son, studying in
New York, has been mugged and killed.
Pradhan goes through the trauma of
bureaucratic corruption to receive his cremated
son’s ashes at the airport. Their tenant Sujata
(Razdan), a young actress, is in love with Vilas
(Jain), whose father is the corrupt politician
Chitre (Phule). When Sujata finds herself
pregnant, Pradhan and Parvati believe that it is
their son reborn and protect Sujata from
Chitre’s threats. The problem of bureaucratic
ineptitude is solved when Pradhan goes to
meet a minister who turns out to be his former
student and still retains his old teacher’s sense
of integrity. In the end, the old couple are
reconciled to the loss of their son. The film has
an oppressive soundtrack, with heavy music
and effects underlining the states of loneliness,
fear and frustration.
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