Six Scenes

It's definitely very difficult to choose just 06 scenes from over lakh of films, but am choosing just my bit and the scenes which really touched me. I might add some more later as and when am ready.

1. Bhootnath meets the Chhoti Bahu (Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, 1962):

Awkward, shy country boy Bhootnath (Guru Dutt) is summoned into the presence of the Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari), the lonely wife of a philandering husband. Bhootnath enters the room, so shy that he needs to be coaxed in. And, just as Bhootnath does not dare look up initially, so too does the camera stay at floor level, focussing on the carpet, on the little rug placed on the floor, on the Chhoti Bahu’s henna-adorned feet. When Bhootnath finally looks up into the Chhoti Bahu’s exquisite face, the camera too dwells on her features: the kohl-rimmed eyes, the reddened lips. Bhootnath, still tongue-tied, is mesmerized, and the Chhoti Bahu, very sure of her own beauty and poise and status, is by turns patronizing, genteel, even—almost—coquettish.

She becomes, in the few minutes in which she meets him, a confidant to whom Bhootnath talks of Jaba. And surely too, there is a flicker of annoyance in her eyes when Bhootnath talks of Jaba—is there jealousy here, for the unseen and unknown Jaba, who can command a man’s affection, when she, the Chhoti Bahu, cannot hold her own husband? It is also about that husband, and the embarrassing fact of his neglect, that the Chhoti Bahu confides to this man, almost a stranger, whose help she seeks…
A very vivid scene with brilliant subtexts and insights into characters. And, of course, superb acting.

2. Umrao singing Yeh kya Jageh hai Doston....(Umrao Jaan 1981)

She sings the song, "Yeh kya jageh hai doston?" (What kind of place is this, friends?) a veiled reference to her feelings of dismay at being treated like a pariah entertainer by her very own people.

It has a haunting value that stays on just like the lost look in Umrao's eyes. Here is a beautiful woman, unlucky in love, who craves for affection but is jilted by fortune. Her childhood was snatched away by two malicious men. Her sullied profession is not of her own doing. But, the world will not forgive her for being a courtesan, of repute or otherwise.

After, she meets her mother and younger brother, who had thought that she was dead. Her mother would be happy to welcome her back into the family, but her brother forbids it — she is tainted by her profession and must not return to embarrass them.

Alone and sad, this Ameeran will always remain a desolate soul...

3. Indu's confrontation with Rahul and Rahul knowing the truth (Masoom, 1983)

Even after nearly three decades, the poignant notes of Masoom haven't lost their touch.

While there are a lot of films about the 'other woman' and the setback it causes to a marriage, Masoom tries to see itself through the perspective of the 'other child' unwittingly caught in middle of an marital upheaval.

Rahul soon learns that DK is his real father and he runs away. His disappearance creates great drama in DK's household. Indu is panicked, DK and Suri drives all over the city in the night only to come back disappointed. Meanwhile Rahul is back and the furious Indu, restraining herself from expressing her worry out loud, (brilliant multi-portrayal of anger, frustration and concern in one frame)
is wanting an explanation for his 'irresponsible' behavior.

The reason:

'Mujhe maloom hai...ke woh mere papa hain. Chitthi mein likha hai.' And then, not knowing how else to deal with such humiliation and denial, simply hides his face in the wall and cries like only an eight-year-old can.

4. Reshmi leaves Somu. Climax. (Sadma 1983):

The climax of Sadma is so unbelievably grim, it's alright if you refuse to sit through it.

Validating the title of this Balu Mahendra classic that features milestone performances from its leads -- Kamal Hasaan and Sridevi -- Sadma is about how a young man goes out of his way to restore a troubled girl back to normalcy. 


Somu takes Reshmi to the village's medical practitioner who cures her and brings her back to sanity as she regains her memory up to the point of her accident. When Somu comes to meet Reshmi later that day, she is unable to identify or remember him. Despite his efforts to make her understand that he was the one who had taken care of her for several months, she is indifferent to him and leaves Ooty for her hometown, thus abandoning Somu and the life and relationship that she once had with him.

The climax of the movie is one of the most heart-wrenching you would ever see, and I think it is this climax that takes the movie from being just a good watch to being a must watch in most people’s eyes. 

5. Pooja meets Anitaji at the shopping mall (Lamhe, 1991):

There are scenes when Pooja and Anita come face to face over the topic of Viren eventually Anita insulting Pooja as a kid infatuated by Viren and what relation Pooja is to Viren that she acts authoritatively over him. Pooja retorts back saying even if she is not related to Viren but Anita is not related to him any way either. This frustrates Anita leading her to blast Viren over feelings for a younger girl.

Mature dialogues by Dr Rahi Masoom makes the scene much more important and leads to new questions and clarities.

Not at all harsh, Anita is just curious to know what and how Pooja feels about Viren. Pooja, on the other hand, is on her guards and very well aware of what she is saying, in her typical teenage behavior.

"Paalne aur palne mein bahut phark hota hai, Anitaji. Mujhe Kunwarji ne nahin, Daijaan ne paala hai" -Pooja points the difference between raising someone and providing for their upbringing, saying she had been raised by Daijaan while Kunwarji just paid for her upbringing.

Touching.

6. Annie singing Yeh dil sun raha hai, tere dil ki zubaan... (Khamoshi: The Musical. 1996)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial debut, Khamoshi: The Musical about a deaf-mute couple and their musically-inclined daughter has several moments that make you rummage for a tissue box.

But the one that strikes as most effective is when Annie invites her deaf-mute parents to her debut song recording. The distraught Joseph and Flevy (aesthetics boosted by naturally gifted talents like Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas) attempts to enjoy the proceeding only to be taken by surprise when Annie raise the hand towards the sky to do hand-movement-to-explain-the-feelings gesture.

“yeh dil sunraha hai tere dil ki zubaan...” for instance the song becomes the unspoken language between the family, who is going through a denial phase of Annie wanting to become a singer, but not sure how to explain her career goal to her parents, who have never heard music and will never her sing. While the particulars of the story turn on Joseph and Flavy's deafness, their fear of interacting with the hearing world and their fear of losing their daughter to it, many of the themes translate to generational conflict more universally. Parents sometimes fear losing their children to pursuits they don't understand; children sometimes experience guilt at seemingly abandoning their parents to pursue their own lives, marriages, careers. There is Raj in the background and the parents in the foreground. Tough decision for Annie. A truly landmark moment.

“Yeh zameen hum, aasman hum, aab humein jana kahan?”

Choked.