I saw this movie today, very different and indeed a beautiful story.


Annie (Koirala) and Raj (Khan) are on their way to visit her parents in Goa when they crash into a truck. Annie goes into a coma. Subsequently, we embark upon a flashback told from Annie's point of view. Although her parents are deaf-mute, her grandmother Maria (the exceptional Helen), is the ultimate singing, dancing, life-affirming woman. Joy, however, is short lived. Annie's world is shattered when first Maria dies, and then her younger brother falls from the bell tower of the church. Her parents Flavy (Biswas) and Joseph (Patekar) lose their faith in God but Annie becomes very serious and devout.


Then into Annie's sad, silent world comes Bombayite, Raj. He is a composer and has used her as inspiration for his music from afar. Their love blossoms, but not without complications, mostly involving Annie's parents who have come to depend on her.

A poverty-stricken, deaf-mute fisherman and his family is a brave subject matter for a popular Hindi film. In Indian culture, where films serve primarily as escapism, Khamoshi offers a rare example of handicapped people being portrayed beyond the usual stereotypes of street beggars and sufferers.


The film is also as near as you will get to an ensemble Hindi film. The performances by Koirala, Patekar and Biswas are powerful and compelling. Koirala in particular is in her element and demonstrates the full range of her acting ability, rather than playing against it as she has had to do in more traditional films. The scene where she shouts at her father through the door, screaming and using sign language even though she knows he can neither see nor hear her, is extremely powerful. Biswas, as the insular, angry mother afraid of the outside world, is a good counter balance to Patekar's full-bodied performance as Annie's father. It is, in fact, Patekar's film, and scenes of him struggling to deal with the death of his son, then throwing a cross into the ocean are exceptionally strong and moving.

Patekar and Koirala's scenes together are also powerful - not surprisingly perhaps, as their own stormy, off-screen relationship was, at this point, reaching its cataclysmic final stages. Khan is very sweet and manages to keep his shirt on almost the whole way through the film, a miracle for a man whose main assets are his biceps. He offers a nice counterpoint as the uncomplicated middle-class boy thrown into Annie's world of pain and guilt. (His presence was also vital in securing Helen, who by this time was only appearing in films featuring stepson Khan or Amitabh Bachchan). It is her inspirational persona that drives the whole first section, and whose spirit shines through the rest of the film.

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The scene where she shouts at her father through the door, screaming and using sign language even though she knows he can neither see nor hear her, is extremely powerful.

I was moved by this scene also.

Yeh dil sun raha hain

This was a very touching scene with her deaf and mute parents....thay are able to feel the words through the sign language.

yeh dil sun raha hai mere dil ki zubaan...

This heart is listening to the voice of my heart...

ae mere hamsafar main yahaan tu vahaan

Oh, my life's companion, I am here, you there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mitwah,

this movie showed on TV a while back...very nice movie...i have to tell my chinese coworker the name (she said she saw it long time, told me the sotry but could not recall the name)

Manisha is a talented actor turn producer methinks

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Originally posted by chameli:
this movie showed on TV a while back...very nice movie...i have to tell my chinese coworker the name (she said she saw it long time, told me the sotry but could not recall the name)

Manisha is a talented actor turn producer methinks

yuh tink rite..she did turn producer and felt first hand all the hardships that came with being a producer...and regretted the hard times she had given to her producers in the past and making demands like wanting travel tickets for her whole family on shooting locations...money upfront...and did not believe them when they said money was tight for so many many things that went into producing a movie...she sure learnt her lessions becoming one...she is indeed a great actress...i saw her first film...firt love letter..so very young and innocent...dat movie has some great tunes...was trying to find one in particular....