As “Kaabil” brings visually impaired protagonists back in focus, it is
time to revisit Sai Paranjpye’s timeless gem that continues to be a
benchmark for films that address the normal/abnormal binary. Breaking
the stereotypes created by cinema and society where blind people are
often presented as objects of pity, Sai creates an inclusive space
where the blind protagonist wears his self esteem on his sleeve and
suffers from the same emotional upheavals as any sighted person is.
Based on the real life story of Ajay Mittal, Sai demolishes the
lachar-bechara image that Hindi cinema wove around blind characters
and in Naseeruddin Shah she has a malleable actor to realise her
vision.
http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/Sparsh-1980/article17063316.ece
The narrative holds a soothing love story of a sighted woman and a
blind man. It seems implausible but as Sai sensitively unravels the
layers one can figure that each one of us have handicaps. A young
widow disabled by the society, Kavita is struggling with her emotional
vacuum when she comes across Aniruddh Parmar, the principal of a
school for the blind. A beautiful relationship evolves which is more
tactile than visual and the fragrance permeates through the celluloid.
Kavita buys saris that Aniruddh could feel. A self made man, Aniruddh
allows Kavita in his dark universe. However, soon self doubt creeps
into the relationship as Aniruddh fears dependence on Kavita. Aniruddh
has been more than compensated by nature in other senses, including
ego. Is Kavita trying to be a Gandhari? Is she trying to justify her
second love as a duty? It leads to an intense curdling of emotions in
the estuary between right and wrong.




There is a bigger picture as well which can be easily juxtaposed to
the majority/minority question. In the outside word, blind people
might be struggling to find feet but in the blind school it is the
sighted who are yearning to find acceptance. Sai presents it through
the strand of Pappu, the sighted boy among blind students. He longs
for the attention of his teacher but her entire focus is on blind
students. When Pappu fights with a blind student, he closes his eyes
to make it a fair fight but still fails to get the attention.
Similarly, Kavita does everything to be part of Aniruddh’s universe
but he considers it as a ritual to get over her past or as Kavita’s
friend (Sudha Chopra) says he remains blind to her love.

Naseer has often rated it as his most fulfilling performance. The
shift in eyeballs, the arc that he creates with the stick, the way he
holds the cup and the ungainly body posture, Naseer almost becomes the
character. In his autobiography, “And Then One Day”, Naseer admits the
thought of acting as a sightless person with children who were
actually sightless took him as close to butterflies in the stomach as
he had ever been. The key to play a blind character, he says, is that
they directed their ears and not their eyes at the point they were
addressing, and that caused their sometimes ungainly bodily posture,
which, having absolutely no self consciousness, they were oblivious
to. He imbibed it by following Mittal for ten days. His education in
Aligarh Muslim University also helped as it had one of the best
schools for the blind in the country. He had observed a couple of
blind classmates during college days. He tried different things to get
the movement of a blind character but ultimately went by his
imagination. “I had always been able to shut out all aural stimuli
whenever I felt like it, but shutting off all visual stimuli proved
equally easy.”

Naseer and Om Puri often performed together like singing a duet.
Different notes but always working for a harmonious whole. Here in a
supporting role, Om manages to leave an impact, despite Naseer’s
immersive performance, because he creates another blind character
which is as real and distinct as Aniruddh. Add to it yet another
impressive turn by Shabana Azmi and we have a film that continues to
feel fresh. She has the amazing ability to make the mundane dramatic
and the dramatic believable. Cinematographer Virendra Saini creates a
contemplative atmosphere right from the opening shot when Aniruddh is
following Kavita’s voice on a hazy Delhi morning.

Produced by Basu Bhattacharya, the film went on to win three National
Awards including that of best actor for Naseer. Interestingly, Sanjeev
Kumar was the original choice of Sai and it is only when could not do
it that she approached Naseer. Thirty five years later one could not
imagine any other actor in the shoes of Aniruddh Parmar. Few years
later, Sanjeev Kumar did go on to play a blind protagonist in “Qatl”
who was as “Kaabil” as Hrithik Roshan is trying to be this Republic
Day. That’s for another day.

ANUJ KUMAR


-- 
Avinash Shahi
Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU


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