Masoom

A very sensitive movie very well done by Shekar. Needless to say Naseerudhin and Shabana come out with their best performance. The surprise is the kid jugal. His performance moves you to tears..he brings out the feelings of a lost,orphaned innocent kid beautifully. RDB music was apt and Gulzhars lyrics were exceptional. But i felt that Supriya pathaks character was not projected well. The relationship between Naseer and Supriya lacks depth. Climax scene could have been handled differently

Masoom is a thoughtful movie directed by one of the noted filmmakers of Bollywood, Shekhar Kapur and which stars two solid actors of the 80s's parallel cinema, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi.

The story revolves around DK (Shah) and Indu (Azmi) who are happily married and are the proud parents of two lovely girls Pinky and Mini (Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana). However, their happy married life is cut short by the arrival of a little boy Rahul (Jugal Hansraj). Rahul is the product of DK's short illicit affair with his one-time college friend, Bhavana (Supriya Pathak). Indu shuns the innocent little boy as he adds insult to her injury as she has now learned that DK has cheated on her. You must watch the remaining as to how Indu deals with this sad reality of her life and whether she accepts Rahul to be a part of the family or not.

The film is different in its approach and boasts of superlative performances from its lead actors. This is Shekhar Kapur's first directorial venture and he has handled every aspect of this film with great creativity and maturity. R.D. Burman's music is a gem as usual. 'Tujhse Naraz Nahin' beautifully sketches the relationship between a father and his newfound son while 'Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani' speaks about the state of the cheated wife's mind. Naseer and Shabana have easily delivered their career best performances in this movie. However, it's Jugal Hansraj whose performance really touches your heart. His one scene that deserves special mention is when he asks Naseer who his father is (though the audience gets the dramatic irony). That particular scene melted my heart. Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana are also terrific as the daughters.

Overall, a movie that deserves a watch. Don't miss it!

Probably one of the most sensitive films ever made in India. Its sensibility is very contemporary and unaffected by "Bollywood". The performances are surprisingly real and one can easily relate to them. Naseer plays the role of DK beautifully, I feel its his most sensitive performance till date. DK is a very real character, he is a man who is not ashamed to cry. Its very apparent he loves his wife a lot, but the emotion he shows for Supriya Pathak, (the woman he met during the school reunion, from whom he has a son but did not know till now)is also very real, very real and honest. Even though it has the feel of a one night stand, and even DK himself would rather believe and tell his wife that, but its pretty clear he liked her when he met her and felt genuine emotion for the girl. Bhavna (Supriya Pathak) decides to bring up the child alone and not tell DK about it because she knows that he has a family of his own.

DK is a very rare character in an Indian film, men in Indian films are not sensitive like him, they don't break down while talking to their wives, they don't show helplessness. DK is so humane that its difficult for him to not touch and affect you in some way. Personally, the character that Shabana Azmi, Indu – DK's wife, does not move me too much. Its probably true that her character gets to grow only towards the end when her love for Bhavna's boy(Rahul) begins to overpower her hatred for the act that her husband had committed years ago. Her hurt also comes from the fact that when DK had this affair with Bhavna she was expecting their first child.

Indu is not shown to have any extraordinary characteristics in the beginning. She is just jealous of Rahul's mother and feels disgust for the deeds of her husband. Any one would feel like that. Her character gets some respite when she begins to see the boy Rahul for what he truly is – his mother is dead and he does not know who his father is – he is truly alone and orphaned. Its love and sympathy for him that raises Indu above the normal jealous, hurt wife. She is a mother of two girls herself, she cannot help but feel motherly love for this boy who is sweet, nice natured and so lonely.

The kids also act very well, Jugal Hansraj is wonderful as Rahul. The film wins in the end it seems because of him… you feel so much for this boy. It wins also because of DK (Naseer) and his surprisingly natural love for his lost, so far unknown son. He feels pride when Rahul plays a good ball of cricket… and it surprises him. Just goes to show that feelings of love are not conditioned, developed, they just "are". Indu's feelings for the boy can be seen almost visually growing… and that is a beautiful thing. She is the one who gets him back home in the end.

A must watch for anyone who loves Naseer and Gulzar. It's a film that doesn't disappoint. I have it on DVD and watch it again and again and again!!

I wanted to acquaint a young niece with the song Lakdi Ki Kaathi - so we ended up watching Masoom. Here Naseer and Shabana vied for equal honors - he as the "weak philandering and then unable to stand up for what is right" man, she as the hurt and retaliating spouse. Caught in the mix were three children. This was probably the first realistic portrayal of children in Hindi cinema. Urmila Matondkar as the older sister, I forget the name of younger and cute as a button sister, but of course the unforgettable kid was Jugal Hansraj - oh that Masoomiyat was to die for. As the wife was building wall upon wall between herself and the husband, the kids were breaking barriers and bonding as only children can. Shabana - she was a goddess fighting for the rights of her family with not one false note in the entire film. Naseer had just the right amount of weakness and regret to tell you that he was a man with clay feet. Sayeed Jaffrey was a tiny bit loud but then he was supposed to be a loud Punjabi type. These people lived in real houses in a real city and went to work and shopped and played just like us. Masoom had excellent music too - Huzoor is Kadar, Lakdi Ki Kaathi, Tujhse Naaraz Nahin. A perfect 10 from me for this perfect film.

The script and dialogues my Sampooran Singh Gulzar are just mind blowing. It is truly challenging to present the tensions in the family along with the innocence of the children Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor (the director) delve deeply into the psychology of the adults and the children. Urmila excels as a child artist (she was barely 10 years old!), so did Anuradha and Jugal Hansraj.

The camera work in the movie is simple and artistic. Rahul Dev Burman's haunting score couldn't be any more apt. It is really striking, he used variations of a single tune as the background score for the entire movie! Wow! That is not the best part, you don't notice that! That's the best part.

Nasseruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, who are known for their extreme potential and they have played their roles to perfection.

I would say this is Sekhar Kapoor's best. There are several scenes in the movie where the characters convey their feeling by a simple "act" which would otherwise need 1000 words and not-needed melodrama. That is clearly his directorial genius. When the characters actually "speak" they convey their feelings equally well...Thanks to the genius and maturity of Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor.

The movie is funny, beautiful, tense, moving, complex..... However, I have one complaint with the script.

Warning: If you plan to watch the movie do not read beyond this point!



The open question remains as to what is really the punishment to a man who made a mistake as big as adultery. We know the man is good, loves his kids and wife and his work. He did make a mistake. The situation in which he made the mistake, no matter what, cannot be justified. He made a mistake. That's it.

The kid has no fault of his and he is lonely and helpless and feels deprived of everything. Does he have to suffer because the adult made a mistake? No. So, what is doing justice to this kid? Keeping him along with your kids? If that is the case, what is the punishment to the father? If you send him away as

punishment, the kids will all be fatherless and the wife will have the burden of taking care of them alone.

So, as shown in the film...the correct punishment is the one that makes him remorseful and the correct thing to do with the kid is to bring him up along with the others. OK, so far so good but this soln. has a problem too. What happens when the kids grow little older. They know their "brother" made no mistake, they will learn that their father...about who they were so proud..has let them down. This will certainly effect them for life! Even if we assume their family friends can forgive his mistake, the kids cannot. Not at least these kids.. may be some kids who are in a family that is used to adultery!

Well, one could argue that the father indeed made a mistake and the kids would have to simply face the truth..there is no other way out, so they rather stop worrying about it..and of course they don't to need to worry about punishing his father if the objective is to make him remorseful.