समाचार

The year 1980 was crucial for Naseeruddin Shah. It was the year when two of his career’s most decisive films, Saeed Mirza’s Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai and Sai Paranjpye’s Sparsh, were released within months of each other. While in Mirza’s film, the indomitable Naseer played a very angry member of a minority community, in Sparsh, he again played an extremely marginalized character from another minority community. The community of the blind. Unlike Albert Pinto, who was perpetually angry, Anirudh Parmar in Sparsh loses his cool only when reminded of his physical specialness.

Back then, blindness was known as a handicap. And Anirudh, steeped in righteous pride, won’t bear with the ‘h’ word. What makes Sai Paranjpye’s Sparsh such a special film about a specially-abled character is Anirudh’s stubborn refusal to be slotted as a victim. So dogged is Anirudh in circumventing...