Paar

A small budget masterpiece with great performances by 2 gems of theatre Shabana Azmi & Naseeruddin Shah.

The starting of the movie is a bit chaotic, but very soon you get indulged into the story and the characters. The climax of the movie was nerve-wracking. I have never seen any a-lister actor went through things like the actors did in this movie. No wonder they both won National award for this.

We have solved puzzles about a man carrying a sheep, a tiger and a bundle of hay across a river in a boat. This is tougher. A herd of sheep, a pregnant wife and an overflowing river, with no boat... Who goes first?

Since it is a movie and not a puzzle, a poor man crossing a river with his pregnant wife, and taking along a herd of sheep of his landlord, has several underlying themes. The overflowing river is like the raging landlord. The unborn child represents home. The herd represents money. The poverty-stricken couple decides to go for raising some money for their child.

This ordeal sums up great performances by Naseerudin Shah and Shabana Azmi into one.

This is how a great movie based on human fighting spirit is made without a show of vulgarity, extravagant costumes and scenes. This is a stark example of how a good film is crafted. No flamboyance, no artificiality, no fiction, no sci-fi effects and no fantasy. It is only a forceful depiction that "Life is not a bed of Roses". This is how some people living on the periphery of civilized world have to make their way through all odds ...... fighting for their own life and their would be child's life.

But it takes sharpened intellect to appreciate this movie. People and the X-generation who are used to watching fiction films directed by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can never grasp the true meaning of life and its struggles. People born with silver spoons in their mouths can hardly watch such movies for they lack the sheer imagination that is characteristic of suffering/solitude/empathy and a longing to sacrifice everything for the posterity.

Here's a poor couple (Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah) on the run from their enemies, who (while herding a flock of sheep, and despite Shabana's pregnancy) have to swim across a wide, swiftly flowing river, in which they nearly drown before reaching safety. The dangerous river crossing symbolically sums up all worldly burdens and trials.