Masoom (1983)

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Director:

Shekhar Kapur

Writer:

Gulzar (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Musical

Tagline:

Can this boy destroy your family?

Plot:

Cpativating story of how a happy family goes through turbulent times because of a BIG mistake by one of the family members.

Plot Keywords:

Infidelity | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Naseeruddin Shah	...	D.K. Malhotra (DK)
Shabana Azmi	...	Indu D. Malhotra
Tanuja	...	Chanda
Jugal Hansraj	...	Rahul D. Malhotra
Aradhana	...	Minni D. Malhotra
Saeed Jaffrey	...	Suri
Urmila Matondkar	...	Pinky D. Malhotra
Supriya Pathak	...	Bhavana
Satish Kaushik
Aziz Qureshi
Pran Talwar
Ram Gopal Bajaj
Anila Singh
A. Kukereja
Malaviya Singh

Also Known As:

Innocent

Runtime:

165 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

Krsna Films Unit

Trivia:

Dedicated to the memories of the late Guru Dutt and the late Geeta Dutt.

Quotes:

Rahul: [Rahul has accidentaly smashed his finger with the hammer and has run to Indu for a bandage]
[whimpering]
Rahul: Mummy!
Indu: I AM NOT YOUR MUMMY!

Movie Connections:

Remake of Man, Woman and Child (1983)

Man discovers he has a son from a girl he once met. Boy's mother dies. Its about how the boy creates turmoil in the man's familial life and how its finally resolved.

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!!