Khamoshi: The Musical (1996)

Goa based Joseph Braganza and his wife Flavy, devout Catholics, are both deaf and mute. He makes a living selling soap bars door to door. Flavy gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter ... See full summary »

Director:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Writers:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sutapa Sikdar (dialogue)

Stars:

Nana Patekar, Salman Khan, Manisha Koirala

5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Nana Patekar	...	Joseph
Salman Khan	...	Raj
Manisha Koirala	...	Annie
Seema Biswas	...	Flavy
Helen	...	Maria
Himani Shivpuri	...	Raj's Mother
Raghuvir Yadav	...	Willie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Priya Parulekar	...	Young Annie

Storyline

Goa based Joseph Braganza and his wife Flavy, devout Catholics, are both deaf and mute. He makes a living selling soap bars door to door. Flavy gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter who they name Annie, who can speak and hear much to their delight. Flavy soon gives birth to a son, Sam, who can also hear and speak. A few years later, Sam accidentally passes away, making Joseph lose faith. Joseph, unable to make a living selling soap, opens a toy making factory and the family prospers. Annie grows up, takes to music and singing in a great way, meets with a young man named Raj and both fall in love. Joseph dislikes Raj, mainly because he is Hindu, is able to speak and hear, not a resident of Goa, and the fear of losing Annie forever and thus their contact with the world. When Annie gets pregnant, Joseph is enraged, he asks her to abort, when she refuses, he asks her to leave his house. What will Annie do next? Will Joseph, Flavy and Annie ever re-unite.

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Plot Keywords:

flowers | pregnancy | sheet music | premarital sex | composer | 

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Taglines:

When music shatters the barriers of silence!

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

9 August 1996 (India)

Filming Locations:

Goa, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

159 min 159 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene of Flavy going from door to door selling consumer items with her two children was inspired from director Bhansali's childhood, where he had to do the same thing with his sister and his mother.

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Quotes

Raj: [to Annie about her parents] They will not be able to hear you, but they will be able to feel you.

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Soundtracks

"Mausam Ki Sargam Ko"
Written by Majrooh Sultanpuri
Composed by Jatin Pandit and Lalit Pandit
Performed by Kavita Krishnamurthy and Shraddha Pandit
Courtesy of PolyGram Music India

User Reviews

music transcends silence..

Kahmoshi The Musical, is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's first directorial venture - a sensitive, introspective film about a deaf mute Catholic couple living in Goa. The world of Joseph (Nana Patekar) and Flavy (Seema Biswas) is a silent one and into this world in born their first child Annie (Manisha) who can speak and hear & loves music. She is trained in music by her grandmother Maria (Helen) but the family is so poor they have to sell many cherished belongings including their piano. Annie's younger brother dies tragically leaving the family stunned and music is banished from their lives. Into Annie's world walks in the dashing Raj (Salman Khan) a budding musician. Raj falls for Annie and wants her to sing his songs. Annie's father hates Raj - the usual confrontations, despair follow. Annie's meeting up with Raj is followed by a catastrophe and we wait for the outcome while the story is told to us in flashback.

The musical is naturally full of music - some of it is hauntingly beautiful - songs like Bahon ke Darmiyan, Jaana suno hum tumpe marte hain, Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai and extremely touching in the film. But there is just too much music. After about an hour I was cowering at the thought of yet another number as the hero and heroine would run up and down the steps of the lighthouse. Some songs are just fillers and do not add to or move the story forward in any way. With some crisp editing, and a few fewer songs, Khamoshi would have clocked at 2 hours and been a perfect film. The marriage of music and the serious content of the material also jarred at times.

The acting: Manisha steals the show utterly and absolutely. Is there anything she cannot do? Her break down when her father throws her out of the house is a virtuoso performance. Salman is the best he will ever be, handsome, no overt gimmicky moves or gestures, just plain and simple acting - after seeing Khamoshi I can see what people saw in Salman. But even Mr. Bhansali could not keep his restrained for ever and we got Samir in HDDCS! Nana Patekar was okay - actually he was the biggest disappointment - his acting was sort of repetitive and he did not age at all in the span of 20 years showed in the film. Seema Biswas was awesome - seeing her I felt all the anguish and pain a mute person would feel at their inability to communicate. She blew me away as the film opened and she put her ear to the big speaker and "felt" the music. Helen was excellent - a great role for her too - one of her better ones where she was required to act. The little girl who played the young Annie was amazing.

The story is simple yet very effective, the direction is deft but Bhansali shows his self indulgence even in this minimal film. There is a monologue by Nana Patekar (being 'translated' by Salman) that tell us the whole story all over again - is it necessary? But overall this is an excellent directorial debut and a movie worth watching. Be warned that this is serious fare and will require patience.