Hazaaron Khwashishein Aisi

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी की

हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले

बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान

लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

Ghalib’s poetry has the quintessential quality of striking exactly that right chord in your heart. This film by Sudhir Mishra takes its name and inspiration from the above. It has a good story, well defined characters and some good acting by newcomers. Still, I feel the film should have been made more fast paced and exciting. It tends to drag in a lot of places.

The story, involving three young protagonists, spans five years from the late 60’s, when the Naxal movement was gaining steam in Bengal, to the mid-70’s, with the imposition of Emergency in a power-grabbing manoeuver by Indira Gandhi. I have not experienced this era and would go only by hearsay and reading books and newspaper articles. The film attempts to capture the angst of the youth, as well as the pains of the adolescent Indian democracy transitioning from its post-Independence innocence.

Hazaaron…. is really a personal story centered around the three characters Siddharth, Vikram and Geeta. And in telling their story of relationships and self-discovery, the film really excels. Siddharth (Kay Kay Menon) comes from a rich, upper-class Delhi-socialite background but is full of Naxalite ideals of a class-less society through armed revolution. Following this ideology, he jumps into a full-fledged armed revolution in Bihar. His friend Vikram, the son of a Gandhian socialist from a small UP town, is a pragmatist. He wants to succeed financially and climb the social ladder at all costs and uses his political connections to do so. Both of them seek the love and attention of Geeta who is born and brought up abroad. Geeta is attracted towards Siddharth but relies on Vikram for the occasional moral support. Vikram’s unrequited or unfulfilled love forces him into doing something against his usual nature. The background music by Shantanu Moitra is good incatching the mood of the film. Snatches of the theme songs, based on Ghalib’s famous lines recur throughout the film.

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरे से मन, की देखो बावरी हैं बातें

बावरे से मन, की देखो बावरी हैं बातें

बावरी से धड़काने हैं, बावरी हैं साँसें

बावरी सी करवटों से, निंदिया दूर भागे

बावरे से नैन चाहे, बावरे झरोखों से,

बावरे नज़रों को तकना

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरे से इस जहाँ में बावरा एक साथ हो

इस सायानी भीड़ में बस हाथों में तेरा हाथ हो

बावरी सी धुन हो कोई, बावरा एक राग हो

बावरी सी धुन हो कोई, बावरा एक राग हो

बावरे से पैर चाहें, बावरों तरानो के, बावरे से बोल पे थिरकना।

बावरा मन, देखने चला एक सपना

बावरा सा हो अँधेरा, बावरी खामोशियाँ

बावरा सा हो अँधेरा, बावरी खामोशियाँ

थरथराती लौ हो मद्धम, बावरी मदहोशियाँ

बावरा एक घुंघटा चाहे, हौले हौले बिन बताये, बावरे से मुखड़े से सरकाना,

बावरा मन , देखने चला एक सपना

This song from the movie Hazaaron Khwashishein Aisi.