Watching Masoom

Watched Masoom twice in two consecutive days, once with Blister and once with Mom. While I was watching it with Blister, I paid more attention than I had when I was packing up my room (well, understandably). While watching Shabana Azmi put her daughters to bed (her uncanny resemblance to how Mom used to look when we were kids made me so edgy the first time I watched this movie, that by the time I woke up I was sure I had illegitimate brothers and sisters outside the family :| ), I felt slightly overwhelmed, the silly picturization notwithtstanding (how many times does S.Azmi need to pick her daughter up and put her back to bed? Is the answer blowing in the wind?).

I fell in love with the do naina song (also discovered where Inky got her 'Kuch kehti rehti hai' lines from). It made me sad everytime I listened to it and watched little Jugal Hansraj forlornly waiting outside the door. The song seems so emotionally laden ... hell, it's hard to describe music, I'd have to be gulzar.

Do naina aur ek kahani
thoda sa badal
thoda saa pani
aur yek kahani

chhoti si do jheelon mein
wo behti rehti hai
koi sune yaa na sune
kehti rehti hai
kuchh likh ke aur kuchh zubani

thodi si hain jaanee hui
thodee sei nayi
jahan ruke aansoo
wahin poori ho gayi
hai to nayi phir bhi hai purani

ek khatm ho to
doosree yaad aa jaati hai
hothhon pe phir bhooli hui
baat aa jaati hai

do nainon ki hai ye kahaani ...

So many poignant and sweet moments ...
- Watching Rahul stare out from the balusters of the staircase ...
- The father's frustration at a policeman who takes his own time to listen to their story.
- Or the water bottle scene that Handa brought to my notice - how Naseeruddin Shah loses his temper and precious time searching for a ticket that an adamant guard obstinately demands. Empathy would make our world so much of a better place.
- One of the things that children dread most are quarrels between parents. The morning after NS tells S. Azmi about Rahul, the two girls are shown observing the upsetting silence between both parents and then Minnie suddenly bursting into 'Syed Ali pyaar ka dushman ..'
- The older sister pulling away the younger one and being in control emotionally when they have to leave Rahul
- Little Rahul cuts his hand and rushes into the kitchen shouting 'Mummy!' and Shabana Azmi dropping the dishes.
- N. Shah's 'Toh kya karoon main? Sooli par chadh jaoon?'
- The 'papa' scenes at the railway station ...

Not to forget so many scenes during 'Tujhse naaraaz nahin ...'

tujh se naaraaz nahin zindagi
hairaan hoon main
tere masoom sawaalon se
pareshan hoon main

jeene ke liye socha hi nahin
dard sambhalne honge
muskuraye to, muskurane ke
kharz utaarne honge
muskurao kabhi toh lagta hai
jaise hothhon pe, kharz rakha hai

tujh se naaraaz ...

aaj agar bhar aayi hai
boondein baras jayengi
kal kya pata in ke liye
aankhein taras jayengi
jaane kab gum hua, kahan khoya
ek aansoo, chhupa ke rakha tha

tujh se naaraaz ...

zindagi tere
gham ne humein
rishte naye samjhaye
mile jo humein
dhoop mein mile
chhaon ke thande saaye

tujh se naaraaz ...

What poetry! Laden with sighs ... every moment that desperately needs,wants to be frozen, stopped in time ... yet slips away, no matter how hard you try to hold it back.

And when Shabana Azmi realizes that the poor boy knows 'ki aap uske kya lagte hain', her hand is just nearing the boy's face and he wakes up ...'Sorry, aunty'. And the preceding scene where she stands still, flicking the light switch on and off and the female version of the song plays again ... that had both Blister and me wiping away tears.

Another uncanny moment was watching Lakdi ki kaathi. When I was around four and Blister six, a friend of Dad's had lent us his video camera. In that movie, sis and I are twirling around to the same song (we had some kids' songs audio cassette) ... it's a scary feeling. Of course, in our video, yours truly is seen turning round and round and round, Dad the cameraman is bored and turns the camera to Blister who is making as many faces as it is possible to ... and then you hear a loud crash in the background that makes Blister dramatically raise her hands to her face in shock. THAT whole movie is of course, another story.

And I also realized how irritating it is to laugh when someone else is taking a movie very seriously. Here I was, thinking Mom would find the movie very moving etc. and she kept laughing - scene: Naseeruddin Shah, helpless is driving his car after learning about his son. Mom: 'Haha! The car isn't really moving, they're just running a tape! Haha' and another time! Sheesh! So what if she's seen it many times before? I was mAAd, but I think I saw some welled up tears in the end. Yayy!