A Thousand Desires

Hazaaron khwahishain aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle...

Sudhir Mishra portrays Ghalib's angst in a politico-romantic mould on celluloid. The results are satisfactory. Hazaaron Khwahishain Aisi refrains from making an overt political statement, but the underlying message (as I understood it) implies that the dynamics of circumstances play a more potent role than ideology and idealism in the long run.

The Emergency is a subject, which Indian filmmakers (for obvious reasons) abstain from. It is here where Hazaaron... is an exception. There's a fleeting glimpse of Mrs. G and a character with more than a mere resemblance with Sanjay Gandhi. But again, the movie is less about the emergency and more on how human relationships undergo change in adverse circumstances.

And Chitrangada Singh invokes a thousand desires...

(The movie poster is a bit deceptive)