Of dreams and Khwaishes: Hazaaron Khwaishe Aise, a perspective

The late 1960s and early 1970s were turbulent times globally, angst filled and strife scarred if you will. It was the time of Vietnam, of flower power in the west, of the Emergency and the rise of the Naxal movement in India. It meant that a booming population of restless youth driven by torment and perturbed as to where India was headed to was eager to wage war against anything that curbed idealism. The mall going, disco toting, MMS flashing generation of today is not quite aware of those times of unrest. “Hazaaron Khwaishe Aise” tries to depict some of it through its beautiful plot.

This movie is shot in the backdrop of the Naxal movement in Bengal. It features Shiney Ahuja in his pre-lobotomy (Gangster) days, Kay Kay Menon before his cool deliverances (Corporate, Black Friday) and the exquisite debutante Chitrangada Singh, better known besides this film as the better half of ace golfer, Jyoti Randhawa. I’m a sucker for films which follow characters over decades. It reminds me of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, which is set in Paris during the 1968 student riots, but of course sans the messy, taboo-breaking sex so intensified by the tempestuous Eva Green. The film also likens itself to Dil Se and Dr. Zhivago, if only for its romance during revolution.

It is so rare to find period films being made in India. Having watched English classics which were mainly war time love stories, it always was a dream to see Hindi films shot in the backdrop of social and political movements of our own country. Besides being a period film, a love triangle of talented actors, fantastic background score, an Indianised script, the crescendo is an enthralling Shubha Mudgal signature song.

The beauty of the film, however, lies not in its undivided attention to either relationships or the progeny of such movements in India but intertwined between those, the hopes and aspirations of the three protagonists. Each is mature enough to appreciate the other’s “khwaish” while being single-mindedly devoted to attaining theirs. So if Vikram (Shiny) understands that Geeta's love is only for Siddharth (KK) it doesn’t stop him loving her and caring for her selflessly and unconditionally. Possibly utopic in today’s world but heart rendering nonetheless!!!

Geeta, a traditional south Indian brought up in Canada and Delhi is drawn to Sid because of his ideologies, his revolutionary and socialist thinking. And when marriage with him fails her, she does not flinch to run away from her marriage to spend nights with Sid in the villages, even fathering his illegitimate child. Again utopic even in the India of today, but what the heck, fulfilling the character’s dream in the scheme of things!!!

All in all, Hazar Khwaishe (thousand aspirations) of the three don't really get fulfilled but isn’t that life? We all dream a thousand dreams, nay a million ones, some real some unreal some abstruse – material ones like the job, the car, the wife, the partner, the championship, and then the ones that I term ethereal, a Mother Teresa out to help orphans, a Gandhi advocating peace and non-violence amidst battlefields and war, an Al Gore out to green the world with a vengeance (so what if it has political undercurrents) or even you and me dreaming to get the elusive happiness that we are so bereft of in today’s slam bang world. The fact that only a few fortunate ones realize them, make dreams as surreal as they get. However, in spite of all cynicism, people dream and life moves on – POSITIVELY. The end might not always be a happy one buts it surely should be optimistic. That, if anything, succinctly sums up “Hazaaron Khwaishe Aise”, the movie.


“Haazaron kwaashen aisi ke har khwaish pe dam nikle,
Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi dam nikle.

Nikalna khuld se aadam, ka sunte aae the lekin,
Bahut be aabroo ho kar tere kuche se ham nikle”


Mirza Ghalib thank you so very much for your inspirational and allegorical couplets…….