Patient number 24 : O' Henry Meets Asit Sen (Movie Review : Khamoshi)

O Henry stories have been my favourite since childhood especially because the stories have a lot to say at the end which keeps you thinking once you have been through it. Another thing that I have liked are movies that are Emotional Romantic tragedies. It makes you live every moment of the story detailing the feelings of each character in the movie.

Yesterday I saw a movie that has a mix of both the above things. A movie that tells you a moving story of a lady, a story of a woman which was not understood by any of the males she was interacting with. Story of a strong sacrificing woman for whom her profession and her integrity towards her profession of nursing was of the utmost importance.

"Khamoshi" is a story about Patient number 24. As the movie passes different character plays the role of patient number 24 in a mental hospital and it is the story of the interaction of these characters that makes the movie such a treat to watch.



Patient Number 24 # Dev :


He is never shown completely on the screen but he is the reason for the story to start and he is the reason for the story to end. He is a charming young man who comes in the mental hospital after a heartbreak by some girl. At every step in the story along with the Radha (The nurse) you too think of how Dev might have passed through the situations that Varun is passing through. Doctor Colonel did an experiment on him by not letting him go through the normal process of medicine and curing him with love and affection. Radha helps the doctor to do the same but falls in love with Dev while the treatment is on. Dev on getting cured finds his lost love back and leaves Radha in the hospital, without even realizing that Radha loved him. Radha is love lorn and this comes to her like a bad dream.



Patient Number 24 # Varun:


Dev was never on screen but with the backdrop of his story, Director starts the story of Varun. Varun has the same problem as Dev and the Doctor wants to cure him to prove that Dev's case was not the only one and All such patients can be treated with love and affection. Doctor Cajoles Radha to get involved and she gets involved reluctantly, remembering Dev at every moment of Varun's treatment. Varun's Poetry, songs, talks, mental condition, everything keeps on reminding her of Dev. Dev who was the only person she ever loved but lost him without any fault of hers. Varun starts getting emotionally involved with the caring nature of treatment of Radha and falls in love with her. He feels it is only because of Radha that he is getting cured. For Radha Varun is like a shadow of Dev, and she is living her life again. Everytime with every touch of Varun she starts remembering Dev and the personality of Dev and Varun almost converges in her mind. She calls Varun by Dev's name in her semi concious states while being loved by Varun. Varun by her love and affection gets cured. Doctor was right. But....





The story has this wonderful twist here, no one, niether Dev and Varun nor the doctor could understand Radha. Radha passes through such a trauma of living her nightmares again that she could not bear it.

Patient Number 24 # Radha:
The story ends with Radha being the Patient number 24. The trauma results into a mental imbalance for Radha.

There are scenes in this entire story when a drop of tear would invariably flow to the corner of your eyes. One such scene is the last scene where the Matron who was so close to the nurses, is taking a call of the patients and stops at patient number 24 and you listen to a familiar laugh.


Waheeda Rehman in arguably her best performance carries the role with aplomb. You could feel the haunting memories of Dev and the pains of her duty along with her, throughout the 127 min of the movie. You live the movie from her eyes.


Dharmendra is charming in his small apperanace. Nasir Hussain in the role of the doctor, Matron Lalita Powar and Patient number 22, Deven verma adds correctly to the mood of the film. I would like to mention a special short role of love interest of Varun, played by Snehlata, who later went on to become a Gujarati films' sensation.


But the role which is most remarkable considering that it was the first movie to get released for this actor after 3-4 flop movies post his debut. This role is of Rajesh Khanna as Varun. He delivers the first great act of his career. After his debut in 1967 Rajesh Khanna did not come up with any great movies till 1969. 1969 was going to be a year or rising for this new superstar. This was the year which turned fortunes for this intense actor, and this was the first movie of the year for him. The same year he went on to give 3 more average movies (Doli, Bandhan, Do Raaste), one hit (ittefaq) and one super duper hit (Aradhna). But first in line came “Khamoshi”, at a time when there was no set image for Rajesh Khanna and he had acted in this very different role of a person who becomes mentally disturbed after an unsuccessful love affair.


But the movie, according to me belongs to “Asit Sen” (director) and “Hemant kumar” (Producer and music director). To Hemant kumar for producing such a story at times when love stories with hero –heroines singing and dancing around the trees was the trend. And to Asit sen to direct it with such a style. Most of the movies in the year 1969 were in colour but Khamoshi has its charm being a BW movie. The Art direction and use of shadows are just wonderful parts of the movie. Lightings in the room number 24 and on the looks of Dharmendra give the movie a mesmerizing effect. A special mention needs to be given for Gulzar's Dialogues and Ashutosh Mukherjee's Story.





Above all this stands the real hero of the movie : "music" . Even with just 3 songs in the movie the movie seems to have won all accolades in this field. A great background score and some heart warming songs makes the music to be one of the best classics. “Tum pukar lo..” in haunting voices of Hemant kumar sets the tone of the movie. Then comes another song which has one of the greatest lyrics ever written for hindi movies “ Hamne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mahekti khusboo… Haath se chhuke unhe rishto ka ilzaam na do…” and last but not the list to summarize the entire movie comes “who shaam kuch ajeeb thi…”. A true master piece of Music supported by a true master piece of poetry by Gulzar.





A great Story said in style deserves nothing less than a 4 *.





Suggestion: Go buy a DVD for this movie and watch it atleast once. Thanks to moser baer you can get the DVD for rs. 34.