Tears rolled down my eyes last evening, this is not the first time for an emotional guy like me but what brought the tears was a story that had been pictured on the Big screen in the year 2004 in most parts of Maharashtra and brought similar tears in almost everyones eyes.
Yes the most acclaimed Marathi movie, a National Award Winner “SHWAAS” ( Means breath in Marathi).
Its a story of an old villager (Vichare ) who brings his eight year grandson(Parshuram aka Parshya) to a doctor (Dr.Sane) in Pune to get his eyes checked. The trauma they face for getting Parshuram tested and the usual run around the hospital takes you to the reality of life. They are helped by a social worker (Asawari ) who accompanies they and helps them overcome their fears.
Later the child is diagnosed with a rear retinal cancer and is told to undergo an operation which will end the kids vision forever.
The film then takes through grandfather's struggle to accept the reality that the only way to save his grandson is at the cost of his eyesight and trying to console and to explain the condition to his daughter- in- law who is far away in the village.
What really was the touching in the movie was the disappearance of both the grand father and grand son from the hospital ward to show Parshya the sights of the city for one last time as this would be his last few memories he would carry for the rest of his life and the last few hours of happiness the grandfather sees in his grandsons eyes.
A must watch even if you can't understand Marathi as subtitles are available on most of the DVD's these days.
