Masoom (1983) Online

Masoom is one of the best Hindi films of the 1980s, a decade known to be disastrously terrible for Hindi films. The directorial debut of the supremely talented Shekhar Kapur, whose work with amazingly distinct film genres during his career has been striking, this one really was a gem. The film is about a happily married couple, DK and Indu. They have two girls, Pinky and Minni, and their life seems to be quite perfect until one day DK informs Indu that he has a little kid from a woman who he had an affair with many years ago and who is no more. He brings the kid named Rahul home, and there starts the struggle. His wife is still shocked to know that she was betrayed and the presence of the kid only worsens the situation. While watching the film, the viewers may certainly feel pity for the little cute boy, who bears the brunt of his father's mistake. He has done nothing wrong, and here we see where the film takes its title from.

Masoom is moving, poignant and involving. The film is beautifully narrated and is extremely fascinating to watch. One must note the brilliant portrayal of the urban India of its times. The lifestyle of modern people in the big city is executed with impressive precision. The characters, the dialogues, the situations, are strikingly realistic and simple. The film never goes overboard, it does not have any clichés whatsoever, and it is not overly emotional - it is authentic and real. That's what makes the emotional effect on the viewer even more powerful and the story so easy to relate to. Due credit goes to Kapur's amazing direction and Gulzar's brilliant writing, which are aided by a great technical crew, fantastic acting and a very memorable soundtrack composed by RD Burman. How can one forget such beautiful songs as "Tujhse Naraaz Nahin Zindagi" and "Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani"? Soulful, ear-pleasing and classic.

Naseeruddin Shah's portrayal of DK, a complex role that has a mixture of guilt feelings, love, regret and responsibility, is outstanding. I cannot see another actor playing DK with the sincerity and sensitivity with which he did. Shabana Azmi is exceptional as Indu. Her role requires both toughness and vulnerability, and Azmi displays such feelings as anger, despair, indifference, remorse and compassion skillfully. The film is also known for having some of the greatest appearances by child actors, and it's easy to see why. Urmila is great as the serious Pinky. One could easily foresee the great actress that she would become while seeing her natural acting here. Aradhana is also adorable as the peppy and bubbly Minny, but it is Jugal Hansraj who makes the greatest impact. It may be because the entire story revolves around him, but he is just one of the cutest kids I've ever seen in a film. He is supposed to be the 'Innocent' this film deals with, and this is perfectly done through his endearingly naive eyes, sweet diction and touching simplicity. You really feel for this boy throughout the film.

All in all, Masoom is a must-watch, and it should provide a treat to anyone. The only regret I had is that there wasn't enough of Indu and Rahul's positive interaction. I wish they had extended more into their relationship after the tear-causing "Sorry Aunty", which is the film's best moment (see the film to understand what I mean). Anyway, Masoom is a film that anyone would enjoy watching, and many many times. It is both entertaining, heart-warming and moving. Whoever and wherever you are, if you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend you to do so.

I wanted to acquaint a young niece with the song Lakdi Ki Kaathi - so we ended up watching Masoom. Here Naseer and Shabana vied for equal honors - he as the "weak philandering and then unable to stand up for what is right" man, she as the hurt and retaliating spouse. Caught in the mix were three children. This was probably the first realistic portrayal of children in Hindi cinema. Urmila Matondkar as the older sister, I forget the name of younger and cute as a button sister, but of course the unforgettable kid was Jugal Hansraj - oh that Masoomiyat was to die for. As the wife was building wall upon wall between herself and the husband, the kids were breaking barriers and bonding as only children can. Shabana - she was a goddess fighting for the rights of her family with not one false note in the entire film. Naseer had just the right amount of weakness and regret to tell you that he was a man with clay feet. Sayeed Jaffrey was a tiny bit loud but then he was supposed to be a loud Punjabi type. These people lived in real houses in a real city and went to work and shopped and played just like us. Masoom had excellent music too - Huzoor is Kadar, Lakdi Ki Kaathi, Tujhse Naaraz Nahin. A perfect 10 from me for this perfect film.

Of course this movie is not even remotely comparable to any of the silly drivel that Bollywood produces. But this is also unlike any other well publicised Bollywood movies in that it doesn't try to cater itself to the western audience by portraying situations and events in any more cheery or gloomy light than they actually are. It just relies on pure warmth of feelings to grab you, not smart camera angles or lighting.

The family portrayed in the movie is extremely adorable. The acting is just phenomenal by everyone, especially the lead cast of Nasruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. The music is amazing and contributes to the pace of the movie rather than impeding it. One has to appreciate the fine effort everyone has put in. It will make you cry in the end for sure.

A very sensitive movie very well done by Shekar. Needless to say Naseerudhin and Shabana come out with their best performance. The surprise is the kid jugal. His performance moves you to tears..he brings out the feelings of a lost,orphaned innocent kid beautifully. RDB music was apt and Gulzhars lyrics were exceptional. But i felt that Supriya pathaks character was not projected well. The relationship between Naseer and Supriya lacks depth. Climax scene could have been handled differently

The script and dialogues my Sampooran Singh Gulzar are just mind blowing. It is truly challenging to present the tensions in the family along with the innocence of the children Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor (the director) delve deeply into the psychology of the adults and the children. Urmila excels as a child artist (she was barely 10 years old!), so did Anuradha and Jugal Hansraj.

The camera work in the movie is simple and artistic. Rahul Dev Burman's haunting score couldn't be any more apt. It is really striking, he used variations of a single tune as the background score for the entire movie! Wow! That is not the best part, you don't notice that! That's the best part.

Nasseruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, who are known for their extreme potential and they have played their roles to perfection.

I would say this is Sekhar Kapoor's best. There are several scenes in the movie where the characters convey their feeling by a simple "act" which would otherwise need 1000 words and not-needed melodrama. That is clearly his directorial genius. When the characters actually "speak" they convey their feelings equally well...Thanks to the genius and maturity of Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor.

The movie is funny, beautiful, tense, moving, complex..... However, I have one complaint with the script.

Warning: If you plan to watch the movie do not read beyond this point!



The open question remains as to what is really the punishment to a man who made a mistake as big as adultery. We know the man is good, loves his kids and wife and his work. He did make a mistake. The situation in which he made the mistake, no matter what, cannot be justified. He made a mistake. That's it.

The kid has no fault of his and he is lonely and helpless and feels deprived of everything. Does he have to suffer because the adult made a mistake? No. So, what is doing justice to this kid? Keeping him along with your kids? If that is the case, what is the punishment to the father? If you send him away as

punishment, the kids will all be fatherless and the wife will have the burden of taking care of them alone.

So, as shown in the film...the correct punishment is the one that makes him remorseful and the correct thing to do with the kid is to bring him up along with the others. OK, so far so good but this soln. has a problem too. What happens when the kids grow little older. They know their "brother" made no mistake, they will learn that their father...about who they were so proud..has let them down. This will certainly effect them for life! Even if we assume their family friends can forgive his mistake, the kids cannot. Not at least these kids.. may be some kids who are in a family that is used to adultery!

Well, one could argue that the father indeed made a mistake and the kids would have to simply face the truth..there is no other way out, so they rather stop worrying about it..and of course they don't to need to worry about punishing his father if the objective is to make him remorseful.

This movie is based on "Man, Woman, and Child" by Eric Segal. While this had the potential to fall into silly Bollywood antics, this movie, instead, is elevated to one of the most entertaining and well crafted movies I have seen. It helps that the setting is a relatively conservative India. The boy in it is absolutely adorable, as are the daughters. And of course, who could forget the great acting of Shabana Azmi and Naseerudin Shah as the husband and wife. Yes, there are musical moments, but nothing that is in bollywood excess. If you are a non-indian, you will love this movie. Definitely a hidden gem!

Over the last few years 'Bollywood' films have been given the coverage and exposure they deserve over here in the UK. Their rising popularity means that people who wouldnt have access to watching a bollyowood film, or would simply dismiss it as a foreign language film, therefore unwatchable, are now enjoying the magic and power of bollywood. Recently Channel 4 here in the UK have began to show bollywood films every few nights, and sometimes in the day. I have watched many of them, but Masoom is by far my favourite. On paper the storyline doesnt sound incredibly exciting or original, but what is on screen is purely amazing. The actors portray their characters with such knowledge and ability that you feel you are watching the family's home movie. The basic theme of this film to me seems to be the power of love. GK's love for Rahul battles against his love for the rest of his family. And it is Indu's love for GK, and her eventual love and respect for Rahul, that keeps the family from being torn apart. It is a film about strength, about having the strength to love someone no matter what they have done, Shabana Azmi's Indu is both fragile but incredibly strong and dignified. Naseerudin Shah plays GK with such courage, but also shows his weak side. This is a film that deeply effected me. The power of its central themes are amazing, and shows a side of Bollywood that is largely unheard of.

I have watched this movie 3 or 4 times, and I am impressed with the subject matter and the way with which Gulzar has written it and Shekhar Kapur has directed it. Usually I find that most Indian movies have plots that have such one dimensional characters, but in this movie you see the evolution of the characters. For those who watch Indian movies for the lyrics as well and you haven't seen or heard the songs of Masoom, then you are truly missing something. You can't expect anything less than the best (in terms of the lyrics) from Gulzar. The music by R.D.Burman is also very touching, and appropriate for the scenes. Kudos to Naseruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi for portraying their characters with such passion. After watching this movie I felt that it is human to make mistakes, and you don't find many movies providing such moral lessons. Highly recommended to lovers of cinema.

Probably one of the most sensitive films ever made in India. Its sensibility is very contemporary and unaffected by "Bollywood". The performances are surprisingly real and one can easily relate to them. Naseer plays the role of DK beautifully, I feel its his most sensitive performance till date. DK is a very real character, he is a man who is not ashamed to cry. Its very apparent he loves his wife a lot, but the emotion he shows for Supriya Pathak, (the woman he met during the school reunion, from whom he has a son but did not know till now)is also very real, very real and honest. Even though it has the feel of a one night stand, and even DK himself would rather believe and tell his wife that, but its pretty clear he liked her when he met her and felt genuine emotion for the girl. Bhavna (Supriya Pathak) decides to bring up the child alone and not tell DK about it because she knows that he has a family of his own.

DK is a very rare character in an Indian film, men in Indian films are not sensitive like him, they don't break down while talking to their wives, they don't show helplessness. DK is so humane that its difficult for him to not touch and affect you in some way. Personally, the character that Shabana Azmi, Indu – DK's wife, does not move me too much. Its probably true that her character gets to grow only towards the end when her love for Bhavna's boy(Rahul) begins to overpower her hatred for the act that her husband had committed years ago. Her hurt also comes from the fact that when DK had this affair with Bhavna she was expecting their first child.

Indu is not shown to have any extraordinary characteristics in the beginning. She is just jealous of Rahul's mother and feels disgust for the deeds of her husband. Any one would feel like that. Her character gets some respite when she begins to see the boy Rahul for what he truly is – his mother is dead and he does not know who his father is – he is truly alone and orphaned. Its love and sympathy for him that raises Indu above the normal jealous, hurt wife. She is a mother of two girls herself, she cannot help but feel motherly love for this boy who is sweet, nice natured and so lonely.

The kids also act very well, Jugal Hansraj is wonderful as Rahul. The film wins in the end it seems because of him… you feel so much for this boy. It wins also because of DK (Naseer) and his surprisingly natural love for his lost, so far unknown son. He feels pride when Rahul plays a good ball of cricket… and it surprises him. Just goes to show that feelings of love are not conditioned, developed, they just "are". Indu's feelings for the boy can be seen almost visually growing… and that is a beautiful thing. She is the one who gets him back home in the end.

A must watch for anyone who loves Naseer and Gulzar. It's a film that doesn't disappoint. I have it on DVD and watch it again and again and again!!

Well to many of those who have not watched this movie the title may sound a little too much, but believe me having watched Hindi movies of all kinds of genre over all times this was one bold attempt by Shekhar kapur depicting how a relation between husband & wife hits rock bottom when wife comes to know about illegitimate son of his husband. the movie puts light how a small mistake could lead to a disaster and could ruin a life of a family. Don't miss this emotional movie that perfectly displays an estranged relationship of father and son. with time length of 140 odd mins, this masterpiece depicts various relationships within a family enlightening the relationship among children like how sensitive ,affectionate and how they grow up with their siblings and puts light into important things for them like birthdays, homework, competition and attention needed by them from their parents.

How in Indian societies hard cold wars between couples prevail, how they deal with various issues with their children, how they feel for children , but best part to me was how nasseruddin shah deals with shy kid jugal hansraj & how the kid starts feeling for nasseruddin shah. It is a rare Indian movie that breaks a viewer into tears but most importantly you will really feel yourself a kid who will be in search of love. It is a must watch for any Indian as movie perfectly portrays Indian society.I would have rated it 9/10. But because of the extremely beautifully shot emotional track "tujh se naraaz nahin zindagi.....", i am going with 10/10

Shekhar Kapoor shows the world how Indian movies could be. He doesn't break any of the basic rules. There are songs and there is melodrama, but Kapoor actually backs it up with a strong script and brilliant acting, which of course is to be expected with Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi in the cast. Jugal Hansraj and Urmila Matondkar are easily recognisable in their pint-sized selves. Pity Jugal Hansraj never got a decent part to play after this one..

Every time I see this movie, I can't help my eyes drop shed a few drops of tears. The movie marked the beginning of child superstars. It also marked the entry of Sekhar Kapoor into the world o Hindi Cinema. Yugal Hansraj has made people stick into their seat.

Rahul lost his mother and came to stay with his father who has been married to someone else and has got two kids from the second marriage. What happens when he comes to understand that the man with whom he stays is his father ?

The movie has got a lot of emotions and Yugal Hansraj as Rahul acted so briliiantly, you'll not be able to stop your tears every time he comes to frame. A scene worth remembering in this movie is:

'When he says to his father "How can I forget you, you are my father"

Does the family accepts him ? That's the story of this movie.

Masoom is indeed one of the best movies i have ever seen so far in my life. It has had the marvelous impact on the audience by its amazingly gripping story & by the stunning performances which all actors have had in this film specially Naseeruddin shah. He has,no doubt, played a role of his life in the movie & extracted the maximum from the demand of this role. The story has had a strong impact as it was very close to the natural emotions of a human. The scenes where Naseeruddin shah was telling his own story to his friend,change in mood of shabana azmi,& everything that film has got was absolutely perfect in all senses.I think the best part of the movie was its strong plot and the versatile performances by the artists.

Masoom, like very few indian movies, is an excellent movie with a very good story. It proves that the story alone is the single most important aspect of filmmaking. A very well written script and some basic direction. Full credits to the scriptwriter!!!

'Masoom' is one of the very few movies that captivates audience using a simple, yet powerful storyline. The movie demonstrates the basic fact that effective story and script can go a long way in creating wonders.

'Masoom' is a story about a family that is emotional torn by a careless, emotional human error. Naseeruddin and Sabana played a magnificent role in portraying the human struggle to look beyond a circumstantial mistake. Considering it being the first full-feature length movie directed by Shekhar Kapoor, he did a terrific job!!!

There are a few technical error in terms of angles and lights, but the baisc storyline helps to overlook those fallacies..

Full points!!

"Masoom" raises the issue of illegitimate child and presents a touching and inspiring story on childhood innocence and motherhood. It presents a clash between a women ego and motherhood which comes under test when an illegitimate child comes to a happy home blossoming motherhood against a hatred for the illicit relationship the husband was involved in. Story-wise, the story is said to be loosely based on an English movie "Man, Woman and Child." If there is any perfect family movie Bollywood has ever made, I will undoubtedly name this one. The film has won the heart of every audience in the past, and still the film stands a gem. Despite a familiar story, the film remains touching, sensitive, and adorable. The reason is the perfect treatment the film receives. The way the story is mounted, the adorable family the film presents, the office environment of Naserudin Shah all have a right touch. The performances of Naseruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi were just mesmerizing and spontaneous. The feeling of motherhood affection that raises in Shabana from hatred to the illegitimate son from his husband was the most well realized part of the film. Tanuja and Saeed Jafferey also make a remarkable job in their small roles. The acting of the three child artist remain the soul of the film and depicts the child innocence brilliantly. The songs are just beautiful. Overall, the film yet continues to remain close to my heart and every time the film touches you with the wonderful film on childhood innocence and affection the film weaves.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

I would like to give 10 out of 10 to this movie, because this movie make every time the same impact, oh really when such kind of situation come arises to your life or nearby, you can't ignore, while watching the painting of child makes your cry and miserable that innocent child has not done any mistake, so what to do, accept it or what???? there is no other option when there is happiness is near you and you can't accept that, OK how much time to wait, till the end or like the movie. so joy is related to our thinking, some mistakes even create happiness for us, but we always bound to get the best and closed our heart.

its superb end, when at the end make every body happy and made cry.

Masoom is a thoughtful movie directed by one of the noted filmmakers of Bollywood, Shekhar Kapur and which stars two solid actors of the 80s's parallel cinema, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi.

The story revolves around DK (Shah) and Indu (Azmi) who are happily married and are the proud parents of two lovely girls Pinky and Mini (Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana). However, their happy married life is cut short by the arrival of a little boy Rahul (Jugal Hansraj). Rahul is the product of DK's short illicit affair with his one-time college friend, Bhavana (Supriya Pathak). Indu shuns the innocent little boy as he adds insult to her injury as she has now learned that DK has cheated on her. You must watch the remaining as to how Indu deals with this sad reality of her life and whether she accepts Rahul to be a part of the family or not.

The film is different in its approach and boasts of superlative performances from its lead actors. This is Shekhar Kapur's first directorial venture and he has handled every aspect of this film with great creativity and maturity. R.D. Burman's music is a gem as usual. 'Tujhse Naraz Nahin' beautifully sketches the relationship between a father and his newfound son while 'Do Naina Aur Ek Kahani' speaks about the state of the cheated wife's mind. Naseer and Shabana have easily delivered their career best performances in this movie. However, it's Jugal Hansraj whose performance really touches your heart. His one scene that deserves special mention is when he asks Naseer who his father is (though the audience gets the dramatic irony). That particular scene melted my heart. Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana are also terrific as the daughters.

Overall, a movie that deserves a watch. Don't miss it!

Being an avid reader, I generally do not enjoy the movies made out of the books. I prefer reading the book rather than watching the movie. But, this is ONE BIG exception. I definitely LOVED the movie more than the book.

Kudos and a BIG thanks to Shekhar Kapur for such an amazing movie. I can never get bored watching this movie, might shed a tear as well at the superlative narration of the story. The acting by all the characters is just apt, no one goes overboard, in fact nothing does. And the music, some of my all-time favorites belong to this movie.

Well done and thanks again.

The movie starts with a peek in the happy married life of an upper-class couple and their children and contrasts it with the tragedy in the life an 8-year old boy who's mother passes away and he is taken into the care of a very old man also in his last stages of life. The story unfolds with the discovery of the complex and taboo relationship between this illegitimate son and the father and the resulting tension in the family. The focus of the movie is the emotions of an 8-year old who is innocent of the mistake committed by his father and how they and the family deal with it. The filmmaker Shekhar Kapur did best at sensitising how people look down upon forbidden relations and people who engage in it through the difficulty of the couple to come to terms with what happened in the past. The only sore point is that the movie's tone is entirely sympathetic towards the husband making the wife sometimes look completely unreasonable for almost the whole movie.

I had watched this movie a long time ago but the impact is still fresh in my mind. It has some very memorable names like Naseeruddin Shah(husband), Shabana Azmi(wife), Urmila and Jugal Hansraj(kids) in it but watching it you realise why they became so well known for their acting. Both Mr. Shah and Ms Azmi are accurate in their respective portrayals of a loving couple who are torn between the broken sanctity of marriage and their responsibility as a father and mother. Also the kids surely win over the heart through their picture perfect expressions. The eyes of Jugal Hansraj really bring out the innocence and need of a forgone child to be loved so very well that no true father would ever want to let go of their child after watching this.

Watching this makes me introspect and analyze my own level of innocence or the lack of it and I realise that although we're never going to get it back we could at least protect it in the eyes of our children.

Yeah, Gulzar too! Eric Segal's "Man, Woman and Child" becomes "Masoom", without any mention of the source. Since Indian audience is so immature that they cannot handle any sad ending, as expected, the boy does not go back, but is stopped (yeah, you guessed right as to who stops him!) before he can board the train, in the Indian (movie) version.

R.E.M., see: everybody steals, some day!

This does not mean that all is bad with this movie. It has very good performances by Shabana, Naseeruddin and Supriya Pathak, and it also has great songs; overall, it's a good, clean family movie. I think, back in 1983, this movie had tough competition with B.R. Chopra's equally well-publicized, "Nikaah", and perhaps finally "Masoom" won!

Masoom is one of Shekhar Kapur's earliest directorial ventures.

A re-make of Man, Woman and Child, this movie is as good as the original. Set in real-life New Delhi, this movie is a sensitive portrayal of a man and his family coming to terms with his illegitimate child. Shekhar's attention to the finer details that make up the background makes this film very life-like.

Brilliant performances by Naseer, Shabana, Saeed and Jugal, this movie touches those strings that we tend to forget. A tear-jerker for some. Goose pimples for others. And a standing ovation for Shekhar.

Dubbed as an 'artsy' movie, this film made more money than the multi-million rupee pot-boilers released that year.

If you ask me I would call this Shekhar's best Hindi movie till Bandit Queen. A definite must see, even if it is sub-titled. A very good sound track accompanies this film.

A tender depiction of an innocent mind, soul yet no so well executed.

Masoom (Innocent) brings up a tale of a boy who does not know his father. The father does not know that he has a son from an extra marital affair. Now in between this Father and Son is a family whom the Father DK (Nasseruddin Shah) married. There is Shabana as mother of 2 daughters who now has either adopt him as a child or disown him.

Gulzar Saab who is extremely versatile and is great at subtleties has written this extremely competently and there is more of Gulzar in it than Shekar Kapur the director. The writing is so very nice that it merely needs a look through the eyes too convey what the scene means.

Extraction of acting from their actors which ideally is done by director, falls flat in this. Shekar Kapur for whom this was his first film did not extract enough emotions through his characters as he should have. Already two of Indias finest actors were cast as leads so most of the job was done and when it came to extraction acting from children , Shekar could not meet up with challenge. Those forced shivering or those bland expressions did not show that the boy was innocent but rather made it artificial.

This is not as great as it was told to me all through this years. The subject is beautiful but the depiction could have been far far better. Hail Gulzar for this more than Shekar Kapur.

It's better if I do not talk about technical departments for this movie as most of it were just in place as if to do their job for a salary and not passionately. Passion was missing technically for a subject that was passionately written.

Going with 3/5 for a good movie with a touching subject but the execution did not touch me so well.

I saw this movie as I saw many other gems while staying awake late night.To my surprise I discovered I had already seen this movie albeit in a different avatar.I had seen this movie as an American movie Man, Woman and Child. Though the plot is almost a rip-off from that movie, the story's been adapted INTELLIGENTLY. The man in question in that movie is a Professor who gets a call in the same way as does Naseerudeen Shah.The family has a friend(read:Suri) whom they visit every weekend.The boy also beats his son in football as does Rahul in cricket.At the end the girls and Malhotra's wife, played by Shabana Azmi take back Rahul home in the same way.The two girls bond to Rahul in the same way.The wife gets the same advice from her friend as does Shabana Azmi. But thats where the similarities end.To suit Indian sensibilities, the girl(Bhawana) does not go naked on beach but they have sex in the middle of the lake, on a boat and Shabana does not ask him how she was on bed. TheIndian version,I found,was equally, maybe even more mature and subtle than the American one. But you have to give it to the Americans as regards the fun quotient and technical superiority. And the Indians score at the music front