A favorite scene from a movie that released in 1986? You must take me to be one who watches less number of movies, or a person who is unwilling to come out from the cobwebs surrounding himself. What makes the scene run for me is the ‘wooden faced’ actors giving it their best shot in terms of emotions in a scene that raises the bar. Kudos to Mahesh Bhatt that he could pull the scene off. I always remind friends about this scene when they call Sanjay Dutt ‘wooden faced’
The Scene
Anybody who has seen Naam would point to ‘Chitti Aayi Hai’ as their poignant moment, but my moment/scene comes at about fifty minutes into the movie. When Nutan reveals to Kumar Gaurav that he is the illegitimate son of her deceased husband, she does it with some melodrama, but the scene that follows with Sanjay Dutt is presumably amongst the best involving two protagonists. If Sanjay Dutt strikes the right notes as a performer in the scene, Kumar Gaurav underplays to give it right measure of emotion. In the preceding scene, Nutan says “Just because I gave you a name (Naam) does not mean I will take your life (Jaan)”. The scene with Dutt is a classic as Kumar Gaurav questions him about the thoughts running in his mind. Dutt in a emotional state replies that even though he doesn’t have the knowledge nor the glib talking abilities. He goes on to say that all these days when Kumar Gaurav was working hard, he thought it was his duty and responsibility but now he feels that it was all a favor from him. Then he goes on to plead to give him a chance to stand on equal terms with him
What’s so special
Sanjay Dutt and Kumar Gaurav were relatively new in the film industry and it was actually tough for them to portray their parts without actually inviting some criticism. Though criticism wasn’t as prevalent then as it is now, they did not escape it with the skin of the their teeth but they came out trumps in what were tough roles. Sanjay Dutt plays the prodigal son and Kumar Gaurav plays the responsible part. Sanjay Dutt has this habit of saying “Are you able to grasp what I say?” often in the movie and in the scene with Kumar Gaurav, it assumes the role of multitude of emotions. Although there is a scene later in the movie with Nutan in which Dutt acts/emotes his heart out, what makes this scene special is the way the tyro’s perform in the scene. What stood out for me was the way Sanjay Dutt pleads for that one chance to be on equal terms.
