Shwaas: Dazzling Marathi movie of a grandfather’s dilemma

This is a simple movie by a debutant director. An old man is confronted by the necessity to tell his 6 year old grand child that he will loose his vision after an operation. The director, who is a seasoned theatre person, made this every day drama in real life into a touching story.

It is one of those rare movies without a villian. Every person in the story is positively represented – all brought together by a boy suffering from cancer. Sandeep Sawant, the director, has payed a lot of attention to little details that make the movie enchanting. For example, the grandfather who is from a village is unsure of the formalities of a city (Bombay). A little detail like this brought out by a mundane act of his sitting in the waiting room of the doctor. The actors have risen up to the situation and have delivered beautifully.

Surprisingly for a theatre person, the director was never tempted to use high strung histrionics for this rather dramatic story. The movie is very lifelike – the decisions, text & delivery of dialogues, every gesture, and the subplots of the movie are immensely life like. The movie is touching and could be watched by anyone – perhaps even without subtitles.