Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Khamoshi: It couldn’t have been made without Salman’s support

At  10 am, on 9th August 1996, producer Sibte Hassan Rizvi Saab called debutant director Sanjay Leela Bhansali to inform him that his debut film Khamoshi: The Musical had flopped. Sanjay had no idea what this meant. Sanjay’s  sister filmmaker- film editor Bela Sehgal, cinematographer Anil Mehta and  Sanjay trudged down to Liberty cinema to see what was happening.

What he saw broke his heart. The scattered meager audiences at Liberty cinema (Mumbai) were restless. Some were even breaking their seats in frustration. The projectionist joined in Sanjay’s  distress and even showed one reel upside down. Sanjay rushed to the projection room to fix it. His dream had turned into a nightmare. The film was  a box-office disaster. Sanjay Bhansali got great reviews for Khamoshi: The Musical. Everyone he met loved the film. But the audience hated it.

“I was shattered. I thought my journey as a filmmaker ended even before it began,” recalls Sanjay with a shudder.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s debut film Khamoshi: The Musical celebrated its twenty sixth year on August 9. It effortlessly joins Guru Dutt’s Kagaz Ke Phool and Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker as the trio of most honourable flops in the history of Indian cinema.

The story of a beautiful Catholic girl Annie, played by the ethereal Manisha Koirala, who must choose between looking after her deaf-and-mute  parents (played brilliantly by Seema Biswas and Nana Patekar) and her career as a singer. A heartbreaking tale of obligation and  passion, Khamoshi: The Musical was marred by a false manufactured  ending where Manisha’s Annie lives. In the original script, the film ends tragically with her death.

Rues Sanjay, “To this day, I regret changing the end because of external pressures. I was new and I was scared that if I didn’t comply, I would be sacked. So yes, I would like to re-do Khamoshi with the correct ending.”

Over the years, Khamoshi: The Musical has acquired a cult following, like Kagaz Ke  Phool and Mera Naam Joker. Last year’s Oscar-winning film Coda, directed by Sian Heder, bears an uncanny resemblance to Khamoshi The Musical. In Coda, Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of  a deaf family who is torn between her parents and her career as a singer.

Isn’t Coda directed inspired by Khamoshi: The Musical?

Says Sanjay Bhansali, “I wouldn’t like to see it like that. A good story can be interpreted in many ways. Coda is a different film from mine.”

Manisha Koirala, who dazzled with her performance as Annie in Khamoshi: The Musical,  is back working with Sanjay in Netflix’s ambitious Heeramandi. She is said to have again given a stellar performance.

Manisha was not the first choice for Khamoshi: The Musical: Madhuri Dixit was, then it was Kajol. Both kept the  new director dangling in suspense for months and finally said no. The original choice for Manisha’s grandmother’s  role was Nadira. Helen, who played the role, came into the project through Salman Khan, who not only agreed to play Manisha’s love-interest but also stood by Sanjay after the film flopped.

“Khamoshi couldn’t have been made without Salman’s support,” says Sanjay Leea Bhansali emotionally.

The haunting love ballad Baahon ke darmiyaan, composed by Jatin-Lalit, was composed for Lata Mangeshkar. But  Sanjay Leela Bhansali was too inexperienced to approach her.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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