There are certain moments in films that get to you, touch you deeply and yes, make you cry. What’s more, these scenes continue to have a deep impact on you and move you to tears every subsequent time you see them. These are some unforgettable cathartic moments for me where the tears have flowed unabashedly, freely and repeatedly.
Rajesh Khanna’s death in Anand (1970) for one; As Amitabh extols his lifeless body to speak to him and turns away, we suddenly hear Khanna’s voice going “Babu Moshai!” Immediately, Bachchan turns around and we see the tape playing that Anand had made before his death. As it plays with Anand lying there, it is as poignant a moment as any that Hindi cinema has captured.
The end of Ritwik Ghatak’s masterpiece, Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), as Nita cries out “Dada! I want to live!” and her voice reverberates amongst the mountains is another where the emotional floodgates just burst open and refuse to stop. Just thinking of that scene, surely one of Indian cinema’s greatest moments, makes one’s hair stand on end. For many of us at FTII, Meghe Dhaka Tara was a film that possibly affected us the most and moved us profoundly. It still does.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)’s final scene, when Toto screens the reel that Alfredo has left for him of all the censored kisses from films shown in the small town down the years, is one of the most bittersweet endings in the history of cinema. You cannot help but be moved with Toto and tears flow down your cheeks just as they do Toto’s. Any film lover and filmmaker would undoubtedly count Cinema Paradiso in his all-time favourite movie list.
While growing up in the 1970s, one cannot forget the impact of Franco Zeffirelli’s The Champ (1979) even if it has dated rather badly in certain portions and feels over-sentimental today. The relationship between the father and son is beautifully portrayed and even today, it is impossible to watch this film without crying thanks to the moving performances by Jon Voight and Ricky Schroder. The end post the climactic fight is particularly heart-wrenching.
No one can make you laugh and cry like Chaplin. Both The Kid (1921) and Citylights (1931) are absolutely unforgettable emotional experiences. The anguish of the separation scene in the former and the tenderness and sadness of the recognition scene in the latter are heart-breaking.
Talking of heart-breaking, another image that is tragically unforgettable, while hitting home the hard truth about the futility of violence, is that of a distraught Natalie Wood with Richard Beymer lying dead, his head on her lap at the end of Robert Wise’s classic West Side Story (1961), a brilliant re-setting of the Romeo and Juliet tale amidst rival street gangs of New York.
A similar feeling, shattering one completely, is echoed in Gulzar’s directorial debut, Mere Apne (1971), when Meena Kumari gets caught in the senseless fighting between the two gangs and is shot dead.
Coming back to Kakaji, another Rajesh Khanna film that never fails to bring out the tears is Haathi Mere Saathi (1971). The elephant Ramu’s death at the end of the film gives it a solid, emotional wallop. And then, of course, how can one forget Amar Prem (1971) as Anand Babu takes a grown Nandu to Pushpa and asks him to take his ‘mother’ home. Anand Babu may tell Pushpa he HATES TEARS but even his eyes get moist as do mine as Pushpa finally goes to her house with her ‘son.’
“Tears at times have the weight of speech.” – Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BC – AD 17/18), Roman poet.
Hey! I enjoyed it . . .I wish it were longer… you are getting simply lazy!! Hope you would do a study on the memorable comic moments in Indian Cinema and what in those scenes made the audience tickle– a penny for your thoughts?
Emotionally power packed piece. Yes, the scenes from Anand, West Side Story, Cinema Paradiso and Meghe Dhaka Tara are massive emotional experiences. Here are some other scenes that inevitably make me shed a few tears or have a heavy lump in my throat:
• Balthazar’s death in Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar
• The death of the young protagonist Milos in Jiri Menzel’s Closely Guarded Trains.
• The color sequence of the three horses grazing peacefully in the rain drenched meadow in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublyov – I don’t know why it brings tear to my eyes – may be the purity of cinematic experience!
• The expression on Sarbajaya’s (Karuna Bandopadhyay) face when Apu leaves home for Kolkata for the first time in Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito.
• The death of Maciek (Zybigniew Cybulski) in Andrej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds.
I wish it was longer too.
When it comes to regional language films, it’s no different I guess. I would love to know what are the most moving scenes among different audiences.
And the lullaby song from Mehmood’s ‘Kunwara Baap’ (1974) – Aa Ri Aa Jaa… One of the few male-sung lullabies and so, so moving….
Sunjoy, Which Main, JKD, Abe
Thanks for your feedback and comments. Appreciate it. Keep the comments coming.
Monish, you’ve brought back so many memories of some great films we were lucky to watch at FTII. In fact, while thinking about them, I also recall Visconti’s White Nights and Ozu’s Tokyo Story, which moved me tremendously. While practically all the films and scenes we’ve discussed have been highly emotional and tragic, one cannot forget being overcome by heart-warming moments as well. Karel Kachyna’s Jumping Over the Puddles Again for instance…
Absolutely brilliant. My two bit – Champ was the epitome of tear jerkers – it has done it for me every time i watched it and i have watched it quiet a few times. Al Pacino’s address to the school in ‘Scent of a Woman’ – I don’t know maybe it’s just a boarding school thing. Adding to the list some Malayalam movies – the end of ‘Chitram’ as Mohanlal leaves, and this despite it being a Priyadarshan film, all of ‘Taniyavartanam’ with Mammootty as Balan Maash and Padmarajan’s “Moonam Pakkam’. In fact almost all of 80’s malayalam cinema – and hence my morose view to life :).
Ram,not surprising at all. Those magical moments of cinema, that have affected us deeply, have a sense of timelessness about them, no matter how many times we revisit them.
happened to re-watch ‘ Jumping Over the Puddles’ a few months back… the magic, the cinema and the emotion seemed to remain in tact…
Jumping Over The Puddles Again – Cinema at its finest !
I actually found the DVD of Jumping Over the Puddles Again in Prague but the film was without sub-titles. 🙁
O yeah.. Cinema Paradiso is a killer. What about the whole of Life is beautiful?
Central Station? Battle for Algiers? Mallu film Bharatham (Mohanlal; he was better in the emotional ones)?
So many Rajesh Khanna weepy moments. Can you imagine this is the dude whose most famous dialogue is Pushpa I hate tears??? I cry in all movies, but I’m trying to be more discriminating…
Rab Ne… Batul, really?! OMG!
I am like Paro. I cry too indiscriminately, so … I even cried in ‘Rab Ne … ‘ Pathetic, I know. Just saw ‘Amar, Akbar, Anthony’ and cried when Ma got back her eyes with the blessing of Shirdiwale Sai Baba.
Super Star Rajesh Khanna – The Cary Grant of India
Super Star Rajesh Khanna irrevocably impacted Indian cinema and culture like no actor before him. His acting perfection and application of talent were drawn solely from his inward vision. Super Star Rajesh Khanna did not cultivate the phenomenal attributes that created his “superstardom” by reason or will, but through the connectedness to his own persona that the masses then idealized. For he is one who is impervious as to who is ahead and who is behind. Super Star Rajesh Khanna’s inward vision, a special gift from the divine leads him always. Today he is the indomitable and highly respected veteran of one hindred and fifty films. For me, he is like the Cary Grant of India. Both actors are Capricorns that have played the widest variety of roles without ever bankrupting the fascination of the audience. Super Star Rajesh Khanna is the platinum standard for landmark performances and sheer screen presence. Ever since the camera discovered his photogenia it has been having a love affair with it. His Byronic inspirations of romance as autographed elegantly on screen endure. Super Star Rajesh Khanna is a Greatest Legend because he kindles our affections at the highest denominators and that is a life nobly lived means.