Kaksparsh – Movie Review

Based on a Marathi short story, 'Kaksparsh' is an interesting love story set in the early 1990s perhaps. A highly orthodox chitpavan brahmin family gets the younger son married to a 13 year old (as was custom those days). The elder of the family is the much older brother Hari (Sachin Khedekar), a man of strict principles and a man of his word. There is a small scene when the boy’s family goses to see the girl, The girl assumes she is marrying the older brother who is already married and has three children. The older brother is highly impressed by the girl, very impressed, that he is lost for a moment. It’s a subtle moment, where one can see how deeply the older brother and the girl get affected by one another in that meeting – almost as if no one else existed. But nothing is inappropriate, and its dealt with beautifully.

The marriage s done and the girl comes home. On the first night her husband dies before the marriage is consummated. A strange occurrence on the day after the funeral – the crows do not come to take the offering. The older brother whispers something to his brother's soul and lo behold a crow appears as if by magic. The older brother then takes full charge of the bride, taking care of her every need but not letting her go out of his sight. Nothing inappropriate again. When his wife dies they tell him oto marry her but he does not. His odd and extremely possessive behavior continues.

Only when they are old and she turns half mad, does he finally reveal what he told the brother's soul and why he behaved oddly for all these years. Certainly a love story like no other.

Great performances. Well directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The title is based on the Hindu ritual where an offering is made after the final rites and a crow has to touch that food to complete the ritual.