It begins: "'Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.."..Pt.Nehru's famous speech on the eve of India's Independence.The scrolling words after Pt.Nehru's famous independent speech of tryst with destiny, revealing the mistake in the speech that , at the stroke of the midnight hour when the whole world was not actually not asleep, it was afternoon in New York.Never really gave it a thought , but its true.
It shows how the youth of India percieved India's independence way beyond just the win of freedom struggle from the British. We want freedom from the bad, tyrraneous system that exists.We want freedom from oppression. We want freedom of speech, freedom to live irrespective of our sex, religion, caste, creed or colour.
Have we got it? It is still a question unanswered even when India has entered the 21st century.We still have people unreached with justice, freedom and independence.So, is this cry for independence just going to remain a khwaish, one among those very thousands..which remains suppressed within us?
As the reels start rolling after the scrolling words from the narrator, we are left exposed to the jaw dropping visuals of that Summer of 69, where no one wishes to go..the corpses lying around like rotten leaves fallen from the trees, the living, no better than the corpses..all deaf, dumb to the inhuman bloodshed.The opening scene of Sudhir Mishra's "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" strikes you right at your core so hard, that you fall dumb and really feel the noise in that silent few minutes of the beginning.

Sudhir Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi reflects the intensity and fate of three young characters, who start out on the same platform but choose different journeys and reach a destination of their own making. It could be the story of three ordinary, or not so ordinary, people, depending on the given circumstances, if the setting of this drama wasn't such a crucial time in history.
The late 1960s and early 1970s were turbulent times -- angst filled and revolutionary. It was the time of Vietnam, of flower power, of the Emergency and the rise of the Naxal movement in India. And a booming population of restless youth was eager to wage war against anything that curbed idealism. Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi digs into a section of this crazy chapter of history through its three protagonists – Siddharth Tyabji (Kaykay Menon), Geeta Rao (Chitrangada Singh) and Vikram Malhotra(Shiny Ahuja).

Synopsis:
Sidhharth is an idealist. Born to a Muslim lawyer father and a Hindu mother and believes in Marxism.The story traces Siddharth's journey from Marxist jargon to the Maoist (Naxalite) rebellion. His emotional attachment to Geeta does not stop him from his political pursuits.
Post-college, Geeta is married to an IAS officer but she continues to see Siddharth on the sly.
Vikram too has always nursed unconditional love in his heart for Geeta. But that's all there is to his soft side. A small town boy once, Vikram climbs the social ladder by networking in the big league unabashedly.
Geeta ends her marriage and starts living in the village with Siddharth. This is the time in the film when Geeta's character evolves. From a London-bred girl to teaching village women, or having a child out of wedlock or asking favours from Vikram in hours of need to a lot of other gruesome realities, Geeta discovers herself.
The story movies on. The characters mature and move on. They regret. They apologise. They change. Their lives are not the same.
Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi plays like a novel spanning a decade. While Geeta is a picture of poignancy and inspires awe, Vikram's complexities leave the viewer perturbed. There is a lot to his greyness that is unsaid and yet subtly hinted through mere expressions. He is the most mysterious of them all.

The real thing:
If you've ever wondered why our nation is in such a mess, "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" attempts to tell you where we could have gone wrong. Mishra's most complex, ambitious film to date, "Hazaaron..." knits the major political upheavals between 1969 and 1977 into a love triangle, as he minces no words in castigating the Nehruvian "ideals" that modern India adopted as its model for governance.
Death, says one song in this remarkably dense and evocative film, is akin to love. And Vikram (Shiney Ahuja) sees death every time Geeta (Chitrangda Rao) looks at her idol-lover, the protagonist, Sidharth (Kay Kay Menon). The story weaves so beautifully the politically unstable Delhi and Calcutta of that era, and also brings out the chaotic Bhojpur District of Bihar.
The climax, should not disclose it, for the sake of the film-maker. You just have to watch it, if you haven't. And well I am going to watch it again today.

The ups:
Definitely , first of all: Kay Kay Menon, man he's so very good. Shiney Ahuja as the materialistic loser Vikram Malhotra..awesome performance. Chitrangada Singh, don't know if she does look like Smita Patil. But I do know one thing, she is one good actress. As Geeta Rao, the Uk return, Bhojpur settled struggler, she just leaves an indelible impression on your mind.
Sudhir Mishra's narrative, Shantanu Mopitra's brilliant score..Mann ye Bawra, and Bawra Mann, both surround the movie so brilliantly.

The downs:
I don't know why, but the movie set in the 1970s seemed so much bright to me. The colours and the entire setup of the movie did not seem quite 70s. Apart from that, the movie is a winner, by all means.

Last comments:
All the three protagonists seem to have understood the politics of Mishra's layered cinema, as he goes about making no bones about his contempt and cynicism for Nehruvian idealism.
This film lashes out at the Congress 'role-model' of governance almost to the point of denouncing and demolishing all that the architects of modern India dreamt of.

As a nation, where did we fail?Where did our leaders fall short? It offers no solutions, but makes you sit up and think.A lot of what you will see in "Hazaar..." will seem unreal and bizarre. But there is no exaggeration - it simply presents the politics we've been gifted with by the architects of Indian democracy