Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; April 21, 2025)
“Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi precedes me whenever I walk into a room. First, Hazaaron walks in, then I,” says the film’s director Sudhir Mishra. Even two decades after its release in 2005, the film, starring Shiney Ahuja, Chitrangda Singh and Kay Kay Menon, is regarded as one of the finest political dramas of Hindi cinema, and Mishra believes, “There are many films – but none like Hazaaron. Even I haven’t made another film like it.”
As the film clocks 20 years, Mishra offers a glimpse into the ideas that shaped the movie.
‘THE FILM IS A LAMENT FOR A LOST GENERATION’
For Mishra, the period of Emergency shown in the film is used as metaphor. “It’s about a generation that rejected the version of India that was handed down to them,” he says, adding, “Perhaps it was the last generation that truly rebelled – for whom life wasn’t all about loving your parents. Life was also about holding the hand of someone who wasn’t yours, but was less fortunate. It was about recognizing that this world isn’t the best of all possible worlds. I think all of that was communicated through the film. It’s also a requiem, a lament for a lost generation. It’s a lament, too, for an India that could have been, and wasn’t.”
‘HAZAARON… LAUNCHED MANY CAREERS’
Mishra calls the film an accident. “Everything that could go wrong in a film went wrong. But strangely, every problem led to a solution that turned out better than the original,” he says.
Citing examples he says, “For example, I had cast someone (as female lead), but it didn’t work out due to certain issues – then I found Chitrangda, and she turned out to be a better choice. The same thing happened with Shiney (Ahuja). Even Swanand Kirkire – he was right behind me, assisting on the project. This film ended up launching many careers.”
‘I’ve lost count of how many young people have seen the film’
Mishra recalls Shekhar Kapur’s reaction to the film’s first screening. “He said, ‘Who will see this? The young don’t know anything about anything.’ But now, I’ve lost count of how many young people have told me they’ve seen it,” Mishra says, adding, “My whole reputation with the younger generation is built on Hazaaron.”
‘First title was Twist With Destiny’
Talking about the title of the film, Mishra says, “Like tryst with destiny, the film was initially titled Twist With Destiny. It was a play on Nehru’s Tryst With Destiny speech. But Pritish said, ‘Hindustani film nahi lagegi.’ And I thought he was right, so we dropped it. I was going to use the song Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi anyway, so we went with that as the title.”
Baawra Mann changed my life: Swanand Kirkire
Swanand Kirkire, who was the chief assistant director on the film, sang one of the most popular tracks of the film – Baawra Mann. Recalling how he ended up singing it, Kirkire shares, “Baawra Mann was written 3–4 years before Hazaaron… I never thought it would become a song for a film and would live on. I never used to sing it for anybody, but on that set, I sang it for Kay Kay, Sudhir, and everybody. It clicked with them, and Sudhir asked me, ‘Yeh kiske liye likha hai? Yeh film mein le sakte hain kya?’ Then Shantanu Moitra polished it, and it became a part of the film. It changed my life. I never wanted to become a singer. But Sudhir said, ‘Tu hi gayega.’”
How Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi came to be
Mishra was working on a different film when the story for Hazaaron… came along. “I was sitting with my friend and cowriter, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam. Various things were happening, and in one of the stories, Vikram appeared (played by Shiney). And we thought, what if we tell the story of our generation, or of those who wanted to rebel, through the eyes of a guy who didn’t want to rebel – the fixer. And if we humanise that fixer, make him more than just a type… then we could tell our story through the eyes of someone who hated the rebels, and yet was one of them. That’s what completes the picture of India. So, when Vikram (Shiney’s character) came into the story, the film came together,” he recalls.