Kaash   Producer: Yokahama Productions Director: Mahesh Bhatt Starring: Jackie Shroff, Dimple Kapidia, Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahill, Satish Kaushik, Mehmood and Master Makrand Music: Rajesh Roshan Lyrics: Faruq Qaiser Genre: Family Recommended Audience: General Reviewed by: Akshay Shah  - Rating: 8.5 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

Mahesh Bhatt´s Kaash is an apt depiction of emotions at its highest and finest. It rates alongside Anand, Milli and Khamoshi as one of the best tear jerking films in Indian cinema. 

A simple and effective script has been used to perfection to draw the audience into the film. A down and out film-maker Ritesh (Jackie Shroff) latest film sinks at the box office and leaves him penniless. He turns into an alcoholic and gets into frequent arguments with his wife Romi (Dimple Kapadia). The arguments start to happen on regular occasions which sometimes even result in him abusing his wife. Since Ritesh decides to stay home and drink all day, Romi must now do something so that they can support themselves. She meets Alok (Anupam Kher) and he offers her a job in his firm. Although the relationship is strictly professional, Ritesh starts having doubts and asks Romi to choose between her husband and her job and thus Romi decides she must choose her job and leaves him. 

Before this break up they have a child, who at the break up is seven years old. The child is left with Ritesh. After the break up Romi tries to initiate a meeting with their child for which Ritesh refuses. Thus begins the court case for custody. Even in court Ritesh wins the case as the kid chooses to stay with his dad. 

At this point one sees the simple reminiscent of the Hollywood film Kramer vs. Kramer, but then the film takes a drastic turn. Ritesh finds out their child has a brain tumor and only has four months to live. Ritesh decides to get his life into gear and make sure he can do all for his son as possible. He decides he will try to make him as happy as possible by fulfilling all his wishes before he passes away. Ritesh´s journey through doing this and how Romi learns about the sickness forms Kaash. 

The film is placed on a pedestal by its main leads Jackie and Dimple. Jackie as the alcoholic, frustrated and angry husband and father in the first half is perfect and in the second half as the kind and caring father is even better. His performance here is heart rending and it rates alongside Gardish and Parinda as one of his best performances. Just witness the scene where he lashes out at Dimple, the scene where he beats up the shop owner who bad mouths his wife to his son or all the scenes between him and his son. There he is simply superb. This is also one of the only films where you will see Jackie Shroff without a moustache.  Dimple Kapadia as the mother who is strong minded and determined is awesome too. Dimple has always been a actress of substance and she pulls of this role with élan and ease. She makes one teary eyed in the climax when she finds a letter written by her son after his demise and is a knockout in the scene when Alok comes to fix a marriage date with her and all she can think about is her son. It is Jackie and Dimple which make this film such a classic.

Anupam Kher as Alok is good too but one has seen him do such roles before. Master Makrand as the young child is an excellent performer and didn't overact at all. Unlike most films where the child is shown to mouth difficult dialogues (Dil Kya Kare springs to mind) and goes over board, Makrand is at delightful ease.

The film is pleasing on the technical side but is highly boosted mainly by Mahesh Bhatt´s direction. Here he is at his absolute best, ranking along the likes of Kabzaa, Sadak, Arth, Naam, Saraansh and Zakhm. It is hard to believe that this is the same director who later directed films like Chahaat or Junoon.  He is a master at emotional scenes as he has proven time and time again and extracts the best performances from his leading stars. Emotion ultimately is what makes Kaash a delight for viewing and a must see film.