''Pestonjee'' is a 1988

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language drama film directed by

Vijaya Mehta Vijaya Mehta (born 4 November 1934), is a noted Indian Marathi film and theatre director and also an actor in many films from the Parallel Cinema. She is a founder member of Mumbai-based theatre group, Rangayan with playwright Vijay Tendulka ...

, starring

Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

and

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

, based on a story by film journalist

B. K. Karanjia Burjor Khurshedji Karanjia (21 December 1919 – 25 June 2012) was an Indian film journalist and editor. He was the editor of ''Filmfare'' for 18 years, followed by '' Screen'' which he edited for 10 years. He also remained the chairman of the Na ...

. At the

35th National Film Awards The 35th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1987. Ceremony took place in Apr ...

, it won the award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Synopsis

The film is an intimate look into the life and manners of the

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

community, especially those living in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1950s and 60s. Phiroj Shah (

) and Pestonjee (

) are close friends. They like to do everything together (and even plan to get married on the same day), even though they are very different in temperament. Phiroj is quiet, thoughtful and indecisive, while Pestonjee (Pesi) is an extrovert. Phiroj is unable to make up his mind about marrying a girl, Jeroo (

), selected for him by a matchmaker. It is Pesi who ends up marrying her. Phiroj has fallen in love with her, but does not begrudge Pesi his happiness. He decides not to marry, and moves to another city. They keep in touch by mail. Phiroj is extremely delighted to hear that Pesi and Jeroo are expecting a baby. He decides to travel to Bombay to visit them. During his visit, Phiroj learns that the married life of Pesi and Jeroo is not as he had imagined it. Phiroj is horrified to discover that Pesi has a mistress. Jeroo has had a miscarriage which Pesi later informs him, when confronted by Phiroj about his mistress, was actually an abortion due to Jeroo's fear of dying in childbirth as her mother had. He is saddened by how Jeroo has changed. She is no longer the pretty girl she was, but appears cantankerous and uncaring. Both she and Pesi are unhappy in their marriage. Phiroj resolves not to meet them, but mentally is unable to keep himself aloof. All three carry on with their unhappy lives until Pesi's sudden death. Finally, Phiroj discovers that he cannot help Jeroo. Soona ( Kiron Kher), Pesi's mistress whom Phiroj had thought of as a loose woman, ends up paying for the funeral which Phiroj repays to her as he cannot abide the thought that in even his death, Pesi's mistress has a hold on him. In the end, Phiroj realizes that life was not what he imagined it would be and it is everybody's journey in life to find and determine what their own happiness is.

Cast

as Phirojshah Pithawala *

as Pestonjee (Pissi) *

as Jeroo * Kiron Kher as Soona Mistry

Reception

Critically, the film was generally well appreciated, both for its meticulous depiction of Parsi life and for the performances by all the lead actors. Scholars Gokulsing and Dissanayake write: "... there is certainly a strain of sentimentality in the film. But it is counterbalanced by the comic observations of the director and the humour generated by the dialogue as well as the acting." Academic and activist

Ruth Vanita Ruth Vanita is an Indian academic, activist and author who specialises in British and Indian literary history with a focus on gender and sexuality studies. She also teaches and writes on Hindu philosophy. Early life and education Vanita earne ...

has a different take on the film. She sees it as an interesting attempt by a woman director to study the male psyche. She notes: "The film is about ways of seeing. Thus, though Feroze's (played by Naseerudin Shah) is the central consciousness in the film, it is named for his dearest friend Pestonjee, known as Pesi (played by Anupam Kher). This titling after the one seen rather than the one seeing suggests how the imaginative life we live, which may be the life of another, can overshadow the life that is apparently our own." On Azmi's portrayal of Jeroo, she writes: "The portrait of Jeroo, as she develops from a naive, romantic but not very intelligent girl into a cantankerous, hysterical wife (and, later, widow) is a brilliant study of a woman destroyed by the compulsions of an unsuitable marriage. The way her gift for piano playing, and ultimately even her desire to play, are eroded by the stresses of domesticity and bondage to an uncaring husband, represents a drama enacted in the lives of many women."

Awards

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi The National Film Award for Best Hindi Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kama ...

* National Film Award for Best Costume Design - Ramilla Patel and Mani Rabadi * BFJA Award for Best Indian Film (with two others) * BFJA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Anupam Kher

References

External links

* * {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Hindi 1987 films Films set in Mumbai Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s 1980s Hindi-language films Films that won the Best Costume Design National Film Award Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners Films about Zoroastrianism 1980s Indian films