The couplet by Ghalib from which the film gets its title forms the underpinning of this film, for it’s a film about the thousand aspirations of its three main characters, who in the process of pursuing their individual dreams fail to see what they have and be content with it. It’s a concept that Somerset Maugham so wonderfully explored in The Moon and Sixpence, where the title refers to the human instinct to chase after the reflection of the moon in a bucket of water rather than the sixpence that lies at the bottom of it.

The love quadrangle between Vikram, Geeta, Siddharth and Geeta’s IAS husband, later to become estranged, is simply symptomatic of this restless pursuit. The characters are all more in love with the idea that the object of their love represents than the object itself. This is best exemplified by Siddharth, a student leader in college who is more in love with the ideal of bringing about social revolution than the people this revolution is supposed to sweep up in its wake. As he becomes increasingly involved in subversive activities, the activities themselves become more important than the goal, and he ends up being a rather self-centered character, who is not only unable to sustain his relationship with Geeta and their out-of-wedlock son, but also thoughtlessly abandons Vikram at a very critical juncture.

Geeta, too, is restless, pursuing Siddharth, then marrying an IAS officer, then pursuing Siddharth once again, then adopting his struggles as her own, until Siddharth’s abandonment of Vikram irrevocably changes the latter’s life and hers.

Of all the characters, it is Vikram who’s the most steadfast. He was in love with Geeta right from their days in college together, and despite his life having meandered in a direction opposite to the ideals he shared with Geeta and Siddharth, his love for Geeta remains constant. Throughout the film he pursues her and valiantly attempts to prove himself to her, and in the end in an attempt to save Siddharth, he becomes the sacrificial lamb, although his sacrifice is more due to things having gone horribly wrong than a deliberate Sidney Carton act.

The film does a rather good job of exploring the complexities of the relationship between these characters. But the early part of the film, when these characters are introduced, is a little muddled. It is reminiscent of the deliberately obscure art films, which often passed off poor narrative, acting and editing techniques not only as a virtue, but as high art, aping the avant garde movement of French cinema rather superficially without absorbing its intent to depict the complexities of the postmodern world. Thus the early scenes of the film lack fluency, something that is never completely achieved throughout the film, but vastly improves as the film progresses.

The film also brings to the fore questions about social justice or the lack of it in rural Bihar in stark scenes that are at once both disconcerting and illuminating. But despite the politics and the eventual violence, it is a film about personal relationships, angst and the pursuit of happiness.

Despite the increasing number of Indian films that are bold enough to attempt new themes and new narrative structures, very few are truly different. While Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi is not revolutionary in any way, it does succeed in being quite different and quite refreshing. And while it is a good film, and in parts quite remarkable, the fact that it is being hailed by a lot of critics as pathbreaking speaks more to the paucity of good cinema in India than to any inherently exceptional qualities of the film. We need more films like this one, and more films that are even better. In the meantime, this film has raised the bar a notch or two for others to follow suit.

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