The woman sitting with the blind man gently berates him for refusing to accompany her and their friends to a Bharatanatyam recital she wanted to attend. "So you should have gone,' he tells her, his voice slightly on edge. "Not without you,' she responds. The man's sightless eyes dart agitatedly from side to side. "Dekho Kavita, main nahin chahta hoon ki tum mere liye Gandhari ban jaao,' he says tensely.

This pivotal scene in Sai Paranjpye's Sparsh encapsulates what the film did when it was released 35 years ago '" it subverted, in one stroke, every stereotype that Bollywood had built up about visually challenged people over the decades. Cinema has its classics as well as its path-breakers '" and Sparsh , though underrated on account of not getting a proper release, belongs to the latter category.

This is brilliant essay is a must read.