Harish Rana recently became the first Indian to be allowed passive euthanasia. In light of that incident, here’s revisiting Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s throwback interview on Guzaarish, his film on euthanasia.
In the movie, Hrithik Roshan playing a quadriplegic Ethan Mascarenhas burnishes the inner glow of this pro-Euthanasia drama with a magical quality, quite literally since Roshan plays a magician in this magical movie on mercy killing.
The project was born out of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s growing sense of anguish and despair about life’s hurtful curves.
“I was going through a phase of depression when I decided to make a film about mercy killing. But I didn’t want to make dark gloomy film on death. I wanted Guzaarish to be a sunny optimistic film. Although the protagonist wants out, he wants to go with a hurrah.”
Atypically, Guzaarish ends with all of Ethan’s gathering around his bed in a group hug as he prepares to end his life. Miraculously, although Guzaarish is a film about dying, it doesn’t actually confront death headlong.
“I was determined to keep the mood buoyant. Why should dying be depressing? I was advised that if a film about death doesn’t culminate in a closure, audiences would feel let down. But that was not the case,” said Bhansali.
Guzaarish was Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s third film with Bhansali and a departure from what she had done with the director in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.
“In terms of her looks, personality and performance, Guzaarish was very different from my other two films. She was outstanding as the selfless caregiver. Not for a moment did she hesitate in surrendering to her character,” recalled SLB.
Another departure: for the first time, SLB shot on an actual location, Goa, rather than a studio. He found the experience “liberating”.
In Andy Serkis’ biopic Breathe on Robin Cavendish, who contracted polio at the age of 28 and defied doctors’ doomsday declarations by out-living all the medical prophecies, Cavendish, played by the brilliant actor Andrew Garfield, decides to end his life in a nice happy surrounding inviting his closest friends and loved ones for a farewell party on the night before he pulls the plug on his life.
A startling ode to euthanasia, this was the exact scenario constructed in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish seven years earlier where the quadriplegic hero Ethan (Hrithik Roshan) invites his close friends over for a happy send-off.
A coincidental similarity between two euthanasiac films made in two different continents and time zones?
Said Sanjay Bhansali, “I haven’t seen Breathe. But the similarities must be unintentional. I remember when I had made Guzaarish, there was plenty of hue and cry over my plea to allow the irreversibly ailing to end their lives.”
Guzaarish about a paraplegic hero (Hrithik Roshan)’s plea for death was based on someone close to the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Though he wouldn’t like to name the person, it’s someone very close to the director whom he saw going through intense suffering.
Said Bhansali, “Though I am no stranger to pain, what I saw in this person took pain and suffering to another level. I realized that there comes a point in every life when a full stop is the only solution.”
Said the filmmaker, “Because of the suffering of this friend, I began to get seriously interested in the subject of mercy killing. I began to read up as much as possible on the subject. My research showed that mercy killing was prohibited by law in many countries, including India. Almost a year of studying the sensitive subject, I concluded that every human being should have the right to die with dignity.”
That’s how Guzaarish was born.
Said the director, “The pain and suffering and the dignity with which I’ve seen someone very close to my heart bear with them, promoted me to research on the subject of mercy killing. I was shocked to read newspaper reports of people pleading to let the life of a critically ailing child/parent/spouse go.”
While researching on the subject of euthanasia, Bhansali fobbed off all temptation to watch films on the subject of mercy killing.
He said, “I didn’t want to get even remotely influenced in my thought and vision by what other filmmakers have done on the subject.”
More Pages: Guzaarish Box Office Collection , Guzaarish Movie Review
BOLLYWOOD NEWS - LIVE UPDATES
Catch us for latest Bollywood News, New Bollywood Movies update, Box office collection, New Movies Release , Bollywood News Hindi, Entertainment News, Bollywood Live News Today & Upcoming Movies 2026 and stay updated with latest hindi movies only on Bollywood Hungama.