TFF – Regional Cinema – Shwaas

Shwaas – Breath (श्‍वास) – is a Marathi Movie which released in 2004. The film was India’s official entry to the 2004 Oscars and won the National Award for best film in 2004. Its storyline is based on real-life incident in Pune.

Synopsis: An old villager — Vichare (Arun Nalawade) brings his 8 year old grandson Parshuraam (Ashwin Chitale) also known as Paarsha to a doctor in Mumbai to diagnose the child’s eyes. Dr. Sane (Sandeep Kulkarni) diagnoses child as a victim of the rare retinoblastoma – a rare retinal cancer. After consulting with other colleagues in US and UK doctor finds that only way to save child’s life is to perform an operation that will leave the child blind. He cannot be operated without this knowledge as it was against ethics. The film then depicts the grandfather’s struggle to accept the reality that the only way to save his grandson is at the cost of his eyesight.