Synopsis:
Michelle McNally (Rani Mukherjee) is born to an Anglo-Indian family. She is a bright girl who lives in a world of her own where there is no limit for imagination. Her world has all the shades of black; she is deaf and blind. This frustrates the young girl's mind, which is yearning to communicate. This frustration leads her to be destructive.
Debraj Sahai (Amitabh Bachchan) is a teacher for the deaf and blind. The school at which he teaches asks him to leave because of his drinking and failing eyesight. The principal of the school, an old friend, believes in his ability and sends him to the McNally house to teach eight-year-old Michelle McNally (Ayesha Kapoor).
Debraj realises that Michelle is not an ordinary student. She needs someone who can understand her innermost thoughts and expressions and respond to it. Debraj understands it. How does he help her out? Will she respond to his unique method? Will Michelle find the light of her life? (taken from stargold.indya.com)
SPOILER:
The movie starts with a grown up Michelle and her sister finding Debraj sitting by their fountain outside their parents’ home. They take him to a hospital and we find out he is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Michelle is then seen typing on a Braille machine, telling her story.
Then we flashback. The first half of the film shows 8 year old Michelle being taught by Debraj. He eventually teaches her that words have meaning and her first word she understands is ‘water’.
In the second half of the movie, we see grown up Michelle going to college trying to get a degree. She fails year after year, but still tries. Debraj goes to classes with her and signs the classes in her hands.
Throughout the second half, Debraj keeps forgetting some things and you can tell something is going wrong with him.
Her sister gets engaged and during the wedding, Michelle wonders what it would be like to be kissed on the lips as her sister and her new husband did at the wedding ceremony. She waits for Debraj to return home one night and asks him to kiss her as she will probably never know what it would be like. He resists at first, but then finally kisses her. He immediately leaves and is never heard from again for some time.
Then we are caught up to the present. Michelle visits Debraj, trying to reach to him and get him to remember something.
She finally graduates from college after many years and makes a speech at the ceremony. She said she is not wearing the graduation gown because the first person to see her in it will be her teacher, Debraj.
She visits Debraj wearing the robe. Debraj looks at her in it and seems to know what is going on. He does a little dance that they used to do together. It is raining out and he goes to the window and opens it. He puts out his hand and Michelle puts her hand out also, under his. He says the word ‘water’.
The movie ends in a voiceover with Michelle writing a letter to Debraj’s old collegue. Michelle says just like her first word was water, so was Debraj’s. She is dedicated to bring him back to the light.
