Guzaarish

Other films have confronted the ethics of euthanasia with gravity and care; Mar Adentro and The Room Next Door come to mind, both thoughtful, both humane. But none have done so with the eloquence and surprising joy of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish. This is a film about choosing death, yes, but it's more fundamentally a film about choosing how to live. Bhansali weaves the right-to-die debate into a canvas rich with magic, friendship, family, and above all, love. The result is a journey that's magnificent, touching, and never dull.

Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) was once a celebrated magician. Fourteen years ago, an accident during a performance left him quadriplegic. Now he's a radio jockey, his voice still capable of enchantment even if his body is not. He hosts Radio Zindagi, dispensing advice, music and laughter to Goa, India. But his organs are failing, and Ethan knows what's coming: permanent hospitalization, machines breathing for him, a slow erasure of whatever autonomy he has left. So he petitions the court for the right to end his life on his own terms.

Bhansali stages this story in a nearly gothic setting that adds an unexpected layer of visual intrigue. Ethan lives in a castle-like estate removed from the city, all shadowed corridors and high ceilings. The establishing interior shots are often at odd angles, shot with a wide lens that creates an almost surreal feeling, as if we've entered a fable rather than a courtroom drama. The beauty serves the story, creating a world where suffering coexists with grace, where even a man confined to a wheelchair can inhabit a space of wonder.

At the center of everything is Sofia (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), Ethan's nurse for the past twelve years. She's the one who bathes him, feeds him, moves him, keeps him alive. Their relationship is the emotional core of the film, treated with extraordinary delicacy.

What makes Guzaarish so remarkably enjoyable, despite its subject matter, is that Ethan is full...