Koshish (1972)

Hari is a deaf and mute newspaper vendor who meets Aarti, who is also deaf and mute, at a grocer's shop, and later rescues her from street harassers. They fall in love and marry with her mother's blessing. Aarti's unscrupulous brother Kanu exploits their deafness, and his theft one stormy night indirectly costs them their first child. With help from a blind neighbour who becomes their ears and voice, they raise a second son, while Hari works his way up from shoeshine boy to an officer's job in a printing press. Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri play the couple in a film told almost without dialogue, Gulzar's second as director. Moushumi Chatterjee was first cast as Aarti but quit after three days over Gulzar's demands, and Jaya Bhaduri replaced her. Sanjeev Kumar reportedly held a 25 per cent share of the profits, and had a pact with Gulzar to make one offbeat film a year. Dilip Kumar makes a guest appearance as himself. The film won the National Awards for Best Screenplay (Gulzar) and Best Actor (Sanjeev Kumar) in 1973, and was remade in Tamil as Uyarnthavargal (1977) with Kamal Haasan and Sujatha.