Saaransh (English: The Gist ) is a 1984 Indian Hindi drama film directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Anupam Kher, Rohini Hattangadi, Madan Jain, Nilu Phule, Suhas Bhalekar and Soni Razdan. It is about an elderly Maharashtrian couple living in Mumbai who come to terms with the loss of their only son. This was the screen debut of Anupam Kher. The film had music by Ajit Verman and lyrics by Vasant Dev. It was produced and distributed by Rajshri Productions. It was chosen as India's official entry for the 1985 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was not nominated. Plot The movie begins with B.V. Pradhan (Anupam Kher) waking up early in the morning to write a letter to his son, Ajay, who lives in New York. Midway through the letter, Pradhan remembers the tragic reality: Pradhan received a call from a friend of Ajay's that Ajay has been killed in a mugging in New York. Pradhan's best friend, Vishwanath, and Pradhan's wife, Parvati (Rohini Hattangadi) are both worried that even though it's been 3 months, Pradhan has yet to fully come to terms with the loss of his only son. Pradhan confesses to Vishwanath that after the loss of his son, he no longer has any will left to live. Due to the death of their son, Pradhan has no source of income, so they rent out a room of their Shivaji Park (Mumbai) apartment to a budding Bollywood actress, Sujata Suman (Soni Razdan). Sujata is romantically involved with Vilas (Madan Jain), the only son of an influential politician Gajanan Chitre (Nilu Phule). Vilas wishes to marry Sujata, but he does not tell his father about Sujata out of cowardice and keeps on postponing their marriage plans. Meanwhile, Pradhan receives a registered letter that his son's ashes and a few other belongings (a TV, VCR, a refrigerator etc.) have arrived from USA to India. When Pradhan goes to the customs office to collect them, he is disrespected and gets no help from the Public Relations Officer. An emotionally disturbed and enraged Pradhan forcibly enters the office of the main head of the customs department and explains that he has come only to pick up his son's ashes and not any other material possessions. Pradhan demands that his son's ashes be handed to him immediately and breaks down to tears, upon which the officer consoles Pradhan and relents to