Khamoshi

Colonel Sahab, a veteran doctor, is head of the at a hospital. Nurse Radha working the same ward is heart-broken after a civilian patient, Dev Kumar, whom she cured, left the hospital. She had been unable to keep her heart separate from her professional work and had fallen in love with that patient. Arun Choudhary, a writer and poet enters as a patient, suffering from acute mania after being rejected by his lover, Sulekha, a singer. After refusing to take care of him initially, Radha later relents. While caring for Arun, she reminisces about her past and tells a story of how she took care of injured brave army soldiers when she was posted in Ladakh during the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Gradually, Arun is cured but Nurse Radha, yet again is emotionally involved with her patient. Unable to deal with her complex feelings, Radha becomes emotionally deranged. Ironically she is admitted to the same room of the ward. Colonel Sahab regrets that he always saw a devoted nurse in her and didn’t see the woman inside her. Arun promises to wait for her recovery. Director (not to be confused with the actor-comedian ) acted in the original Bengali film (1959) in a role which was essayed by in . The movie-goers did not recognise Asit Sen in the film, because it was a dark scene marked with the baritone voice of . The director revealed this in an interview in the 1990s. After his success in the off-beat films (1966) and (1968), Sen, wanting to make it big in Bombay as well, decided to remake his Bengali hit. The lead actress of the film, Waheeda Rehman suggested the name of actor to Sen, having been impressed by his work in (1966). She said that her own performance came “nowhere near that of in the original.” She credited the director for helping her a lot during difficult scenes. Rehman said in an interview that she could not meet the standards set by in (1960) for the character. The music was composed by and lyrics were written by .