What is a movie? Or for that matter what is art? Definitions from
dictionaries aside, I strongly feel, that art, and hence a movie
which is but an extension of art, is one’s perception of an idea. An
idea could take any shape but is given a shape by the creator of a
movie.
Watching the promos of the movie before its release, I was not sure
of its contents. Well no one is but I just did not know if the movie
was on the voyeuristic side of the human emotions(Sex is an emotion
too, isn’t it?) or if it was about the emotional complexities
involved in an extra marital affair. The trailers conveyed the idea
of a physical attraction between the two subjects which I did not
want to see.
I had watched the movie briefly for half an hour on Friday which did
not help matters. In the first half an hour that I watched before
leaving the theatre for personal reasons, the movie was full of
intelligent conversations, realistic themes and settings and superbly
crafted. Today while watching the movie, specially picking up where I
had left it earlier I realized I was getting involved in the movie. I
was nervous. I was not sure how the theme is going to unfold.
Interval time was the time when I first observed the crowd and it
took most of us a few seconds to get up and buy the colas and the
popcorns. The movie had an impact. Post interval things only got
better.
It is really not possible for me to review a movie like Nishabd, at
least not without giving spoilers and filling 3-4 pages.
So here it goes.
The movie starts with Amitabh standing on the top of a cliff,
attempting suicide. And then the movie goes in flashback. It starts
with his daughter’s friend joining them for a vacation. The
conversation when Amitabh is cleaning his camera body between Jiah
and Amitabh is intelligent. The girl is shown wearing really, really
short shorts most of the time during this part of the movie which is
okay. Quite a few Russians I knew in India in my school wore even
less. And only tonight sitting in a restaurant in Pune, eating
Biryani, I had the pleasure of watching a lady in even less clothes.
She is drawn towards his intelligence. Some "11 thousand odd" times
more intelligent than the "Saas Bahu" serial that the wife and
daughter of Amitabh were watching as Jiah puts it in perspective. She
was attracted towards his intelligence, the fact that he was not
interested in her legs and that he had his own strong opinion about
things. This is what I mean by art. An 18 year old girl raised in
western culture can fall in love or get attracted to an older man for
no reason at all. Here there was a genuine reason. Art, and hence
movie, as I said earlier, is one’s shape of an idea.
And then one day she confesses to him her love, not in a secret way
but in the house, both of them not realizing that they could be
watched. For those who did not understand how the daughter comes to
know about it, I will give it to Ramu’s excellent direction. Just
before the confession, Amitabh goes to his room and crosses the
servant. When Jiah comes to his room, the servant is shown going
back. This was a hint that they are not alone and could be watched.
And during the confession, the camera is shown taken back, out of the
door, twice.
Then Amitabh’s brother-in-law visits them and is told about him and
Jiah by the daughter. He confronts Amitabh as a friend and sensibly
too. His questions to him are very sensible. They are practical and
realistic. And immediately Amitabh realizes that despite his strong
feelings, there might really be no future for them. But more
importantly he realizes that this might just be an attraction for
Jiah and nothing more. He ask Jiah to leave and also witnesses his
family grow apart.
Does he commit suicide? No but in his own words he wants to live with
memories of Jiah for some more time.
Jiah is the real find of the movie. She can act for sure. And she was
effective in her role, never giving the impression that she was
acting in her first movie, against Amitabh. And then she plays chess!
Boy I am in trouble!
Revathy has always been one of my favorite actress. Her confrontation
and restrained anger are so well done.
Nasser is also one of very good actors and he does justice.
Amitabh. God what do I talk about him now? Watch his face, eyes, and
NOSTRILS during confession time and when Jiah has left. Boy he falls
in love at 64 and it shows. It’s not lust, it’s not attraction. It is
pure, unadulterated love. I mean, isn’t there a range of emotions
that one tends to leave behind as one ages? Don’t we all forget about
our childish fits as we grow up? Don’t we all graduate out of
infatuation? By the same logic I thought that there comes a time when
adults grow out on love as in love for a companion and not grand
kids. He is simply brilliant in the confession scene, the laughter he
breaks into and then the cold "ok good night" and then again
laughter, his expressions when he sees Jiah leaving, his conversation
with his brother-in-law. This movie would have fallen flat without
him. It’s as if there is only one book which reveals all the deep
secrets of acting in the whole world and Amitabh has the sole right
on the book. Where does he come up with all those nuances of acting,
after so many years?
There was a time in the late seventies and early eighties when he
worked with mediocre directors and mediocre scripts and made them hit
by his sheer ability as an actor. That was his golden phase. Move
over it. This is his platinum phase. He is working with better
directors and better scripts and is giving us performances as we have
never seen before.
Amitabh, in the seventies had given a freshness to the Hindi Cinema,
perhaps even Indian cinema with his different roles which went
against the typeset roles of Rajesh Khanna and other actors busy with
melodramatic romance. His baton was picked up by Aamir Khan in the
late ninties and now the baton is shared by both Aamir and Amitabh.
Perhaps more by Amitabh. Delicious change this. Which better actor to
bring about a good change in the way the movies are made?
But yet one person scores over everyone else in this movie and that
is the director of the movie. Ramu is simply brilliant and absolutely
aware of what he wants. Everything is well thought out and falls in
place. There was no other ending that can be justified more than this
one. And even if there were, art, movie … remember?
One downside of coming to Pune is that it has a very young crowd and
so their reaction does not reflect the reaction of the country.
Because on the eve of Holi and first show in the morning, the theatre
was 80% full.
This movie might not succeed commercially but really right now I
doubt that. The word of mouth should work for it. It is a family
movie with strong script and a realistic climax.
I have not mentioned the cinematography and the background score but
it is only because they mixed with the other parts of the movie so
well that they formed a well defined entity. I really feel this movie
will go on to become at least an average hit.
Go watch it.