More like a twisted soap opera than "Lolita!" . Review on Nishabd

DIRECTOR-Ram Gopal Verma

CAST-Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Nasser.

I really wanted to like this movie. I thought it was unfair to shoot this movie down before it even aired just because it was based on what some people feel is a "controversial" subject. After all, what is really wrong with a 60 year old man being attracted to a nubile 18 year old girl? What is so odd about a 18 year old being drawn to an attractive older man? Nothing is wrong unless their "attraction" is accompanied by a funereal background score, by melodramaticsto make even the most over the top saas-bahu serial look tame, and by an attempt to make their believable attraction into a most unbelievable/untenable love story.By the way, if this movie isnt "Lolita", it isnt "Poison Ivy" either!

Here in brief is the PLOT- Vijay (Amitabh),a photographer by passion, lives on a beautiful tea estate with his practical, old wife Amrita (Revathi). His daughter comes to visit and brings her wierd but attractive friend Jiah (Jiah Khan) with her. Jiah comes from a broken home and has never seen her father, has a twisted sense of humour, and isnt shy about flaunting her youth and beauty. Out of sheer boredom, she tries to befriend Vijay. Circumstances throw them together, and before you know it they are drawn to each other...Vijay to the promise of youth and joy that Jiah brings to his life, and Jiah to the security and stability that an older man like Vijay brings to her life

So far so good...except suddenly, the couple decides to declare their love for each other, and then tell everyone around them! That is when the movie turns into a soap opera of the worst order, with everyone screaming and crying, and a thunderous background score that gives everyone(including the characters I'm sure) a crashing headache.

I'm not going to give more away of the plot, except to say that it doesnt end very happily...not that you ever expected it would!

MY TAKE-

Ram Gopal Verma said in a recent interview, "There is no such thing as a bad actor/director. There is only a badly directed/acted MOVIE" You said it RGV.....you are not a bad director, and neither are your actors bad, but "Nishabd" is a badly directed movie.

Cannot fault Mr. Bachchan or even Jiah Khan in the movie. Mr. Bachchan WAS Vijay, the attractive 60 year old man, vulnerable in his old age, frantically trying to hold onto whatever little youth, joy remains in his life. Jiah Khan is attractive and provocative enough to play her part convincingly. But in order for their unconventional love story to work, their interactions together had to be backed by a great script and dialogues....that just wasnt there. While you could believe they'd be attracted to each other (her looking for a father figure, him looking for his lost youth), it was impossible to believe that they'd fall in love.

And then there was the constant annoyance of the heavy background music. I'm not exaggerating, but the background score (composed by Amar Mohile) playing throughout the movie, sounded like a combination of a horror movie and a tv soap opera...HORRIBLE. I was waiting for the beautiful "Rosana" song composed by Vishal Bharadwaj, but that never played in the movie, except in terrible instrumental form. The cinematography was dark throughout...sort of fake like in the movie "Black" .

Overall, an unnecessarily dark and depressing film. Coming back to the whole debate over the "controversial" theme, in my opinion, there is nothing shameful or wrong with youth and experience being drawn to each other....but the way it was portrayed in "Nishabd" made it seem VERY WRONG.