Review: Nishabd ALL REVIEWS HERE ONLY

Movie Review: NISHABD

By Taran Adarsh, March 2, 2007 - 12:19 IST

The older man-younger woman / older woman-younger man concept isn't alien to Hindi films. Years ago, Yash Chopra's production house attempted DOOSRA AADMI [Raakhee, Rishi Kapoor]. Then, of course, there was LAMHE [Anil Kapoor, Sridevi]. A spate of films in the intervening period tackled similar themes, notable among them being LEELA [Dimple Kapadia, Amol Mhatre], TUM? [Manisha Koirala, Karan Nath], EK CHHOTI SI LOVE STORY [Manisha Koirala, Aditya Seal], JOGGERS PARK [Victor Banerjee, Perizaad Zorabian] and DIL CHAHTA HAI [Dimple Kapadia, Akshaye Khanna].

Attraction between two people is natural, despite an age difference. But the pertinent question is, Is the Indian moviegoer ready for a change? Let's face it, we're still very orthodox and conservative about certain issues. And NISHABD, Ramgopal Varma's new creation, tackles an issue which, for some unexplainable reasons, we don't wish to discuss publicly.

RGV says what he wants to without mincing words. In NISHABD, the 60-year-old man admits that he loves an 18-year-old girl. In the process, he severs ties with his wife and daughter. He wants to commit suicide subsequently, but doesn't. Conclusion: He wants to spend the remaining days of his life thinking of the tender moments he spent with the 18-year-old. Daring stuff!

So, does RGV borrow from Adrian Lyne's LOLITA [1997; Jeremy Irons, Dominique Swain, Melanie Griffith]? Not really! The only similarity is that the older man falls in love with the younger girl. LOLITA tackled, besides the aforesaid issue, pedophilia too. Thankfully, NISHABD stays away from that!

NISHABD is sensitively handled. No two opinions on that! But a film like NISHABD isn't everyone's cup of tea. It might appeal to a thin section of Indians living in metros, but for the wide majority, it's an absolute no-no. It's simply unpalatable, to put it bluntly.

Vijay [Amitabh Bachchan], a photographer, lives with his wife [Revathy] at a picturesque hill station. Their daughter Ritu [Shraddha Arya] and her friend Jiah [Jiah Khan] visit them during holidays. It isn't love at first sight for either Vijay or Jiah. But Vijay and Jiah are drawn towards each other.

However, Ritu gets to know of the affair and all hell breaks loose.

Like a majority of RGV films, NISHABD has an unconventional storyline. If the maverick film-maker needs a pat for swimming against the tide and choosing a bold subject, he also needs to know that certain subjects are taboo as far as Indian moviegoers are concerned.

Besides, the writing isn't foolproof either. Jiah is attracted to her best friend's father and falls in love with him. Her behavior is defiant and aggressive. She woos him openly, even though she's sharing the roof with the man's wife and daughter. Now that's a bit difficult to absorb. Also, Jiah walks around in the skimpiest of outfits, making you wonder what her true intentions are. Is she merely attracted to the man? Or does she need him to fulfill her physical needs?

Much later, the daughter gets to know of the clandestine relationship. How does she get an inkling of it? There should've been at least one sequence to justify it. A few sequences later, there's some realization and the man asks Jiah to leave the home. Why does he develop cold feet suddenly? If the man had the courage to take a bold step, admitting his feelings to his wife and daughter, why doesn't he stick to it?

The penultimate reels are a downer. The man cannot erase Jiah from his memory and the film ends on this note. Besides being a bold ending, it comes across as too abrupt.

RGV has tackled the theme with maturity and sensitivity. But, as mentioned earlier, it's the subject that has its limitations. Besides, the slow pacing of the film is another deterrent. The film moves at a lethargic pace in the second hour and even otherwise, after the truth is out in the open, there's not much meat in the story.

Cinematography [Amit Roy] is excellent. The lush green locales of Munnar lend the film a stunning look. Also, the camera movement is truly imaginative. Another technical aspect that deserves a special mention is the background score. It's fantastic!

Amitabh Bachchan is in top form, essaying the role with complete understanding. He emotes through eyes on several occasions, which is the hallmark of an accomplished actor. Newcomer Jiah Khan is supremely confident. Loaded with attitude and sex appeal, the newcomer carries off her part with flourish. Her scenes with Bachchan are superb!

Revathy excels yet again. Nasser is competent. Shraddha Arya is first-rate. Aftab Shivdasani [sp. app.] is adequate.

On the whole, NISHABD will meet with diverse reactions thanks to its bold theme. While a tiny section of moviegoers [elite] may appreciate the effort, the aam junta won't. At the box-office, the film caters to the multiplexes only. But not all multiplexes! A handful of multiplexes of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and South might register decent business in its opening weekend, but the film will face a tough task in several circuits. Its business at single screens will be poor!

http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12847/index.html

Masand's Verdict: Nishabd

Nishabd - Movie Review

Posted by Indicine Team on March 2nd, 2007

Nishabd tells the story of a unsual intimate relationship between a 60 year old man and a 18 year old girl.

Amitabh Bachchan (Vijay) is a wildlife photographer living with his family in a hill station. His daughters friend, Jiah (Jiah Khan) comes over to spend her holidays with the family. The lensman's artistic vision is triggered off when he sees Jiah's youthful activities and starts capturing them in his camera. But the rather harmless photosession take a unpredicatble turn when Amitabh sees Jiah playing in water all drenched up. Instantly his feelings towards her changes. He begins to love her.

This attraction of an old man and a young girl is not one-sided as Jiah too is obsessed with him and confesses her love. All hell breaks loose when his daughter sees her father romance her own friend.

Through Nishabd, Ram Gopal Verma tries to state that age has nothing to do with love. Its the body that ages and not the heart. Does he succeed? To a certain extent, he does.

Nishabd is a movie with a lot of shock value. The kiss and the confession of her love by Jiah just before the interval takes the movie to an all time high, which leaves you with great expectation from the second half. But sadly the second half doesnt quite match upto the brilliance of the first half of the movie. It looses track in the rather important second hour and ends abruptly.

RGV's choice of the subject is laudable. He handles the unsual love story with a lot of maturity. But unfortunately he fails to keep up the interest level in the second half. There are no songs in the movie but the Nishabd theme is great, while the background score is good. Cinematography (Amit Roy) is brilliant. Munnar (a hill station in Kerala) has been shot beautifully.

Being India's most respected superstar, it takes a lot of guts for Amitabh Bachchan to do a character such as this. How his fans would react to this role of his? As of now 'a mystery'. Performance wise, he emotes through the eyes and is brilliant yet again. Jiah Khan is hot, cute and acts well. A good debut. Shraddha Arya as Ritu (Amitabh's daughter in the movie) is very good. Revaty is consistent throughout. Aftab Shivdasani has nothing to contribute in a guest appearance.

To sum things up, Nishabd is a good emotional movie with an engrossing first half. The movie has a few advantages. The unusual concept and Amitabh Bachchan's presence in the film. What remains to be seen is, how the indian audience react to this odd love story.

Rating - 3.5 / 5

Nishabd is a powerful film

Raja Sen
March 02, 2007 17:50 IST

Just when you thought it was safe to brand Ram Gopal Varma into a predictable style, the filmmaker strikes back with Nishabd, a bittersweet left hook that leaves you reeling with its poignancy. He also manages to extract a phenomenal performance from The Megastar, who proves he's always, always capable of making your jaw drop. And then there's the ravishing Jiah Khan, who makes this bold, punchy film a knockout.

The film opens in the insanely green Munnar, the kind of casually breathtaking locale that gives Kerala a good shout at that Divine Country claim. Through the hazy bluegreen tint of the camera we come across the stark white spikes of Amitabh Bachchan's french beard in extreme close up, as he starts his narration -- as he, standing on the edge of a rocky precipice, tells the story of a girl that drove him to thoughts of suicide.

Amitabh plays Vijay, an introverted, no-nonsense photographer who lives in the heart of a massive tea estate with his wife Amrita (Revathy). As is evident from the walls lined with photographs taken by him, Vijay loves lowlight, cold colours and silhouettes as much as RGV. And that's not all they have in common -- they both share the inescapable craving of finding the right subject, one with enough lifeblood.

Or 'spirit.' That's the word Jiah uses, an effervescent girl with a penchant for short shorts and filled with the persistent restlessness of the young. She's 18, from Australia, and visiting her friend Ritu (Shraddha Arya) and her folks. We meet her in a precariously ripped denim skirt as she sashays in with a telltale L-O-V-E handbag and a 'that's-(only)-okay' attitude. Trying hard to sit through the saas-bahu television show, she wipes creamy finger on the couch as Revathy glares, and eventually goes in to meet the lensman, meticulously laying his cameras down to sleep.

And then comes time to wake up and smell the passion. The most atypical of RGVs films, this one smartly takes an achingly long time to get from moment to moment, with much to read between the lines, the glances -- and between Amitabh Bachchan's sighs. The film luxuriates in this leggy languor, the entire first half focussing on the inevitable spark, the undeniable chemistry, between this perfectly cast odd-couple.

It is impossible to call Amitabh Bachchan a revelation, the actor having done it all before, but this is a reinvention so masterful that you can't help but marvel. The actor is used to perfect effect by Varma, draping him in believable cardigans and realistic lighting. If the wistful moans from the women in the audience are any indicator, then Bachchan strikes the exact tone; for the girls, he's that super-cool friend of Dad's they always wanted. Sexy, very sexy.

It's also a role nobody -- repeat, nobody -- else could have played. As RGV unravels his simple narrative, you realise just how vital Amitabh is to the proceedings, equally as both the industry's legendary patriarch and its undying rockstar. The tightrope walk of the fallen hero is a difficult one, but Bachchan, armed with that baritone and a role which lets him play with silences, is superb as he not just strikes the balance, but creates a tragic protagonist we sympathise with, constantly.

Also apropos is Jiah. 'J' to friends, this one's a drop dead stunner, a delicious nymphette who knows just how appealing she is. Jiah starts off almost manipulative -- she dangles her ebullience in front of Vijay and almost tauntingly asks if he loves her spirit -- but grows to show shades of half-naivete, half-scorn. It's a believable character, and her accent fits right in. It's a nuanced, impressive acting job as she flits from moody jumpiness to assured devil-may-care, from teasing to tormented.

And did I mention the legs?

The first half of the film is brilliant, showcasing amazing performances. Outside of the lead couple, Revathy is reliably solid -- even while having to struggle with some too-obvious lines -- but Arya overplays her bratty daughter card to annoying proportions. As is the norm with Ramu in offbeat mode (Naach, Kaun) the film is exquisitely framed and very well shot (there is a wonderfully twisty long take as Bachchan stands outside the house) -- but this one goes a step better. It's nicely, lazily edited, it's slow pace a great temperamental accompaniment to Vijay's heartbreaking fall from grace.

Yet while The Fall is painfully powerful, the rest doesn't quite gel. Things fall together in a slightly slipshod manner in Vijay's world post-Interval, and the dissolution could certainly have been more emphatic. Things come together -- or drift apart, depending on which side of the fence you're on -- with an abruptness uncharacteristic to the first half.

There is arguably no way to cleanly end a tale of such doomed, ridiculous love, but the hurry of the second half undoes a lot of the first section's greatness. By the way, this film is a demonstrable argument against the need for an Intermission at all. Still, the film ends with a decidedly unfinished feeling.

Overall, Nishabd is a powerful film -- more than you might initially think. It humanises a strong, scandalous subject and succeeds in making it alarmingly commonplace, extremely possible. The two lead characters are very well fleshed out and acted, and by the time the film ends, if you feel anger at the filmmaker for showing preference toward a protagonist or at not tying it all up more conventionally, that is a debatable triumph; you love the characters more than the story.

And as for all those of you who've parroting the name of Vladimir Nabakov's masterpiece, here's the real scoop: the only thing borrowed from Lolita (that too just the poster of the Stanley Kubrick version, to be honest) is the lollipop.

Ram Gopal Varma has done it again. He's surprised us with a touching, deep and visibly personal effort, and if you were waiting with brickbats in hand, sorry. This one works.

Rating:3.5/5

By Martin D'Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network

Big wind, loud thunder, no rain. This aptly describes Ram Gopal Varma's attempt to portray a seductive Lolita on Indian screen. After all the hype, the real thing – coke without fizz.

SO WHAT WENT WRONG? LET'S ANALYSE THIS…

The director takes on a bold subject and fails to go all the way. He borders on teeny-bopper love even with Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), shown as a successful 60-year-old father.

For the audience to digest the fact that an 18-year-old Jiah (newcomer Jiah Khan) is enticing him and he just plays along like a poodle is unpalatable. In fact, if it was Lust instead of Love, it would have been more real. C'mon Ramu, how many people that age will want to fall in love all over again after they have found the love of their life!

She's out to seduce him from scene one and there's no respect shown, given the fact that the man is father of her friend. Jiah treats Vijay like her classmate and he plays along. No self-respecting man would do that.

The director does not bother to build up the comfort level between Jiah and Vijay to a certain level where the audience can accept the way she speaks with him. Either she's nuts, or he (Vijay) is nuttier for allowing his daughter's friend to treat him like a weirdo.

The plot does not move beyond a nudge. Their romance is no romance. It's a just a childish fantasy.

The "shut up" scene where they almost have an accident is handled very amateurishly. How can Vijay allow a chit of a girl to talk to him like that? When his daughter raises her voice to talk to him, (after she finds out what her friend and dad are up to) he shuts her up in front of Jiah…

"Do you love me?" Jiah asks before the interval. After a long pause Vijay says "Yes" and the camera moves in on Revathi's (playing Amitabh's wife) picture hanging on the wall reminding one of the serial Hum Paanch where Priya Tendulkar's framed picture was a constant zoom-in.

Film Review: Nishabd By Sanjay Ram

1 March 2007, 10:30 PM

Film: Nishabd

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Nasser

Rating: 3/5

Before you jump onto the wagon and begin comparing it to a million other Bollywood films like Joggers Park, Ek Choti Si Love Story, Dil Chata Hai, Lolita et all; let me tell you it is nothing remotely like any of them.

Nishabd is the story of a sixty year old photographer, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) who ends up falling deeply in love with Jiah (Jiah Khan); a friend of his daughter, who is down to spend the vacation with her family.

The fall begins with Vijay's fascination for Jiah's carefree attitude. Soon he realizes that it is far more than attraction, this when she starts getting involved with his work and takes an interest in learning photography from him. One thing leads to another and soon an untroubled Jiah confesses her love to him, awaiting a response, it is a yes that she gets.

The film in futility does not analyze the intensity of love between the two, instead analyses the complexity of the relationship and repercussion it has on Vijay's family life. It is when Ritu (Shraddha Arya) eavesdrops on the conversation between her beloved father and her best friend Jiah that she realizes what is cooking between the two of them. Soon his wife is made aware of this, reacting in the much obvious fashion. An estranged father and a troubled lover is made to forfeit his love; resulting in too many unhappy people.

What is incredible in this film is that unlike the typical movies that are churned out week after week, Nishabd takes a bold step in showcasing the existence and possibility of this sort of a relationship. No time is wasted in scrutinizing if what is happening is moral or immoral; it simply flows as a film without making you question anything that is seen.

Instead of stereotypical portrayal of sensuality through provocative dialogues, the sensuality is brought through the attitude and the costumes worn by Jiah Khan, which is certainly different and hasn't been seen before.

Dialogues could have been worked on to make the situation more hard hitting. Nonetheless, the insanely awesome camera work and editing made up for it. The wonderful dolly and Milo shots are perhaps Ram Gopal Verma's trademarks and boy does he take it to a new level!

In a particular scene the camera travels from atop the house, moving down to where Jiah is standing, and then goes back trailing Revathi (amazing camera work). There are times you feel that some shots weren't framed well, but looking back at, one realizes that that was the best way to provide it the much needed impact.

It does not take a genius to figure out that like many other directors, the background score is of great importance to Ram Gopal Varma as well. The score in Nishabd is brilliant and the build up of the background score makes you anticipate the scene that will follow.

The acting is flawless; the array of emotions Bachchan manages to deliver through his eyes is praiseworthy. Jiah Khan, who is a natural, can safely be termed as the next big thing to hit the film industry, provided she is given a good amount of films and great performance oriented roles. With Revathi, one doesn't even dare comment as she carries a legacy of great films and breathtaking performances.

The editing in all of Verma's films is yet another area that distinguishes the riff raffs from an RGV. It is sharp, managing to tell the story in just the right amount of time. The production values are simply outstanding.

The problem with this film lies in its distinctive subject, which will not go too well with the audiences. This movie can be expected to do average business across India. One can expect it to go down well in the overseas market and a few urban cities in India. Multiplexes will be where this movie will be seen running for a stipulated period of time.

Nishabd is a film that everyone must watch with an open mind and a free spirit. Void of stereotypical dialogues and acting, it is a film that dares to be different and is an accolade to Indian cinema, more than being one to Ram Gopal Varma.

www.businessofcinema.com

Wet a way to go

Khalid Mohamed
Mumbai, March 2, 2007

Nishabd

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah Khan
Direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Rating: **1/2

Get this: he looks at her and drools, his eyes like lust pools. So, is he just about to commit one of those ek hi bhools?

Unless, you've been in the Himalayas or the Hebrides during the last few months, you know Ram Gopal Varma ke Nishabd is about a girl in a laundry-fresh white shirt who licks a lollipop right in front of a man old enough to be her grandpop. O dada re dada.

Bold? Quite, especially if you are still nave enough to believe that such sexual distractions are not in consonance with Indian values. Mr Varma wants to spin a yarn about how age has nothing to do with it..so go on, director sir, let's hear you out..but er..rightaway since practically everyone in your movie yaks their heads off, why call it Nishabd?

Tsk, never mind. To put it plainly this generation gap rap is a mixed blessing. Thematically, the plot's fairly progressive and for starters, as riveting as a beer-bikini calendar. You're hooked: a leg-flaunting Lolita ki grand-daughter is out there in picturesque Munnar, seducing a still photographer who clix pix of mountain tops and probably has them published in the Pahadi Geographic.

She's the lovely-'n'-leggy Jiah (Ditto Khan); he's India's very own Vijay Cartier-Bresson (Amitabh Bachchan). Cool, she's infatuated and it's all because of her parents who divorced. Uh huh. So obviously she desires a father figure in every man she encounters, except of course a chipko louse (Aftab Shivdasani in a special disappearance) whom she treats like Mickey Mouse.

So far, so daring, so sensitive. Our Cartier- Bresson sir singing, laughing uncontrollably and finding that he's hopelessly in love, is entirely plausible. But hello, then all the tea bushes in the vicinity quiver with fright. Such is the consequence of one illicit night -- or was it just a peck on the lips? Next: the kitchen-bound wife (Revathy, not convincing) and enraged daughter (Shraddha Vyas, passable) break into tears exhausting India's entire stock of glycerine drops.

As much as the first-half of this 12-reeler is engaging, the latter section is a sob opera that defies logic. Mr Old cries copiously too. However, shockingly his brother-in-law (Nasser) is quite pleased about the family crisis, indicating that he had probably committed a thousand such indiscretions. Also, why such clichd touches like a pressure cooker firing steam at a tension-fraught moment. Ooof.

The bids at pop psychology (camera pans to a poster saying Daddy) and those seismic eruptions of guilt, while a manic flute blasts the soundtrack, eventually make the daring-do pointless. There are more shades of American Beauty here than Lolita.

Amit Roy's cinematography is marvellous, the production design and the Varmaesque dips into hand-held and Steadicam shots are striking.The trouble is that he gives you an adult story that finally doesn't have the courage to stand by its convictions.

Of the cast, Amitabh Bachchan is in top form, so poised that he dignifies a somewhat schizophrenically written character. Often, he cements the crumbling script. As for newcomer Jiah Khan, she is sensational, far more assured than the heroines who're fidgeting around even after years of experience. She goes for the difficult and often taunting part, no-inhibitions-barred. Silver lining: a star is born is at least. Take a walk right now, Mallika Sherawatji.

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1943008,00110003.htm

All sound, camera; no action!

Film : Nishabd
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Actors : Amitabh Bachchan, Jia Khan
Mirror Rating : **

Love or its human object may be too complex an element to decipher or discuss in a few words. Enough philosophers, past and present, have philosophized; poets romanticized; as they will. The mystery of human attraction remains just that. Lust as a baser impulse to sexual pleasure appears easier to understand. Or curb, as the case may be.

A common awareness of mutual, adult-love is probably one of two individuals casually enjoying each other's company, necessarily with few things in common, willing then to share pieces of their temporary lives. Sex is at best a minor by-product of this relation. It could occur between any two people, and I should think, at any time in their lives.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita probably rocked the boat because it offered literary gravitas to pedophilia. Not that Nabakov denied the sheer brutality of his protagonist: a middle-aged professor, later a murderer, who marries to seduce a 14-year-old step-daughter; a relationship that social contract will rightly never allow. Moralists felt he provided an incitement, at any rate, an outlet or overt expression to perversion.

The novel is considered the finest of 20th Century; made twice into a film: once as a cruel tragicomedy (Stanley Kubrick, 1962), and lately as more a take on unfathomable love (Adrian Lyne, 1997).

Varma's entirely original version is closer to the latter film. At least I'm certain he's viewed the copy where Jeremy Irons plays Humbert Humbert.

The young, 18-year-old Jia (Khan; pesky as per the role) is the lollipop Lolita of a sexually precocious nymphet's brown skin, and perhaps musky, tomboyish odour. Varma's gaze, I am not surprised, is obsessed with her posterior. Her restless, unstable life, shorn of parental care, very partly explains an unnatural lust for a stable, older man.

Bachchan, as it turns out, isn't quite Humbert Humbert. Therein lies a problem.

Humbert had a messy childhood history. Even Lester Burnham (American Beauty), who strayed but for a bit, was visibly a depressed father in mid-life crisis.

Bachchan's Vijay isn't an angry young man turned into a dirty old pig. We're at his bungalow on lush green hills: immaculately photographed, but mostly for its own worth.

He is just another 60-year-old, neither overtly nave or immature, nor impulsive or uncaring; leading what seems a regular, retired married life. The incredibly 'normal' family (on this threadbare three-character flick) seems unbearably patient with a rude, erratic girl, always in various states of school undress. She is a friend of their daughter's.

The camera-work, high on unnecessary effect, and sounds of wind chimes and gongs strictly portend an event or action; more in line with the horror genre. Nothing happens really. The conversations between protagonists aren't revelatory. Even the intended lyricism, if you look out for one, seems rather manufactured.

We're just meant to learn that Vijay accedes to quick advances from a girl he would rather reserve grand-parental affections for. And that this is an inestimable, rich emotional bond; not a fatal attraction or a momentary lapse of reason. In confusion between love and lust, the odd guffaws in the theatre will tell you, we're then left with a film that's about neither.

She is 18. He is 60. You've seen the poster; you've pretty much seen the picture. That you stay up until the end is possibly the only reason Varma should consider this a valuable addition to his filmography.

The reason is Bachchan alone: his rich baritone and a sincere, lost, helpless stares. It almost seems he's forced himself a back-story where none exist for his audience. Especially in the scene where he extols the consciousness of an old man who is physically closer to death, but mentally as close to life of the youth he envies.

It's an interesting one-line idea that you wished was at least explored further.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&se ctid=30&contentid=200703030425554688b0b1d24

Review - Nishabd

Nishabd is a powerful film Raja Sen

A still from Nishabd March 02, 2007 17:50 IST Just when you thought it was safe to brand Ram Gopal Varma into a predictable style, the filmmaker strikes back with Nishabd, a bittersweet left hook that leaves you reeling with its poignancy. He also manages to extract a phenomenal performance from The Megastar, who proves he's always, always capable of making your jaw drop. And then there's the ravishing Jiah Khan, who makes this bold, punchy film a knockout. The film opens in the insanely green Munnar, the kind of casually breathtaking locale that gives Kerala a good shout at that Divine Country claim. Through the hazy bluegreen tint of the camera we come across the stark white spikes of Amitabh Bachchan's french beard in extreme close up, as he starts his narration -- as he, standing on the edge of a rocky precipice, tells the story of a girl that drove him to thoughts of suicide. Amitabh plays Vijay, an introverted, no-nonsense photographer who lives in the heart of a massive tea estate with his wife Amrita (Revathy). As is evident from the walls lined with photographs taken by him, Vijay loves lowlight, cold colours and silhouettes as much as RGV. And that's not all they have in common -- they both share the inescapable craving of finding the right subject, one with enough lifeblood. Or 'spirit.' That's the word Jiah uses, an effervescent girl with a penchant for short shorts and filled with the persistent restlessness of the young. She's 18, from Australia, and visiting her friend Ritu (Shraddha Arya) and her folks. We meet her in a precariously ripped denim skirt as she sashays in with a telltale L-O-V-E handbag and a 'that's-(only)-okay' attitude. Trying hard to sit through the saas-bahu television show, she wipes creamy finger on the couch as Revathy glares, and eventually goes in to meet the lensman, meticulously laying his cameras down to sleep. And then comes time to wake up and smell the passion. The most atypical of RGVs films, this one smartly takes an achingly long time to get from moment to moment, with much to read between the lines, the glances -- and between Amitabh Bachchan's sighs. The film luxuriates in this leggy languor, the entire first half focussing on the inevitable spark, the undeniable chemistry, between this perfectly cast odd-couple. It is impossible to call Amitabh Bachchan a revelation, the actor having done it all before, but this is a reinvention so masterful that you can't help but marvel. The actor is used to perfect effect by Varma, draping him in believable cardigans and realistic lighting. If the wistful moans from the women in the audience are any indicator, then Bachchan strikes the exact tone; for the girls, he's that super-cool friend of Dad's they always wanted. Sexy, very sexy. It's also a role nobody -- repeat, nobody -- else could have played. As RGV unravels his simple narrative, you realise just how vital Amitabh is to the proceedings, equally as both the industry's legendary patriarch and its undying rockstar. The tightrope walk of the fallen hero is a difficult one, but Bachchan, armed with that baritone and a role which lets him play with silences, is superb as he not just strikes the balance, but creates a tragic protagonist we sympathise with, constantly. Also apropos is Jiah. 'J' to friends, this one's a drop dead stunner, a delicious nymphette who knows just how appealing she is. Jiah starts off almost manipulative -- she dangles her ebullience in front of Vijay and almost tauntingly asks if he loves her spirit -- but grows to show shades of half-naivete, half-scorn. It's a believable character, and her accent fits right in. It's a nuanced, impressive acting job as she flits from moody jumpiness to assured devil-may-care, from teasing to tormented. And did I mention the legs? The first half of the film is brilliant, showcasing amazing performances. Outside of the lead couple, Revathy is reliably solid -- even while having to struggle with some too-obvious lines -- but Arya overplays her bratty daughter card to annoying proportions. As is the norm with Ramu in offbeat mode (Naach, Kaun) the film is exquisitely framed and very well shot (there is a wonderfully twisty long take as Bachchan stands outside the house) -- but this one goes a step better. It's nicely, lazily edited, it's slow pace a great temperamental accompaniment to Vijay's heartbreaking fall from grace. Yet while The Fall is painfully powerful, the rest doesn't quite gel. Things fall together in a slightly slipshod manner in Vijay's world post-Interval, and the dissolution could certainly have been more emphatic. Things come together -- or drift apart, depending on which side of the fence you're on -- with an abruptness uncharacteristic to the first half. There is arguably no way to cleanly end a tale of such doomed, ridiculous love, but the hurry of the second half undoes a lot of the first section's greatness. By the way, this film is a demonstrable argument against the need for an Intermission at all. Still, the film ends with a decidedly unfinished feeling. Overall, Nishabd is a powerful film -- more than you might initially think. It humanises a strong, scandalous subject and succeeds in making it alarmingly commonplace, extremely possible. The two lead characters are very well fleshed out and acted, and by the time the film ends, if you feel anger at the filmmaker for showing preference toward a protagonist or at not tying it all up more conventionally, that is a debatable triumph; you love the characters more than the story. And as for all those of you who've parroting the name of Vladimir Nabakov's masterpiece, here's the real scoop: the only thing borrowed from Lolita (that too just the poster of the Stanley Kubrick version, to be honest) is the lollipop. Ram Gopal Varma has done it again. He's surprised us with a touching, deep and visibly personal effort, and if you were waiting with brickbats in hand, sorry. This one works. Rediff Rating: