How Big B shines in adult film abou love

Nishabd :

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Throughout his career, maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma has pushed the envelope by challenging audiences with daring subjects.

Now he has changed tack and come up with something even more audacious: an older man attracted to a much younger woman.

Verma tries to find answers to why it happens and what happens in Nishabd, but nothing is straightforward. The title means "speechless", and much of the film left me at a loss for words.

For Bollywood to attempt a subject like this is radical, and although Verma's execution is not flawless, he forces audiences to think, and, like him, they'll struggle to find suitable answers.

This is confrontational cinema. Instead of suggesting, it shoves issues in your face. Either you deal with them or walk away. There is no middle road. Those who see Hindi cinema as escapist entertainment are advised to avoid this film.

Do the same if you believe Amitabh Bachchan is an infallible old sage, because he places his reputation and his clean-cut image on the line and, almost impossibly, emerges as a better actor.

Some may argue that it's wrong for the Big B to play such roles; that after all he has achieved, he has no need to. I disagree. An actor needs to test himself in difficult roles and situations.

Nishabd is set in the green surrounds of a tea estate in Munnar, where Vijay (Bachchan) and his wife, Amrita (Revathy), live. When their daughter, Ritu (Shraddha Arya), arrives with a friend, Jiah (Jiah Khan), on a college vacation, they welcome the company.

The film opens with a gaunt-looking Vijay gazing over a cliff, contemplating suicide. As he begins to recount the events that brought him to this point, it emerges he is a photographer whose hobby has become his profession.

Vijay tells of a stable marriage, and although he and his wife hardly talk, an unspoken communication has developed over the years. Vijay is not very sociable and interacts only when engaged.

When Jiah becomes bored and strikes up a conversation with him, there is no inkling of chemistry between them. But her innocent flirtation becomes increasingly daring, and as he spends more time with her, she becomes more alluring. Before long, they are smitten with each other.

The attraction is understandable, but why would a man risk a stable marriage ? What would cause him to court infidelity? Is loyalty greater than happiness, and what would one do if one were forced to choose?

Most interestingly, why does love, whatever the circumstances, always have to encounter difficulty? And is a man selfish because he denies himself or selfish because he doesn't?

The one question that causes much pondering is whether an older man's desire to be with a young woman isn't a case of life yearning for itself. And is that not the crux of what has come to be known as a midlife crisis?

It is the unconventional nature of the proceedings that makes this film so fascinating. As it unfolds, Bachchan's demeanour changes, proof that in such instances it is the person with so much to lose who comes off second best. Yet you can't begrudge him a stab at happiness, even though it may include someone else's unhappiness.

Bachchan plays it straight. There are no gimmicks, just an actor employing his craft, and it is daringly frightening.

Verma sets up the attraction brilliantly, making Jiah enticing, desirable and sexy, but not sexual. In fact, the sexual tension is underplayed, and there isn't a single explicit scene. This is an emotional drama set across a generation gap, not a film about sex.

When Jiah informs Vijay she does what her mind tells her to do, it signals a single-minded desire to have what she wants, irrespective of conventional thinking, in the same way as the rebelliousness of youth isn't overly concerned with the consequences of their actions. That, in itself, is an attractive quality, free of the safety-first approach that adults are known to employ. She plays the part perfectly.

The flaws in Verma's story show up in the second half when the plot veers from relationships to guilt. It is in these portions that the thanklessness of his task is highlighted, because whatever the approach, there was no right way to handle it. That leaves it open- ended, ensuring that he never passes judgment.

Handled in an adult manner and left to adults to draw their conclusions, Nishabd is a film for the dis- cerning viewer, not for mass consumption.

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This is a review but I just wanted to ask if anyone has seen it...

😕Nishabd is an adult film???😕 I mean is it visually, understandable the subject is.