Our season of Amitabh films takes a very contemporary turn showcasing one of his very recent roles in the controversial Nishabd. Defying Bollywood conventions, director Ram Gopal Varma delivers a bold exploration of a taboo relationship with Bachchan playing a brave role that deconstructs his popular image. Amitabh plays a 60 year old man Vijay who becomes attracted to his daughter’s best friend, the 18 year old Jiah (Khan), and they embark on a relationship with inevitable comparisons to Lolita and American Beauty.
Review
“A stark portrayal of licentious love, NISHABD is enthralling.” Poonam Joshi, BBC
Unlike traditional Bollywood films this has no songs, but instead is a well paced character study of Vijay, the 60 year old who falls in love with his daughter’s friend, Jia, aged 18, when she comes to stay in the college holidays. It’s all set on Vijay’s estate (so in his world) – an isolated teahouse plantation – that also plays a large part in the film, it’s a lush sea of green and blue that ‘conceals’ the affair. It’s certainly not the India we’ve seen recently in films such as Slumdog Millionaire; this is one is privileged yet ordinary and safe. The strong, sophisticated cinematography applies a blue tint to create an isolated feeling completely avoiding any hint of hot and steamy clichés.
This really is a chance to see Amitabh acting rather than ‘performing’ and shows why he should considered one of the greats (and for me is definitely preferably to Kevin Spacey in American Beauty!). He plays a successful photographer, whose creative spirit is re-ignited by the arrival of the headstrong Jia. His performance is subtle and measured; sincere emotions often through the nuance of an eye movement.
The themes of the film are universal; where in mainstream films we might be used to seeing more explicit physicals betrayals, emotional infidelity is far more serious and destructive. Vijay tears both himself and his family apart with his feelings.
The director Ram Gopal Varma is an accomplished Indian screenwriter and filmmaker and has produced a wide variety of films in Hindi and Telugu. One of his most famous works Satya, Company and D is a gangster trilogy often likened to The Godfather. Varma himself also states this one of Amitabh’s best performances ever.
Sarah Perks, Programme & Engagement Director, Cornerhouse