SOME LOVE STORIES can never be understood. Love has countless shades expanding beyond all conventional realms of humanity.

 

He is 60. She is 18. They fall in love. The subject is bold enough for Indian audiences. After Sarkar, Ram Gopal Verma is back with Amitabh Bachchan in Nishabd. The movie is the bollywood version of Vladimir Nakobov’s timeless novel, Lolita.

 

Ramu has a penchant for tackling sensitive subjects. Nishabd is a statement in itself reflecting the fact that love has no age bar. The movie has drama as well as an emotional twist. The audience is left tangled between what is right or wrong?

 

The film tells the story of the protagonists Vijay —  played by Amitabh Bachchan — and Jiah — played by Jiah Khan. Vijay is married to Revati and has a daughter Ritu, played by Shraddha Arya. Ritu gets Jiah along to spend the vacations.

Jiah, who comes from a broken family, soon  finds herself attracted to Vijay. Vijay, too, is pleasantly surprised to find an ardent admirer in the autumn of his life.

 

The best aspect of Nishabd is that in spite of a dark subject Ramu has made the film very lively. The first half has got ample comic moments that gel well with the narration. In the second half when Ritu gets to know of her friend Jiah’s amorous cravings for her father, the film takes a volte-face; it gets dark, probably intentionally, to showcase that love is not all sugar, its bitter too.

 

The only shortcoming is the climax. Ramu plays safe and makes his protagonist repent his decision of falling in love with Jiah. The essence of the movie or for that matter love is that it knows no barriers and people in love should live happily together with love growing fonder with each passing day.

 

Barring the climax, the film works really well on the minds of the audience who are left enthralled. Cinematically, the film is a classic, as it makes optimal use of the cinematic tools to tell the tale of two unusual lovers. It beautifully utilizes the lighting, the background music, the emotions and the raw and rustic camera angles to heighten the drama. In fact, the fluid camera-work complements the scenic locale of Munnar in Kerala to its optimal. 

 

Nishabd proves once and for all why Amitabh Bachchan is god of acting. Not many dialogues, not many movements, yet the eyes do the talking almost in every sequence.

 

His expressions on realizing that Jiah has feelings for him or the way he sings Jiah jale... or the dining table sequence where he bursts out laughing or the bedroom sequence where Revati asks him why he was laughing or the scene where he confesses his love for Jiah to Revati. Simply brilliant.

 

Jiah Khan makes a very confident debut. She brings the much needed contrast compared to Vijay’s character.

 

Revati is in her element, the way she breaks down when Amitabh confesses his love for Jiah speaks volumes of her histrionics. Shraddha Arya lends ample support.

 

Such stories are very common in the west, but in India a viewer  has to be open minded to enjoy the movie. It has a good storyline and has been well scripted. Overall the movie is a splendid work in cinema. Hats off to Ramu.