The Hindu : New Delhi News : The brave new Bollywood heroine is here... .

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Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
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New Delhi

The brave new Bollywood heroine is here... .

ZIYA US SALAM

A MIXED BAG: Ram Gopal Varma's "Nishabd" offers a whiff of fresh air even as Ajay Chandok's "Nehlle Pe Dehlla" is steeped in stereotypes.

NISHABD

(At Delite, Chanakya and other Delhi theatres)

Destroying the idols of custom, breaking the shackles of tradition, Ram Gopal Varma's Jiah may not be like Kaifi Azmi's "Aurat", but she is free in her own way: free for an uninhibited expression of sinful pleasure for one thing. As a young girl confident of her body, sure of her mind, she nurses a pulse that knows no tomorrow. Arisen, she is ready to walk together with a man more than twice her age. Beauty is her only garb, unfettered prance the only accompaniment. No locks, no ledge; in her life every crevice has a dream, every dream a vagrant expression.

With "Nishabd", welcome the brave new Bollywood film heroine. She does not expose her body in a sequence or two; she covers it here and there. Her long, oh so long, legs! Her barely covered top! She is not apologetic about her accent either. The fact that in this love story of an 18-year-old girl and a 60-year-old man, she has just returned from Australia helps. And young Jiah Khan, not much older in real life, plays a role even she would find difficult to replicate in a career that might just go places if she plays her cards well. As a teenager falling in love with her friend's father, she is a delight. First you find her ravishing. Then she shows the nuances in her craft. When she licks her lollipop ever so seductively, you know innocent joy was not on wily old Ram Gopal Varma's mind. When her words trail off, when her comic interludes jolt you, you know here is a girl who has what it takes to sweep men off their feet. And walk straight into their hearts.

Little surprise, Bachchan as a veteran photographer here remains smitten! But ignore him at your own risk. Here is a master artiste who almost always manages to dig deep into his rich reservoir for a demanding role. And how eloquent is his silence here as the teenager pops up the inevitable question! And how poignant his quiet expression when he realises that he is but a moth to a candle aflame!

Does he marry her? Does he make a virtue out of weakness? That is for the viewers to find out. Suffice it to say here now that the window of atonement remains open till the vault arrives. And until then, with a girl like Jiah, life is a breeze. How swift, yet how slow!

Yet Ram Gopal Varma's film is not just about the two lead actors. It is as much about Revathy who as the dutiful wife waits in queue to get her conjugal due. For long she deflects the inevitable, then realises that she had let in a temptress.

Fine performances, engaging, subtle comedy, fine editing. Is that all to "Nishabd" so many people thought was based on "Lolita"? No, the film is as much about Amit Roy's skilful photography, Amar Mohile's background score and Amrik Gill's dialogue. They are all important cogs in the wheel called "Nishabd", a wheel that moves smoothly, stylishly. That despite a little hiccup in the climax Ram Gopal Varma is able to blend substance with style is to his eternal credit.

Watch "Nishabd" if you want to savour the summer of 18 again. Watch it if you dread being 60. After watching the overtures of Ram Gopal Varma's delectable new heroine, you might just want to be 60. Fast.

NEHLLE PE DEHLLA

(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)

Barely had the winter receded that termites are here. In the form of "Nehlle Pe Dehlla", a film that does nobody any favours, not to the producer or director, nor to the cast. Not even to the numerologist who suggested the spelling to reap a windfall at the box office. The way the film has shaped up, it is more likely to have just a fall!

A jaded, faded film that was launched in 2001 but has been released only now in 2007 because of financial wrangling, this one rehashes the old formula in a manner that is an insult to the intelligence of the average cinemagoer. Take two heroes, two young girls, can a couple of action sequences, add a comic interlude. Then shoot a couple of songs, one in a disco, the other on the beach! And lo "Nehlle Pe Dehlla", a con game, is ready.

Actually, this tale of two trick artistes — Sanjay Dutt back to "Sar Phira" days, and Saif Ali Khan back to pre-"Hum Tum" times — is a con game on the viewers. Some 30 years ago, Sanjay's father Sunil Dutt starred in a movie with the same name. Better watch that. Stay away from the latest.

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

(At Spice PVR, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

Everybody who is somebody, and anybody who is nobody, was telling us Forest Whitaker will win the Academy Award this year for the best actor in a lead role for his compelling depiction of Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator, an intoxicating blend of madness and generosity, cruelty and charisma. They were not wrong. And Whitaker did take away the prize the other day. Now comes the proof. In director Kevin Macdonald's film "The Last King of Scotland".

Based on Giles Foden's award-winning novel, the film has arrived without the hype that usually precedes such ventures. Apt maybe, considering the large body of work Whitaker has dished out in his career, and the radical departure he shows here.

The film is set in 1970s' Uganda under Idi Amin, a dictator if ever the term could encapsulate one.

The story takes off when a young doctor arrives in the country and has his introduction to the realities of life. It is a country where the dictator's word is not law; he is the law.

The ruler mauls a cow on the road, and hires the tactful Scottish doctor as his personal physician! The medico cannot say no, the dictator won't brook one.

It is a job that takes him into the inner circle of the political machinations in the country, not to forget the strong man's weakness for the fairer sex.

All along, Whitaker shows us two facets of the despot's personality: he is a cruel man who takes delight in destruction. He is also a charismatic man who has some guts, some scruples.

How the doctor gets up close with the dictator and then realises he has gone too far makes for an intriguing play in a movie where Whitaker rules all right but is given solid company by James McVoy as the seduced doctor. Together they raise the skills of others around them. Watch it for the king. And also for his courtier.

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