Shabd

The director Leena Yadav is falsely imprisoned in her aura that she is Stanley Kubrick re-incarnate. Its obvious that Sanju and Ash have signed the dotted line without reading the script and the director should be lauded for making mickey out of them.

The script does not have holes - it has craters. And in terms of execution - it makes you feel that at the end of every shooting schedule the director goes into hibernation and forgets where she left off.

Our writer uses still uses type-writer for drafting his stories, which cleverly signifies the power outages in India. And did I tell you that our writer is suit-fetish? How does it justify the writer being recipient of Booker's prize award when he at loss to delve into the psyche of a woman for his forthcoming novel? Taking too many liberties of Booker's prize eh? (Culprit: Baghbaan!).

It is evident that Ash lacks conviction owing to her Hollywood assignments. Sanju's monologues gets on the nerves. Zayed Khan as a professor. Excuse Me! Bollywood badly needs a dedicated casting dept. Let me re-iterate here that Zayed does not even pretend making wee-bit of effort. It re-enforces my opinion that "star-kids are pampered lot".

And please help me decide which one was worst - chemistry between Sanju and Ash or Zayed and Ash.

Sadiya is only saving grace to the film and does her role with conviction.

Avoid at all costs!

Words and misdeeds!

Shabd Dir- Leena Yadav Cast- Sanjay Dutt, Aishwarya Rai, Zayed Khan and Sadia Siddiqui. Written by- Sutapa Sikdar and Leena Yadav. Rating- *

The only thing worse than a brainless mind-numbing movie, is a brainless mind-numbing movie that pretends to be an intellectual and aesthetic one. Debutante writer-director Leena Yadav(she's even edited this tedious fare) must've thought during the filming that she was making something novel and riveting. Sadly, thoughts and intentions don't always translate into shabds and deeds! So what we have is in fact an over-boiled egg that's not only unappetizing but also comes without any salt to taste!

Shaukat Vasisht(Sanjay Dutt) is suffering from a writer's block after his follow-up to his Booker prize winning Mindscape has been ripped apart by the critics. Actually, 'Mr. I type my novel on an antique typewriter wearing an Armani' is so consumed with desperation that he's unable to notice the fire in his Looker prize winning wife Antra(Aishwarya). Tch! Tch! Anyways, our dude looks like a writer finds his inspiration in Tamanna, his creation of a woman that wants to break free and live her life. To make his story as real as possible, he encourages Antra to don the garb of Tamanna and allow the overtures of a besotted cad, Yash(Zayed Khan). He even convinces Antra to hide her marital status from Yash. The problem begins when Tamanna becomes Antra and the lines between fantasy and reality become thinner. Shaukat soon realizes that Antra and Yash are not his creations whom he can control as he wishes. You must be thinking that the premise sounds oh so abstract and imaginative. Don't let it fool you though! This is an imposter posing as a highbrow! The film is full with passages that appear to be poetic but are actually drab monologues packaged in the baritone voice of Sanju baba.

The proceedings get so repetitive and soporific after a while that you feel tempted to doze off. But what stops you though are the beautifully written(Vishal Dadlani and Irshad Kamil) and composed(Vishal-Shekhar) songs that are scattered through the running time. Also, your heart goes out to Sanjay for performing his part with sincerity and input. For him and the composer duo- what a waste! Aishwarya keeps switching from disinterested to overly dramatic, and she does both acts unconvincingly. And somebody please tell Zayed that his Shahrukh act just doesn't come together. This dude needs to go back and learn the basics. And yes, what was the casting department(if there was any) thinking when they narrowed him for a college professor? Sadia Siddiqui is engaging as the housemaid and brings some life to the events.

One can't deny that the intent of the maker was to make something different. But Leena should've probably developed the plot a bit more. The relationship between Shaukat and Antra is left undefined as are the characters themselves. For a story that revolves around three characters, the characters have to be delineated with unambiguous clarity. One cannot be commended just for being bold and different. Being bold is not always beautiful! - Abhishek Bandekar

Rating- *

* Poor ** Average *** Good **** Very Good ***** Excellent

6th February, 2005

I personally thought that this movie would be something like the old crap movies about a couple and then an extra-marital relationship that exists between the wife and a new man. The idea of SHABD is the same but hats off to the writer !!!! She has so marvelously crafted out a wonderful theme for the movie. It is so ....my ...a wonderful experience (minus Zayed) who really sucks with some cheap jokes!!! Shabd is about a writer (Sanjay Dutt) who tells his wife (Ash) that she should explore an extramarital relationship with a boy (Zayed Khan) because that will be the subject for his next novel.

This is just one dimension, not the entire film. It is not blatant as that. It is about a writer who is oscillating between his thoughts and the real world. It is about the way he lives his life and what he thinks about it. It is about how the mind works and how it spills over to reality --how it governs the matters of heart. It is very complex.

Leena Yadav, the director, has chosen all aspects of life. She has spoken through the visuals as well.

On the whole watch the movie for its great script, wonderful songs and visuals that are truly awesome !!! Watch it also for Aishwarya , for she has not looked so graceful after TAAL happened to her. Don't hate me if you feel bored when Zayed enters..well he is not too long...um...I will not spoil the interest by revealing the climax !!! Watch out for a commendable work of art and literature....

I give it a 8/10.

I am a total admirer of the director of the movie (Leena Yadav) for making such a true-to-the-heart, wonderful movie ! The movie is very artistically abstract in some sense ! It deals with the illusions of a creative mind, certain aspects of writers block! Quite thought provoking indeed.

The subject matter has never been dealt in Hindi cinema before (I do not consider myself an expert in Hindi cinema, but I can say that to some certainty).

The cinematography is average. There are some interesting colors probably thanks to art director, but overall the production quality is average.

Music ----- Honestly I can write few pages about the music of the movie. Till date, I think its the best out of Vishal-Shekhar's stable!

Each song is a winner!

'Lo shuru ab ..chahaton ka silsila' has two versions in the album, by Kumar Sanu & Udit N. But I couldn't see Udit N's version on the film. And definitely, in entire 2005 this is the only song by Sanu that registers. Thanks to V-S to have made Sanu sing without his usual 'airy' voice! Didn't like opening of 'Sholon si..' - sounded too close to Smooth by Santana! (that's my only complain about the music of the movie). Great voice on the track by Vishal btw. Goes very well with Sanjay Dutt's role/persona in the movie. Similiarly, Sonu Nigam's voice suits very well for Zayed. 'Bolo to' & 'Khoya Khoya' are great ! 'Mat jaa' is a great ballad sung by Sukhwinder! Great music and some soulful guitar played by Warren Mendonsa (of Zero). Whoever played the drums, did a great job! I started listening to the music of this movie long before the movie was released and I was truly hooked to the entire album. Kudos to V-S!

Acting ------ Sanjay Dutt gets 8/10 - considering Sanju's acting ability, this is probably his career best! Zayed is alright (7/10) and AishRai is below avg (4/10).

The movie is a recipe for commercial failure, but I must appreciate PNC (Pritish & Rangita Nandi) to have produced it (for the sake of art, may be), and to have had trust with the débutante director Leena Yadav.

Trying hard to like Leena Yadav's debut film 'Shabd', you sit thru the entire feature in eager anticipation of a/the/any magic moment. But ...

Although the premise was novel, the buildup was not. One sex scene does not compensate for the lack of sexual chemistry between the leading pair. The Booker-prize winning author is trying so hard to come up with an authentic story for his next novel that he goes and casts his own wife as her rebellious alter-ego, easily falling for the 'forbidden fruit'. Shaukat Vashist requests, goads, almost forces his wife Antara to initiate an illicit relationship to help him craft a leading character in his next novel. When the 'truth' becomes stranger than his bookish 'fiction', and Antara meets and eventually falls for a dashing (yea, no less) young colleague, Mr Novelist is quite unable to handle it. But he saves the best, a one-page ending, for last.

We are not led to believe that the entire thing is the writer's fertile imagination gone awry. Evidently Yash's character is real (witness the college peon asking Shaukat if he had any message for Yash, etc) and so is the romance that ensues between Yash and the writer's wife Antra. In the end, it appears the writer of "Shabd" was herself so confused about the interactions between her characters (there were only 3!) that she couldn't figure out how to end the characters or the movie!! The performance by Sanjay Dutt was the saving grace of this film. Zayed Khan is miscast as the college professor and lacks acting skills. Aish tries hard but her dialogs are so mushy; could have used some zing.

The writer of this review believes that the writer of this movie should have worked harder on the writer in her movie.