In Custody (1994)

An editor asks Deven, a teacher who loves Urdu poetry, to interview poet Nur Shahjehanabadi, an aging whale of a man. Deven goes to Bhopal from Mirpur to meet Nur, of whom he is in awe. He ... See full summary »

Director:

Ismail Merchant

Writers:

Anita Desai (novel), Anita Desai (script),

Stars:

Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shashi Kapoor	...	Nur
Shabana Azmi	...	Imtiaz Begum
Om Puri	...	Deven
Sushma Seth	...	Safiya Begum
Neena Gupta	...	Sarla
Tinnu Anand	...	Murad
Prayag Raj	...	Jain
Parikshat Sahni	...	Siddiqui (as Ajay Sahni)
Sagar Arya	...	Chiku
Alakh Nandan	...	Trivedi
Yusuf Khurram	...	Young Poet
Riju Bajaj	...	Young Poet
Maza Bi	...	Safiya's Attendant
Nayeem Hafizka	...	Young Poet
Veerendra Saxena	...	Young Poet

Storyline

An editor asks Deven, a teacher who loves Urdu poetry, to interview poet Nur Shahjehanabadi, an aging whale of a man. Deven goes to Bhopal from Mirpur to meet Nur, of whom he is in awe. He finds him living with feuding wives, visited by sycophants who drink his whisky and eat his food. Deven wants to record Nur for posterity and seeks funds to buy an aged tape recorder, to bribe Safiya, the elder wife, to get Nur into a room at a brothel for a week for the recording, and to feed Nur's pals who show up. Nur's beautiful second wife, Imtiaz, wants to be taken seriously as a poetess. Dever dismisses her and ignores his own wife and child much as Nur does. In the end, what is preserved?

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Plot Keywords:

poet | teacher | urdu | second wife | interview | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements and mild language

Details

Country:

UK India

Language:

Urdu Hindi

Release Date:

3 June 1994 (UK)

Also Known As:

Hifazaat

Box Office

Gross:

$92,612 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Merchant Ivory Productions, Channel Four Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shabana Azmi, who plays Imtiaz Begum, who aspires to be a poetess in her own right in the movie is related to many poets, namely, father Kaifi Azmi, husband Javed Akhtar and father in law Janisaar Akhtar.

User Reviews

Death of a language

The movie is loaded with metaphors depicting the death of Urdu poetry. The decaying mansions, the poet's failing health, his fall from grace all add up. The poverty has desensitized the college youth from being able to nurture a taste for poetry. They prefer to get diplomas in "japanese electronic gadgetry". Its grim. But its unavoidable. Urdu was cherished by the elite and rarely accepted by the masses. It was a medium of flattery, romance and also of unabashed obsequiousness. Poets almost ask for poverty unless they have a gracious benefactor. Like a lot of other artifacts of the past, it evokes wistfulness. The art though lives on in isolated pockets of the country.