‘Amitabh Bachchan’s makeup man called it his biggest mistake; Jaya Bachchan was tensed’: Ram Gopal Varma defends Nishabd

Director Ram Gopal Varma said that the most 'complex' performance of Amitabh Bachchan's career came in the controversial film Nishabd, which neither of them regrets.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | September 26, 2023 10:32 AM IST

3 min read

Amitabh Bachchan and Jiah Khan in a still from Nishabd, directed by Ram Gopal Varma.

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Director Ram Gopal Varma said that neither he nor Amitabh Bachchan regrets making the 2007 film Nishabd, which was inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. He did, however, admit that people around them were very concerned about how the movie would be received, and whether its risque subject matter would impact Amitabh’s reputation.

In an interview with Galatta Plus, RGV was asked about ‘making’ Amitabh do Nishabd, and portraying him as a ‘pervert’ leering after a teenage girl. RGV said that he disagrees with the term ‘pervert’, and said that the film’s gaze was designed to reflect what the character was experiencing.

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RGV said that Amitabh was ‘one of the most important’ reasons why he decided to join the film industry, and addressed why he thought of the ‘icon’ for the role of an elderly man lusting after a teenager in Nishabd. He said, “Firstly, I wouldn’t agree with the word ‘pervert’. He was a reasonable, responsible man, but he is unable to fight with his feelings. His heart says it’s wrong, his mind says it’s wrong, but his feelings are overcoming it… The origin of it is definitely Lolita.”

He continued, “At that point of time, I think both me and Bachchan were carried away with the possibilites of what kind of scenes and performance (we could do). On the first day of the shoot, Mr Bachchan told me that his longtime makeup man said, ‘Sir, this is the biggest mistake you’re making’. Even Jaya (Bachchan) ji was very tensed during that film. As an artist, he felt this was something new to express, but I honestly don’t regret it, neither does Mr Bachchan.”

Fear, RGV said, isn’t the right word for what they felt, but they were aware that there could be a ‘backlash’. Co-starring the late Jiah Khan, Nishabd featured Bachchan as a 60-year-old, while Jiah played an 18-year-old. Comparisons were also drawn to the Oscar-winning film American Beauty. “The most complex performance of Mr Bachchan’s career is Nishabd, because everything else, he can draw from a reference point,” RGV concluded.

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