In Custody - The Merchant Ivory Collection (1994)

Based on the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Anita Desai, In Custody—producer Ismail Merchant’s directorial debut—is a wry, lyrical drama about the contemporary Indian culture. Nur (Shashi Kapoor) is considered the greatest living Urdu poet, and Deven (Om Pore) hopes to rekindle interest in the language by recording Nut reciting the magical verse. But multiple problems block Deven’s path, the greatest these being Nur’s two shrewish wives, his love of drink, and the vastly bloated poet himself. Deven’s monstrous task quickly becomes a central odyssey that follows humorous paths to an unexpected conclusion.

Beyond Laicism there must be Cooperation

An extremely good Indian film adapted from Anita Desai's book. It shows how India is a real laboratory for multiculturalism and at the same time it reveals a case where one culture is more or less dying in India itself because it is a minority culture based on a minority language language. Luckily it is the official language of Pakistan and this Urdu poetry is praised and appreciated in quite a few foreign countries. The film shows quite well how this old poetry finds it difficult to survive in the modern world of technology and metropolitan living. It has to be collected and saved for future generations and yet it is eroding fast. Parodies are common and the main noble themes are giving way to trite images and situations. The film though does not show the confrontation of the Hindu and Urdu cultures. It reduces the Urdu side of things to essentially the Moslem religion and it more or less entirely erases the Hindu religion. Then the discourse is no longer a discourse of exchange and sharing but rather a discourse of tolerance for the minority culture that has to come from a dominant, but neutral point of view. That's a shame in a way because the subject of the book was a lot wider and it concerned the whole world in many ways, the necessary moving away from the laicism some states preach against any religion and the indispensable adoption of a more tolerant, open and absolutely free approach of all philosophical or religious beliefs that must be granted the right to express themselves anywhere in society. Just like a man has the right to wear his color everywhere in society, a man must have the right to wear and express his beliefs everywhere in society. All dress codes and neutral-looking regulations are nothing but severe censorship if not discrimination. Yet this film is essential because it reveals a problem that is probably the most important problem to solve in the world in the coming decades: beyond tolerance how can we build a world of complete collaboration among all the different visions of the universe and life.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
September 17, 2008

India's Past, re-visited.

As I have remarked previously, the whole Merchant of Ivory series, is interesting as education but slow and lacking in the entertainment dept. March 8, 2007

Excellent movie, awful DVD

This is one of the most disappointing releases I have ever had the misfortune to come across. The movie is very beautiful, with masterful performances by all concerned. The music is sublime, one of the best in a long while in Hindi/Urdu cinema. Enough has been written about the movie by previous reviewers, I agree with most of the comments.

So here's the reason for the low rating: the DVD is just awful. The widescreen transfer is alright - not the sharpest nor with really good colors. But the bad part is that it's Letterboxed widescreen, NOT Anamorphic as specified here on Amazon. That means on widescreen TV's you need to watch it in zoom-mode (or equivalent). And that brings us to the next problem - the subtitles CANNOT be turned off. That not only means you have the irritation of having English subtitles always there, but also that the lower portion of the subtitles get cut off in the zoom mode.

The sound is also just Mono (not Stereo, let alone 5.1) - the music is therefore just wasted. It makes the whole experience just not worth it.

All in all, NOT a DVD I was expecting from the Merchant-Ivory Collection. Certainly not worth having the Criterion name associated with the DVD. April 22, 2005

"...where Urdu is still chaste..."

"In Custody" is an excellent movie about disappointment and mortality.

Om Puri, with his trademark dour dignity, plays a lover of Urdu. In spite of his love, when he was a young man he became responsible for a wife and then a child, so he had to take the post of teacher of Hindi. Urdu uses a Farsi-Arabic script, and Hindi is supposedly the official language of India and the tension between them is tough -- to go deeper into that bucket of worms is a labor I do not relish. The story of a man devoted to Urdu who teaches Hindi is your first hint of what direction this movie shall take. I won't provide a synopsis, as that has been done already, but will share impressions.

The camera shots are just as compact, beautiful, and definitive as poems. Oxcarts, courtyards, and rivers are all presented to us as individual wonders.

The poems recited in this movie are magnificent creatures which come from the mouth of a jaded and corpulent old man. Our poor poet, the author of such marvels, is so fat he can hardly move. The part where the group of *admiring* vultures push the massive man on a garlanded swing as part of their drunk revels is just unbearable to watch. This is the creator of beauty: he later collapses and vomits in his wife's quarters. She is wife number two, very prettily sculpted of the most bitter wormwood. Yet she achieves household status because she has borne a son.

When you see Wife No.2 sing a ghazal, you will understand how easy it would be to fall in love with the angel-faced harpy, even as she twists the knife deeper.

Wife No.1 is a materialistic matron who has a very cold eye for reality. Neither wife is a very sympathetic companion.

And the glorious recital of poems by the great poet takes place in a hot, reeking brothel. One realizes that this recital is indeed the poet's swansong.

One would think the scenario no more than pathetic: yet it is truly dignified by the beauty of the poems. The movie ends with a gutted palace, due to be completely demolished. All physical things pass. But poems, the work of man, transcend man's own fate. It is a comfort amidst the melancholy. April 28, 2004

What can one say about "In Custody?"

Being a person native to the tongue of Urdu, I was more than appreciative of this truly Epic tale.

I had seen this movie when it first came out and truly fell in love with its tale, dedication and Urdu playwriting.

For as long as I can remember, I have followed Shashi Kapoor's family's career and was surprised to see him in a role such as this one. It is not the typical role for Kapoor's family.

Omm Puri is a fantastic actor and often plays an Urdu speaking role. He was in "The Ghost & The Darkness," and many other great movies such as "City of Joy" with Patrick Swayze. Perhaps he has a fondness for the language and the contribution of Urdu in India.

Shabana Azmi is a family friend of my father's, and for her to be part of this movie made it so much more enjoyable to watch.

You have to realize that Urdu poets (or Shairs) are in a class of themselves. Urdu is derived from Farsi and Arabic. As most know both the Persians and Arabs were great poets. However, the uniqueness of Urdu and its trance/hypnosis type effect on the soul of a person is unlike any of the afore-mentioned languages.

I would like to point out that this movie looks at the last remaining days of a great poet. Ironically, there is, nor was, a poet that is portrayed by Shashi Kapoor. The poems are from other Shairs. Similar to Jagjit Singh's style whereas, he does not write the poetry, but rather sings and choreographs the music.

If you would like to experience a movie about a true Urdu Shair, you have to see "Mirza Ghalib" with Naseer-Udeen Shah. Ghalib is one of the greatest poets the world has seen. To understand Ghalib it to truly understand the human soul.

Shah is also in "Monsoon Wedding" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" with Sean Connery. He is a fantastic Actor.

To sum it up, I liked this movie, loved the music, the tale and I think that it was superbly done. Sorry for the folk who do not speak Urdu, but like everyone learns a second language (as I learned Spanish), there is nothing stopping you from experiencing Urdu and its greatness.

Unparallel, is by far an understatement. Cheers! December 3, 2003

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