Deven (Om Puri) is a Hindi professor who was sent to interview a great poet, who is past his prime. He is obscurely important to the fading culture once patronized by kings and nawabs. The poet Nur Shahjehanabdi (Shashi Kapoor) is blissfully removed from day to day to reality and dwells on the bygone mystique of chaste Urdu poetry. He is accompanied by a circle of sycophants, who in all reality wants nothing more than free food and drink, whose condasance is mistaken by the poet to be genuine platitudes. Added to his woes are his polygamy and the two wives who live with him. Amidst all these the real story somehow is reduced to a sub plot.

This is where director Ismail Merchant fails to indulge his audience in his movie. The whole exercise of Deven, trying to get an interview from this great poet is a meandering tale sort of black comedy of errors. Although most characters are beleivable, director does not let them develop fully. The role of Shabana Azmi as the poet's dominating second wife is basically overbearing. The other peripheral characters such as Murad Beg, Mr. Siddiqui played respectively by Tinnu Anand and Parikshat Sahni are quite good.

Overall, I walked away from the movie with a genuine appreciation for Mr. Merchant's effort. Frankly, I didn't care much for the movie after a point. If not for the Urdu spoken in the film and the fond memories of a mushiara, the movie doesnt quite add up. But, I'm a romatic fool and chaste urdu suffices for me.

"...where Urdu is still chaste..." (Rating: 4.00)
Review : "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.

What can one say about "In Custody?" (Rating: 5.00)
Review : 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!

"What fool has come here to see me?" (Rating: 5.00)
Review : In this film--the very best film created by the Merchant/Ivory team, Professor Deven (Om Puri) teaches Hindi at a small college in India. Deven's passion, however, is for Urdu. Deven writes articles for a small magazine, and his editor charges Deven with the task of seeking an interview with Nur (Shashi Kapoor) "India's greatest living Urdu poet". Deven's attempts to interview Nur are thwarted by a cult of fans, Nur's resentful second wife, and by Nur himself. The results are at once darkly amusing, and infinitely sad.

"In Custody" is an incredibly rich film with many interwoven themes. Deven worships Nur as a poet, but the huge difference between Nur, the great poet, and the realities of Nur, the flawed human being, overwhelm Deven. Deven has worshipped Nur, and meeting him in person comes as a terrific shock. Deven (played with marvelous subtlety by Om Puri) is a quiet man devoted to Urdu poetry. No one seems to take either Deven or his determination to promote Urdu poetry seriously. Few people are interested in Urdu anymore. Times are difficult. India is changing, and this is underscored by society's fading interest in Urdu and in a similar vein, Deven's colleague cannot afford to maintain his inheritance--a vast magnificent, crumbling palace reminiscent of former splendour. There is little extra money to be thrown around, and interviewing a poet who chooses to write in a language in which India is losing interest seems frivolous to Deven's colleagues, and to Deven's wife. Deven's project begins as an uphill battle, and it doesn't get easier.

Nur and Deven share a love of Urdu poetry, but as human beings they are opposites. "In Custody" shows the domestic arrangements of both men, and they both fail to inspire any respect from their wives, but for different reasons. Nur's second wife is a domestic tyrant, and yet she also suffers from living in her husband's shadow. She longs for recognition and respect, and she's destined never to receive it.

"In Custody" is a stunningly beautiful film which contains scenes I shall never forget. This--combined with an incredible soundtrack creates a unique and amazing film--displacedhuman

An excellent film -- disregard Leonard Maltin (Rating: 4.00)
Review : This film tells a simple, at times poignant tale with gentle humor, and without needless melodrama. The acting by Shashi Kapoor, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi is superlative. I just wish that the director had shown us more of the atmosphere of Bhopal, where the film is set.

I would highly recommend this movie.