In Custody is the adaptation of the novel by Anita Desai and revolves around a poet Nur Sahjahanabadi.
Deven(OM Puri) is a Hindi teacher and is in love with the Urdu language and poetry. He wants to take an interview of Nur Shahjehanbadi, the renowned poet. But there are several obstacles in his path. Nur is living a silent life with well wishers but not in a good condition. He refuses to give interview and says Urdu is taking its last breath. So now, what will Deven do?
The movie is an important movie for a lot of reasons. How a declining language affects people, the poet who was once an eminent poet is now almost forgotten. How the family of poet suffer and the feelings of a poet.
Shashi Kapoor as the poet Nur, is just terrific. He is completely convincing and just by looking at him we feel that we are seeing Nur Shahjehanbadi in front of us. He makes us feel that the character of Nur is so real. There is that pain and emotion that reflects on his face.
Om Puri as the college professor is just superb. Shabana Azmi as Nur's wife is terrific. She plays the part of dominating and irritating wife with perfection.
But it's Shashi Kapoor's movie all the way. He just stals the show from all the actors and dominates the screen with his voice, body language and mannerism.
Riding on amazing performance, this movie is an important movie both for cinema lovers and poetry lovers.
