Shabd (2005)

It is unimaginable to me that a woman directed this movie, and another one wrote it, because I wanted to slap a male author every single time Sanjay Dutt said the word "Aurat". Is this the extent to which we have internalised and glorified the male gaze?? However, at this juncture I must add that it's not just the women who were badly written- the men were equally terrible surface-level caricatures with zero depth to them. Mayhaps the director and writer have just never interacted with other human beings? That would honestly make a lot of sense, because this movie wasn't just a bad movie, it's the kind of movie that makes you indifferent towards it as it progresses. Which is a huge shame, because the final few scenes are actually good and made you wish for a better movie. Considering how numb I was feeling by the time it ended, that is quite an accomplishment in itself.

Another thing that I couldn't get over was how SRK lite Zayed Khan was. 90% of his dialogue delivery and body language was so Shah Rukh that I felt very strange every time he appeared on screen. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had a crush on Zayed back in the early 00s (as one did), but this has changed things for me forever. 

The one thing this movie got right though were selected scenes starring the one and only Aishwarya Rai (key word here being "selected"). The first one that I can remember was her saying "Main ek mamooli ladki hun, mujh mein apni kahaani kyun dhoond rahe ho?" which is something I want to say to every man ever, especially the ones who talk to me with an image of me already in their minds. Another one was where she refused to make new friends- so relatable, queen. And lastly, I want to just say that the scene near the end where she's screaming-crying resonated with me on a level that's more than spiritual. 

In conclusion, this could have been on my "worst movies ever" list but it's not even special enough for that honour. 

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