Amitabh Bachchan is all set to play the role of an old married man who falls in love with a 18-year-old girl. To be directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Nishabd, will be released in September this year. Ram Gopal Varma has completed the shooting of the film in 20 days. Although rumours have been doing the rounds that Nishabd is yet another adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Ram Gopal Varma has denied this very firmly. He insists that Nishabd is an original story conceived and written by him. He calls its an intense love story between an older man and a younger girl.
The female lead will be played by newcomer Jiah Khan. Varma has deliberately cast an unknown face so the situation seems believable. There are no steamy scenes in the film, he clarified in an interview with Mid-day. He says, “The thought is erotic and there is a strong undercurrent of sexuality, but it has not been done at the expense of putting Mr Bachchan in a demeaning light.” The film also stars Revathy, Rukhsar and Aftab Shivdasani. 

Apparently, Amitabh Bachchan is very excited about this role. The story of ‘Nishabd’ will revolve around Bachchan’s life and how this young girl enters his life. The film will not have any songs. According to an interview with Ram Gopal Varma in Mid-day, Varma says, “Bodies age, but feelings don’t. Older men get attracted to and fall in love with younger girls but because of their position and maturity, cannot do anything. It’s the story of a man caught between his rationality and the strength of his feelings towards her.”

While the concept of an older man falling in love with a younger girl has been explored by Bollywood–Seema, Lamhe, and Jogger’s Park come to mind—none of them have really worked in India. 

Even Jeremy Irons, who played the lead role in a Hollywood adaptation of Lolita, has not quite recovered from the role. It has left a lasting impression on the audience overriding all his other work. Of course, Amitabh Bachchan is not at a stage in his career where he need worry about audience acceptance–he didn’t care with Boom and no one’s said a word about his smooch scene with Rani Mukherjee in Black–but this role may upset a lot of his fans. They definitely do not want to see their hero as a paedophile. 

The songs have been written in Hindi by lyricists like Javed Akhtar, Shaheen Iqbal and Rajesh Johri, while Tabun Sutradar has composed the music for the album. Sky Music has produced the album. 
 

Bachchan recorded his narration at The Sound City Studios recently. Dasgupta says that lyrics of the songs selected by him are not verbatim reproductions of the original Tagore songs, but the compositions have retained the essence and refreshing flavour of Rabindrasangeet. 

One of the songs of the album has been picturised in Satara by film director Ujjwal Chatterji. Ashmit Patel and Rituparna have performed in this music video directed by Mahadevan. The video is expected to go on air on different channels by the end of January 2007.