One of the worst movies I've ever seen

A Disappointing Continuation

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Excellent Movie, this 'Tehzeeb'.It had Emotion, it had drama, it had grace, it had beauty,it had softness, it had performance and above all, it had a story with a good narration.It simply can't get better than this.What more would you ask out of a movie?...Shabana Azmi's performance or should I say 'Aura' is beyond my vocabulary.To put it simply, scintillating !. Urmila might have given her best performance, no pushing aside. The encounters between her and Shabana are a treat to watch. And that done in honey-dripping Urdu, O My God!, once again Iam in loss of words. Diya Mirza goes well as a lunatic girl and Arjun Rampal can really be proud of being in company of some finest actors in the business. Hats-Off to the Director, Yeh Dil Mange More!.

Khalid Mohammed's Tehzeeb is a tribute to Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, and he officially acknowledges Bergman for being the inspiration for this film. Mohammed is a good director, but his attempts to make an art film and add all the possible ingredients of Hindi commercial cinema trip him a bit up this time. In his wonderful 2000 film Fiza he did the same, but much more delicately, and while Tehzeeb is definitely a good film, he tends to go a bit overboard with all the appearances, subplots and redundant characters. Having said that, Tehzeeb is still a great watch, and due credit goes to Mohammed's fine script and direction, Javed Siddiqui's realistic dialogues, A.R. Rahman's soundtrack which gives life to the movie, and of course the credible acting by the leading actors.Starting with the flaws, the entire Diana Hayden story could and should have been deleted. What does it have to do with the film and its story? I did not really understand the purpose of her appearance and what actually it was all about. And besides that, she is such a non-actor! Her accent is terrible and she is annoying throughout. The Namrata Shirodkar one was redundant as well, though more bearable because of the nice song and the wonderful scene that follows it (the advice Shabana gave Namrata about the rules of success in showbiz). There were several other instances, like Diya Mirza's ridiculous disco dance. That was apparently a take-off on the exceptional "nervous breakdown" dance numbers of Sridevi and Meenakshi Sheshadri in the films Lamhe and Damini, respectively, but in this film, it's just pathetic.Now to the film: Shabana Azmi and Urmila Matondkar star as a mother and her daughter (second time after Masoom in 1983. 20 years ago, can you believe it?!). Urmila is Tehzeeb, a young married woman who looks after her mentally ill young sister, and Shabana is Rukhsana Jamal, a popular singer and her estranged mother. Although she does love her mother and misses her, Tehzeeb has always considered her mother the cause of her father's death and her younger sister's (Dia Mirza) mental disability. All of a sudden, Mrs. Jamal calls Tehzeeb to inform her that she is going to visit her. Both women are excited towards the meeting. Here the story actually deepens. The film brilliantly follows and depicts this mother-daughter relationship, its ups and downs, and finally shows how they come to terms with each other.Quite expectedly, while the film is titled after Urmila's character, it belongs to Shabana Azmi, who is natural, credible and charming as the vivacious and colourful star Rukhsana. It's a pleasure watching her delivering these witty dialogues in her own inimitable style. Urmila, while always a talented and intense performer, tries to do more than required at some scenes. She is too impulsive, and while it's an integral part of her acting and always interesting to watch, I think she should have tried some restraint in this role. Arjun Rampal, playing Tehzeeb's loving and supportive husband Salim, is also the film's narrator, and he succeeds on both accounts. Mohammed rightly tries to give his role as much substance as possible, and Rampal performs exceedingly well; he plays Salim with utmost sincerity and humour and makes him thoroughly likable and entertaining. Dia Mirza is cute and effective as the mentally disabled and love-seeking Nazo.Tehzeeb is aided by a great technical crew and is excellent in cinematography, editing and particularly music. A.R. Rahman scores once again with a terrific background score and equally great songs, among which I especially loved "Na Shiqwa Hota", a soulful number which efficiently summarises the mother-daughter relationship on-screen. Mohammed wonderfully portrays the lifestyle of modern Muslim families, and this is yet another factor which warrants a fascinating watch. The film's ending is unexpected and surprising. Some may like it, some may not. I was disappointed by it, but it's actually what makes Hindi movies so unique and special, no? Tehzeeb is not without its flaws, but after all I still think it is an interesting and moving film and an altogether worthy effort. I recommend.

Tehzeeb is the story of Rukhsana Jamal (Azmi), a singer drunk in the fame she has attained. She doesn't care for her husband (Rishi Kapoor) and two young daughters (Tehzeeb played by Matondkar and Nazneen essayed by Mirza). Her failed businessman husband suspects her of an illicit relationship (shown only through a flip-second image) and creates a scene, which ends in his death.Their elder daughter Tehzeeb watches it and 'sees' her mother with a revolver. She grows up suspecting her mother of her father's murder. Nazneen grows into a child-woman whom Rukhsana puts in a hospital, to be rescued later by Tehzeeb and her husband Salim (Rampal).Ruksana's colorful character builds up with such negative shades in the first half that you almost begin to wonder ? what kind of a mother is she? Feminists might feel that a career woman is being assassinated just because she is successful in her career.However, that is not to be as you discover later. The mother visits Tehzeeb and then the tension between the two unfolds in bits and pieces, through caustic comments, stifled praises and formal acknowledgment of love, till Tehzeeb can't take it anymore and bursts. The burst carries into the second half and then loses its bite. And so does the film.Mohamed has proved himself as a storyteller with Sardari Begum, Mammo and Zubeida but sadly, he has punctured Tehzeeb with unnecessary baggage like Diana Hayden, Namrata Shirodkar and endless love scenes between Matondkar and Rampal after interval.As expected, the movie belongs to Azmi and she is charming as a successful woman. Rampal too has done a good job as a rich author, and a doting husband and brother-in-law.Tehzeeb is a good step over Fiza for Mohammed, and hopefully, whatever he does next, will deliver more.

I'm highly surprised with the high voting average (7.4/10 when I last checked) that Tehzeeb received. I mean, yes, the film is very intelligent, with very strong actors playing their parts beautifully - Urmila Matondkar as the simple, happy daughter but with a resentment towards her star-singer mother, Shabana Azmi as the star-singer mother who is very charming and gushy but is thought by Urmmila to have murdered her husband and ruined her children's lives, Dia Mirza as the mentally retarded daughter - um. how can you be retarded and still put on makeup and curl your hair on your birthday and other days, I wonder? I guess her mom and sister did that for her. - who is, in my opinion, a spoiled brat, because ordinary two-or-four-year-olds are not pampered so much, and Arjun Rampal as the cute, innocent, loving (and lovable?) husband of the daughter; but what was Diana what's-her-name and Namrata doing there? What were all those crappy, unnecessary songs doing there? They completely stopped the story and made us all eager to change the channel to hum dil de chuke sanam, which was playing and which had much better songs. Sure, some of the atmospheres in Tehzeeb were quite dark and suspenseful, but why ruin the effect with sudden lighthearted moments when we want to get on with the true serious story? I can only think that the director got scared with some of the effects or something. However, the fact that the retarded girl did not recover from her attempt to shoot herself with her brain fully repaired, and the mother dying when her daughter went to her to ask for her pardon, were very nice touches that set it apart from most bollywood happy-ending flicks. But then again the movie got ruined by the clips at the end. This movie is supposed to be serious, not funny!Still, all in all a nice almost-art movie. 6/10.