"In Custody" by Ismail Merchant is one man's struggle to preserve the works of a waning intellectual.
Deven (Om Puri), a teacher who loves Urdu poetry, is asked by a local newspaper editor to interview poet Nur (Shashi Kapoor) Shahjehanabadi, an aging whale of a man. Deven goes to Bhopal from Mirpur to meet Nur, of whom he is in awe. He finds him living with feuding wives, visited by sycophants who drink his whisky, eat his food and use his hospitality. Deven wants to record Nur for posterity against many odds.
These include seeking funds to buy an aged tape recorder, to bribing Safiya, the elder wife of the poet, to get Nur into a room at a brothel for a week for the recording, and of course feeding Nur's many pals who show up from time to time. Nur's beautiful second wife, Imtiaz, too wants to be taken seriously as a poetess. Dever dismisses her. In the process, our Dev succeeds in ignoring his own wife and child much as Nur does.
In the end, what is preserved? What is in his Custody?
All are welcome for this gem made from a novel by Anita Desai by Merchant Ivory Productions.
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