BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Priya_1989 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.

pranayet_writer 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.

Herag Halli The Bollywood fare is burning brighter with each film. When an actor the like Arjun Rampal(Salim) is thrown with the likes of Shabana Azmi(Rukshana Anwar)and Urmila Matondkar, some of the talent has to rub off on him and it does in this marvelous movie called "Tehzeeb"(Etiquette). Even though it is difficult to accept them in the role of a mother and daughter the acting prowess of Shabana Azmi takes a notch over Urmila and both come out as top notch talent at the end, where as the other two characters have a long road ahead. Except the song that Shabana sings for her daughter, the music of AR Rahman is a flop to think he may be an overworked composer. The standout is ace direction, Screenplay and Cinematography.There is not much dowdt that Urmilla Matondkar has immense talent that very few of her contemporaries can match. Suffice to say this a a beautifully enacted film that lingers long after the movie including the very short and impressive perf. by Rishi Kapoor.

AishFan For the first half of the movie, there is absolutely no story. It gets really annoying as nothing happens. However, the film's pace suddenly accelerates during a power-packed confrontation scene between Urmila and Shabana Azmi. The characters have been developed excellently. Songs are lovely. The picturization of "Meherbaan" and especially "I want to be free" are terrific. What I find the best about this movie is the well-portrayed relationship between Urmila and Shabana. Looking from Urmila's point of view, it seems that her indifference towards her mother is right, while Shabana is selfish. However, from Shabana's point of view, her actions seem totally justified, while her daughter's attitude is very hurtful. What makes this film unique is that the audience can sympathize with and understand both contradicting points of view. The ending is very poetic and (the following might be a spoiler) brings out the pain of Shabana's life and how, unfortunately, Urmila lived her entire life based on misunderstandings.