Khalid Mohammed is an intelligent man, a man who has used his incisiveness to roast and toast many an effort, the Pauline Kael of India, his words influence a whole strata of society. Tehzeeb is really his comeuppance, the weapon that all and sundry should use against him in future when he shreds films the way he does. Not only is Tehzeeb an exercise in futility, its is entirely the director’s fault that it is.

Based on Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, Tehzeeb uses the strained relationship between a mother and her daughter as the crux of the film. Rukhsana Jamal (Shabana Azmi) is a famous and ambitious singer, and we are introduced to her as the titles unfold, dejected hubby (Rishi Kapoor) tending to neglected daughter Tehzeeb whilst mother goes out to make a career. But she has to, for hubby’s business has crashed and Rukhsana Jamal must bring in the moolah. Too much for hubby, he commits suicide. or is it suicide?

Many years later, Tehzeeb is settled with her husband, Salim (Arjun Rampal) and her mentally challenged sister (Dia Mirza), Salim is a novelist, breathing the fresh air and committed to ecological concerns while puffing away in the film. Not often to take anything seriously, this is a house of warmth and love. That is until Rukhsana Jamal decides to reenter the foray by visiting her daughter after a gap of 5 years. Both mother and daughter are apprehensive. Rukhsana Jamal arrives and soon, mother and daughter are at each other’s throats, Tehzeeb seemingly opening up a can of worms.

There is a rollercoaster of emotion within Tehzeeb, on the one hand, wanting her mother’s affection and yet, festering with deep resentment. Had this remained the emphasis of the film, we would have had a wonderful exploration of this mother and daughter relationship. But Mohammed gets sidetracked and deviates by giving emphasis to Salim, a character developed for light relief in what would otherwise be a heavy handed film. Herein lies the greatest fault of the film because he is not able to maintain the drama and dissects the scenes of obvious power with the inclusion of sub-plots which have little meaning and plausibility. Must we have the interlude with Diana Hayden and Arjun Rampal, obviously included to expand on Rampal’s role and adding glamour to the proceedings which adds up to nothing at all. Dealt with in a most perfunctory manner, this sub-plot simply takes away from the emotional content of the film and dilutes the film’s potential dramatic power, ultimately leaving the viewer exasperated. The jerks in the narrative, which is to take place over a short period of time also takes away from the build-ip of tension between mother and daughter.

Khalid Mohammed has to be commended for choosing a topic like this and had he had the guts to stick to his original idea, he would have made a nice and compelling short film. Instead, his obvious affection for Salim as a character, or indeed Rampal as a person means the extension of a side character who adds little or nothing to the proceedings and makes a mess of the whole film. What is Khalid Mohammed trying to do. His attempt at making an intelligent film is littered with obvious commercial concerns which the viewer today is least interested in. Those who would be wiling to see tehzeeb would do so for its main plot, not to see Diana Hayden in a swim costume or pawing our hero, or then Namrata Shirodkar’s dance or even Urmilla’s Rangeela turn on the beach. Is this at all necessary? We even have the mentally challenged sister breaking out into a ditty in mod clothes? Its all quite offensive coming from Mohammed’s stable.

Where the film scores is in its main performances. Shabana Azmi as Rukhsana Jamal has rarely been better. She brings her character to life and succeeds in making Rukhsana Jamal a woman of today. Hard, ambitious but also driven by reason of her family, she is not a hard-nosed bitch as one may imagine but a woman without any male support who does the best she can. Shabana is simply marvellous and the film is hypnotic whenever she is on screen.

Urmilla gives one of her better performances but simply does not have the same skill as Shabana….at some point, you always feel that there is a performance on show. Arjun Rampal is an extremely good looking man who gives the most atrocious performance. Poker faced and devoid and any expression, he tries to provide light hearted relief but with due respect to him, if he had been edited out of the film, the film would have benefited tremendously. Dia Mirza still has a long way to go. Pretty without being exceptional, she brings a rather clichéd feel to her performance. Diana Hayden may be better off trying for a role in La Cage aux Folles!

A.R Rahman’s music is bad except for Mehrbaan and Rampal’s ditty which passes muster. One laments at what could have been and what in fact has translated onto the screen. Ingmar Bergman must be turning in his grave.