Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan
Director : Leena Yadav

Despite a promising premise, the story of ‘Shabd’ begins unraveling faster than the tremulous ties that bind the main characters together.
Sunjay Dutt plays Shaukat Vshisht (even the name sounds so ridiculously pretentious!), a failed writer driven crazy by his own demons, experiencing a block so severe that he relies on his wife to provide his next story. Aishwarya Rai plays his loving wife, Antara, who after mild protestations seeks out a young person to have an extra marital fling with. And finally, Zayed Khan plays a professor (?) of photography who lusts after Ash and mouths the corniest jokes ever uttered on screen.

It is ironic that ‘Shabd’ is weighed down by just that – an abundance of shabds (meaning words), the pointless ponderings of the protagonists get on one’s nerves after a while.

Acting wise, Ash and Zayed are so pathetically lacking in talent, they make Dutt look good. Ash and Dutt share zero chemistry, physically, and when Ash has a perfect little teardrop fall from a perfect little eye during their lovemaking, one gets a distinct feeling that the reason is not passion!
A heavy cloak of pretentiousness covers this venture head to toe.
Even though the direction is not too flawed debutante director Leena Yadav appears to be too much in awe of the actors to bring out any memorable work out of them.
Aseem Bajaj's (Yadav’s spouse) cinematography is commendable, music by Vishal-Shekhar is pleasing.

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