Parzania


Cast
Naseeruddin Shah .... Cyrus
Corin Nemec .... Allan
Sarika ... Shernaz

Writing credits - Rahul Dholakia, David Donihue
Directed by Rahul Dholakia


As most of the reviews of Salam-e-ishq came out pretty bad, i decided to check out Parzania nominated for 2 national awards, and it turned out to be an impressive movie


Storyline
Unlike other movies, Parzania's story which is inspired by a true story doesnt make you go round and round over the controversy subject, rather hit the audience with the truth of the event, and the movie hits really hard.


The story revolves around the days of life in a parsi family living in a small society in a town in Ahmedbad post the Godhra Event. Naseerudin Shah as Cyrus a happy go lucky parsi man, who likes to tinker with his scooter and work in a movie theater. His wife Shernaz (Sarika), a housewife who lives with peace and harmony with the neighbours and looks after the two little kids - Parzaan and Delnaaz. Allan (Corin Nemec), comes into the town to cover up Gandhi's teachings and his life to finish up his thesis and becomes friends with this parsi family.


After Godhra, there is a hatred building up inside the hindus to avenge the death of their loved ones, who are assumed to be butchered by musalims. Once the hindus have enough ammunition, they move out into the town, slaying down any muslim they find, raping females, butchering men, setting people and buildings on fire. When this riot reaches the society where the parsi family lives in harmony with hindus and muslims, events lead to Shernaz and Delnaaz running out to save their lives, whereas Parzaan gets left behind in the riot. Later on Cyrus finds them, and they are taken to camps where muslims are staying, From here on starts the family's quest to find their missing son, unknown if he is still alive, they go through looking for help from the media, to the police, in faith and finally even in superstition. The final scene of the movie is a court proceeding of the judiciary committee to find out the happening of the riots on the particular day and Sarika outperforms everyone else in this scene.


What the movie delivers to you is something that one cannot even think of watching on a theatre, there are scenes where it is shown that what humans can do on the name of religion, scenes of people being cut down, females being burnt alive, dead bodies scattered on the ground are shown crudly and they make you think that how can a human do this to another. Among all this there are scenes which make you believe that humanity is still alive, the scene where a hindu mob member hides a muslim female, a young kid picking up sword and orange cloth, to make the chasing hindus go away from the running parsi family, make you belive that good exists. The court hearing in the end where the judiciary committee listens to the people's verdicts as to what they saw that day of riots is the hardest hitting point of the movie, people standing up and telling that the police just stood there watching , people cutting,raping and burning muslims fo no reason and hindus showing way to the crowd where muslims lives just to save their lives make your mind boggle.


Direction
The direction of the movie is simply brilliant, there are scenes shot that you cannot imagine a person going through, such as Nasseruddin shah looking through the burnt bodies kept just at the back of the police station. The director catches the spirit of families of different castes living in a small society beautifully, and also the reactions of people from diffrent religion when they are confronted with riots.There are other similar scenes that keep you glued to the seat and not even wanting to blink.


Screenplay
The acting is astounding, what can you expect from Nasserudin Shah, he is one of the best actors of India, and he shows, Sarika, she still looks so damn beautiful,{I cant believe she is so beautiful yet}, and her acting is top notch, from a happy mother, to a woman saving her children from an angry mob, to a brave female sitting in court telling what she went through. The two children played their parts to perfection, the boy being a wanna be cricketer, and the girl just growing up understanding her surrounding and believing what her brother tells us. Other characters such as the policemen, the neighbour muslim family, the paper delivery boy, every character is well defined and leaves a mark on you. You do not forget them once the movie is over like other side characters.


Storyline
Inspired by a true story of the Godhra incident of Feb 2002, i believe the story line is just perfect. I have no other words to explain it.


Overall Parzania is a movie that should be watched, its a movie not to be missed, it makes you think that is religion really something that makes people fight, or is it just a face for the ministers to get their vote bank up.
Like i said before, Parzania is a movie that hits you, and it hits you hard.


Must Watch - 10/10


On a personal note :
The movie depicts an event that most of us know of, and have seen or heard of it, but what happens to the people who go through this ordeal is something that we do not understand, what this movie portrayed has literally shaken me up from inside, the ongoings of what humanity can fall to and rise on such occasions is something that can only be understood if you go through something like this, or from a movie that depicts it so very well.
This movie shows the true face of the police, the politicians and the reactions of people from different casts and religion to people from other religions at the time of such crisis.


This is the second movie after the movie Dhoop that has made me think about the thing that can i really say: I am proud to be an Indian ? ? ?