|
Starring: Naseeruddin
Shah, Shahana Goswami, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra, Deepti
Naval, Paresh Rawal, Nowaz, Mohammad Samad, Raghuveer
Yadav
Directed by Nandita Das
Most films about riots are full of violence that they
set out to critique. Actress Nandita Das has her debut
in direction with Firaaq, which explores the fierce and
delicate emotions of fear, anxiety, prejudice and
ambivalence in human relationships during the riots.
Firaaq is an Urdu word that means both separation and
quest. The film is a work of fiction, based on a
thousand stories.
Through
these characters we trace the ways in which violence
impacts both inner and outer lives. Violence spares
nobody. Yet in the midst of this madness, some find it
in their hearts to sing hopeful songs for better times.
In the end, the movie finishes with a dramatic warning
with the face of the young boy who had been wandering
the city. His innocent face fills the screen. The
innocent child’s eyes had seen so much violence.
One would wonder what type of a man this child will be
when he grows up?
Then the screen goes black.
Credits & Crew
Producer - Percept Picture Company
Director - Nandita Das
Director of Photography - Ravi K. Chandran (ISC)
Editor - Sreekar Prasad
Music Composers - Rajat Dholakia, Piyush Kanojia
Sound Designer - Manas Choudhury
Art Director - Gautam Sen
Story & Screenplay - Nandita Das, Shuchi Kothari
|
The story is set over a 24-hour period, one month after
a carnage that took place in Gujarat, India, in 2002. It
traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people - some
who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose
to watch silently. As an ensemble film, it follows
multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and
at times discreet, yet all are united by their spatial
and emotional context.
A middle-class housewife
Aarti (Deepti Naval) closes the door on a woman
desperately seeking refuge, and then struggles to
overcome her guilt. The loyalty of two best friends is
challenged in times with fear and suspicion. Muneera (Shahana
Goswami), a young Muslim woman whose house has been
burnt suspects her friend's (Amruta Subhash) husband to
be behind it.
A group of victimized young men seek revenge as a way
out of their helplessness and anger. A modern day
Hindu-Muslim couple Sameer (Sanjay Suri) and Anu (Tisca
Chopra) struggle between the survival instinct to hide
their true identities and the desire to assert them. A
boy having lost most of his family in the riots, wanders
through the streets searching for his missing father. A
saintly musician Khan Sahab (Naseeruddin Shah) clings to
his idealism until an evidence of civil strife shakes
his faith.
The characters are briefly interconnected and are
involved in each others lives which been affected.
The film
leaves people of one community with the feeling that they
had been discriminated, challenged and are unwelcome
anywhere. All throughout the feeling is that of disbelief
and mistrust in the communities. The mature viewer would
appreciate this effort which the opposite type would feel
that communal disharmony is exploited. It is for the wise
viewer to decide whether the glass is half full or half
empty.
-
Aniz Filmvala
Cast:
Khan Saheb - Naseeruddin Shah
Muneera - Shahana Goswami
Sameer Shaikh - Sanjay Suri
Anuradha Desai - Tisca Chopra
Arati - Deepti Naval
Sanjay - Paresh Rawal
Hanif - Nowaz
Mohsin - Mohammad Samad
Raghuveer Yadav
Inaamulhaq
Dilip Joshi
Sucheta Trivedi
Sumeet Raghavan
Amruta Subhash
Vicky Ahuja
Shafi
Masood Akhtar
Arun Kumar
Special Appearance - Nasser
|
