DIRECTOR- Rahul Dholakia
CAST- Naseeruddin Shah, Sarika, Master Parzaan, Corin Nemic.
PLOT- "Parzania" is the story of a Parsi family, the Baatliwala’s, living in Ahmedabad in 2002. The family consists of Cyrus (Naseeruddin) a movie projectionist, his wife Shehnaaz (Sarika), his young son Parzaan (Parzaan) and daughter Dilshad. They live in the Beharampur area, in a chawl like residence called the "Mansion", sharing space peacefully with a number of Muslim and Hindu families. Cyrus and Shehnaaz are still very much in love, and their children Parzan and Dilshad are the centre of their existence. Parzan, a major cricket obsessed child, inhabits a utopian, fairy tale world called "Parzaania" , where cricket rules the planet, houses are made of chocolate and everything nice and edible!
Cyrus and family is introduced to an American called Allan (Corin Nemic) who is in Gujarat supposedly writing a thesis on Gandhi, all the while living a very "un-Gandhian" life, marvelling at the even more "un-Gandhian" nature of the political climate in Gujarat. Still, Allan finds the people of Gujarat wonderfully warm and welcoming, and gradually finds himself being drawn into their world.
And then the "Godhra" incident happens. Early in 2002, a number of people in a train crossing Godhra, Gujarat, are burnt alive, supposedly by Muslim terrorists. There is an immediate backlash in the rest of Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad, and communal violence results. The "Mansion" the Baatliwala family lives in is beseiged by a mob of thousands of enraged Hindus belonging to the political group the "Parishad" . People are burnt alive, women raped and cut to pieces, homes burnt down, slaughter everywhere, policemen watching and doing nothing....Shehnaaz tries to escape with her children but loses her son Parzaan.
Cyrus and Shehnaaz, with the help of Allan, frantically search for Parzaan, approach the police, the media....but amongst all the carnage that follows "Godhra" , thousands of destitute, homeless people, grieving families, the farcical "Human Rights" tribunal hearings that supposedly take place to bring justice to the victims, one little Parsi boy who inhabited the mythical world of Parzania, is doomed to remain lost to the real world forever.....
MY TAKE- The audience that trooped out of the theatre, after having watched "Parzania" was the quietest, most petrified audience I have ever come across. They say beauty can petrify you, and fear certainly does....but what about the naked truth? THAT is the power of this movie...that it is based on fact and a shameful chapter in recent Indian history that NOBODY can deny.
I cannot evaluate this movie based on performances. All the actors lived and breathed their characters. I was touched by the love the family shared, I was enchanted by the utopian world little Parzaan creats for himself, and unbearably moved by the pain Cyrus, Shehnaaz, and Dlishaad experience...I cannot think beyond their characters.
"Parzania" goes through gruesome details of the 2002 Gujarat riots, it shows a stony-faced Chief Minister sending mixed messages out to his citizens and the police, how so called "communal" violence can be politically master-minded and used to advantage, it shows how quickly loyalties change and betrayal results, how weak, petty, and self serving the human spirit can be.......but ultimately, "Parzania" is not about all that is bad in this world. It is about LOVE. Despite the fact that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly senseless and destructive, as long as we have someone we can love and hold onto, there is still HOPE in this world.
I salute and applaud Rahul Dholakia for making this movie, and with the release (finally, after two years in the cans) of "Parzania", I am also increasingly hopeful for the state of democracy and free speech in this country. Now all that remains is for justice to be meted out to the victims in Gujarat...or is that asking for too much?