This is one of those rare flicks which make u sit up and think!It will make you hate all those people, who are trying to divide the country on communal lines.Without any forced scenes of violence, blood or gore, the movie will make you realise the horrors of communal riots.It will send a chill down ur spine.
Kudos to Rahul Dholakia for the brave attempt.Its time our government, our censor board and our people accept the truth, try, and release such movies to a wider audience.However, thats kind of tough in our country.
*The Story:-
*The story is about **Cyrus(Nasseer)** family. Cyrus is a Parsi.His small and sweet family consists of his wife **Shernaz(Sarika)**, his daughter Dilshan(Donno the name of the child artist) and his son **Parzaan(parzaan Dastoor). **They live in Ahmedabad.Cyrus works in a local cinema theatre, as a projectionist.Parzaan is an intelligent kid.He always dreams/thinks/visualizes of a place Parzaania(where mountains are made of icecreams:)).He is a die-hard cricke fan too.Dilshan, his little sister, loves him a lot.And, both of them, are their parents sweethearts.
*Alan(Corin Nemec) **comes to Ahmedabad in search of peace and here he meets Cyrus and his family.
The sweet/simple story takes a shocking turn when the chawl, where Cyrus and his family stays, is attacked by Hindus.The chawl is surrounded by these men and police remain just a mute spectator, infact hand-in-hand with these people.The Hindus attack the chawl, as a revenge to Godhra Massacre, since the chawl mainly comprises of Muslims.The mob causes destruction at the place, killing many people.Theres mayhem everywhere.And in this massacre, Parzaan goes missing.
The rest of the story is about how Parzaan’s family is heart-broken and go searching for him frantically.The climax is mind-blowing and is very powerful.The victims of the riot testify in front of the commision.They describe the horrific events and how the police dint interfere. How they were left helpless to die.Sarika’s performance during her testifying is amazing and power packed.
The movie has many mindblowing scenes:-
When Alan sets fire to one of the poster of a Hindu leader.
Nasseer searches his son in a pile of dead bodies.
A muslim woman pleading for her life and the expression on the face of the man, who finally pardons her.
Sarika and her daughter hiding in the fields.The girl is so scared and doesnt want her mom to go and search for Parzaan.She is yelling frantically "Dont go Mom.They will kill you"!
*Performances:-*
*All actors deserve an applause.*
Nasseer is terrific and very natural.Sarika is mind blowing.We wish to see her in more such meaningful roles.Corin is effective.The girl playing Parzaan’s sister is very natural and is very talented.Parzaan Dastoor is brilliant and lives the role.He is definitely a rare talent.Raj Zutshi is competent.
Direction is in one word is **"Powerful"**.Rahul Dholakia handles the sensitive subject with aplomb and a lot of courage.He succeeds in conveying the message.Thats an achievement.
Cinematography is good.
The drawbacks which I felt were - 1. The pace drops in the second hour. 2 The Movie is in english and hence wont find a wider audience.
*Otherwisethe movie is powerful and really an eyeopener.A must watch!*