Parzania

I don't remember the last time I came so close to sobbing in the theatre. And it's not like in the middle of the film you're like, heck it's just a film, it's not real...because it is real, every bit of it. Much like Gopal Menon's documentary (Hey Ram : Genocide in the land of Gandhi), this film brings you face to face with a heinous episode not so far back, which we all seem to have forgotten with amazing alacrity. It's not till you see films like these that you realise the enormity of the Gujarat Riots. How dare our country talk about racism and "global issues" like that when we happily shelter fascist pigs like Narendra Modi and some other unmentionable miscreants who carry out carefully planned communal riots and masaacre thousands and get away with it? How dare we call ourself secular, united or tolerant, when there is so much of hatred against each other and each other's beliefs?

Political concerns aside, this film is truly moving, on a human and emotional level. You realise that, there are many like Cyrus, looking for a lost son, daughter, husband or wife, either killed or lost or burnt to ashes, never to be found. The film shows how your normal, everyday life can be left shattered and shaken in an instant...how a parent will do anything to save his or her child...how sometimes struggle is futile, sometimes inspiring. Aside from that irritating American, the performances (Naseer and Sarika especially) will leave you spellbound. I have my reservations about the film being in English though, but perhaps it wouldn't have been able to reach out to the larger audiences if it had been in the local language. But some local bootlegger saying Fuck and it's derivatives over and over again jarrs as does that entire Voice Over thing by the American (and his entire story as a matter of fact). Infact some of the dialogues are so trite, you feel like cringing and it blotches this otherwise moving film. But I'm not here to review. Just want you to know that, this is a film that needs to be watched. And carry the Kleenex. You'll need it.

Do read up Rajdeep Sardesai's article.