FIRAAQ by NANDITA DAS

AgnesTorneCasas

Have somebody watch the film?!

saajan_20

Is nandita das in it ??
I can just go and watch her sorry but have nt watched it yet !!

Meander

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/m...ew/4288252.cms

Link for the movie on 'Times of India'....looks good...

NeeliAankhen

I have seen it and recommend that you try to see it if you have a chance. It's been in film festivals and also, I think, had a release in India.

Nandita directed it and is not in it. She has said she wanted to make a film about what violence does to people, without making a violent film, and she has done so.

The movie tells stories of several people in the aftermath of the Gujurat riots.

The only violence in the film actually is domestic, men against women, and it's pretty apparent to me that she connects violence in ordinary life with violence in larger society.

baba420

Nandita Das is hot

machadinha

I don't know about anyone's hotness (the maker however is acclaimed in her own right, I believe?), but, yeh, I saw it. In Hyderabad, to be precise.

I found it a very gripping movie. And couldn't even understand the words, of course; but the gist of the story (and knowing a little of the backgrounds) seemed clear enough; it helps that the characters sometimes go off into English, and that parts of it were subtitled in English, presumably whenever they speak Gujarati or something.

Like NeeliAankhen said, it depicts several families caught in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots, and dealing with that in their own ways; among these, notably a Muslim family, the youths of which are driven towards a somewhat ill-considered form of radicalization while the elderly are trying to maintain some equilibrium; contrasted with a Hindu family, the head of which is of the fanatical variety, while the woman at the head of the house (one of the main protagonists, together with one of the elderly Muslim men before) is slowly falling apart at her own memories of events.

The threat of violence makes itself felt throughout the movie, but it is rarely actually depicted yes, making it that more chilling. (You will remember that one short and shocking incident, Neeli, where it does spill over onto the screen.)

In a similar way, the undercooled small-drama approach of the movie I felt only adds to the overall effect.

I would have spoken out for the movie earlier here, but I'm surprised to hear it's still in the cinemas even, if it is; most of my friends predicted it wouldn't be around for long, as these "serious" kind of projects hardly make for box-office material in India. (Simply put, and as they would put it, most people have enough on their minds not to want to see even more misery on screen. The common explanation for Bollywood's great appeal too, of course.)

There was talk of it being banned in Gujarat at the time, I don't know what ever came of that; but it served as something of a minor scandal surrounding its release. (Ah, so I see now, Neeli: yes, it was definitely released there, but this spring or so, again I don't know if it's still doing the rounds in India. It was pretty widely advertized on TV and in the papers alright, which probably drew my attention to it.)

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