January 30th , 2007
Watched Parzania today. With mom. She seemed a little disturbed after we came back from the two and a half hour movie. And I wouldn’t blame her for that. Only a mother would understand the pain of a mother on losing a child. Well that’s not wot the movie is entirely about. It’s about communal riots, about a group of fanatic people who do not have the open minded attitude of accepting a different philosophy to attaining the same goal.
Based on a true life story, the movie revolves around a Parsi family which lives in a cosmopolitan area which incorporates not just Hindus but also Muslims without distinction. It’s a happy family to start of with- Father, a projectionist at the theater; Mother, a housewife; Son, a thirteen year old cricket aficionado; and the Daughter, a regular younger sister in awe of her elder brothers’ imagination. The two children create a dream world with the call Parzania where all that they dream of is happiness. At the same time the movie shows a group of fanatics planning a bloodcurdling riot to avenge the Godhra killings. The film also involves an American student who arrives in Gujarat to complete his thesis on Gandhi and witnesses the manic killings in the Ahmedabad. The impact of the riots on the American mind, which believes that his country has “thrice the number of homicides, as compared to India”, is such that he starts spiraling into a mad frenzy of self destruction, only to be saved by a Gandhivadi gentleman. In the ensuing riots a number of Muslim families are killed, butchered in fact, a number of women raped mercilessly irrespective of their age, and a large number of families rendered homeless. The Parsi family too has to encounter a catastrophe, when mistaking them for a Muslim family, the rioters attack their house too. The wife escapes along with her two children and seeks help in the neighborhood Hindu houses only to face closed doors. With the rioters closely following them the mother and daughter succeed in escaping but losing Parzan(the son) in the bargain. All through the movie, the portrayal of the distraught parents of the Parsi boy- Parzan- by Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika touches the heart. Even the child artist who plays the role of Dilshad(the sister) is good.
The movie leaves you with a seething anger for all fundamentalists. For their stiff neckedness. For their unyielding behaviour. Be it a Hindu or a Muslim, it’s a lesson for them all. That nothing is achieved from such irrational behaviour. It just gets added to the "will avenge for" list which may lead to another such misfortune and thus it all revolves in to self inflicting vicious circle.
Isn’t that what religions are all about ? Its just another path to attain the same goal. Another person’s way to attain the goal maybe different but that doesn’t mean its wrong. Have we become so intolerant, that we cannot accept a another individuals choice of following the religion his father taught him to follow ? Have we become so hard hearted that we can shut our doors to our neighbors when the real need of the hour is to save them from the onslaught of the bloodthirsty fanatic knife ?
India seems to have become a live bomb. Ticking away to its destruction only because a few intolerant people want to show others how invincible "their God" is. Want to see the Subcontinent's destruction ? It's so simple ! Just point out a few incidents which, however harmless they may have been, had some mention of one religion's supremacy over the other. Then sit back and watch the people bicker among themselves and bring down national wealth which took hours and hours of toil by their very ancestors. Watch them reduce all to ashes by the Tandava of their fury. They won't think of the consequences even once. And after one group of fundamentalists are done with exhausting their pent up energy, the other group is ready. An eye for an eye- thats the mantra of the day.
Is this really the way to become a superpower ? Is showing how you can destroy another mans mansion a proof of your power ? Y cant we all get together and show the world what power lies within us through more intellectual means ? We,Indians are definately that competitive enough to overcome our shortcomings and emerge victorious. 2020, they say, is the year when India shall break all its shackles and march forth with renewed confidence. The onus lies on us........................................
3 comments:
That write up, I will call that thoughtful,idealistic and a reflection of what the youth wish for today. Well so if we live in an imperfect world we can make it perrrfect...like Ranjita put it the onus is on us...
When violence is the order of the day its very important we express what we desire, and by this post I think our author has done her part and now its our turn, each of ours....
nice post keep writing cause it pulls a chord somewhere in our hearts... a good write to sum it up!
Very Good !! Well Written.
I enjoyed reading it.You have really absorbed the real essence of the movie and seem to be really affected by it.WELL DONE.
A heart wrenching write-up....much like the movie i guess...though i havent seen the movie myself, i presume it has done a very convincing job of portraying certain fanatic elements of our society who commit a lot of violence under the disguise of asking justice...But i do diasgree with certan aspects of the movie
Here it only depicts the predicament of 1 family who lost a son despite being uninvolved in the entire scenario.But what about those 100s of familes which were torn apart or some which were completely wiped out in the Godhra riots???Weren't people who were burnt alive inside a train compartment not innocent??Did they ever anticipate in their wildest nightmares that something so bloodcurdling would happen in their lives??
Agreed that the riots in consequence of d Gohra killings were not necessary...but thinking that they would not infuriate the public is like living in ignorance.
Had Godhra not occured, these riots would never have taken place.The second riots were caused because the local man was instigated to do so....what about that which occured in godhra?
Definitely,the riots did lead to loss of human life.Perhaps,it could have been avoided....
I only wonder why nobody makes a movie on the Godhra killings ...which was the actual root cause for the riots which followed later...why are we not shown the devastated life of those who lost their dear ones in the Godhra?? I hope a day comes when we will be able to have a balanced view about all that happened in the past...I'm saying 'past' because i hope not to have any further communal riots in the future...Lets work towards having a better and a stronger India..an India which will not be threatened, an India which will progess in the right direction, which will work as a single unit not considering any religion. And if this happens....delhi abhi door nahi!!!
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