The horror of Gujarat genocide of 2002 came back to my mind when I watched the movie Parzania made by Rahul Dholakia. The profound tragedy of hundreds of victims of the backlash in Gujarat following the incident of burning of the coaches of Sabarmati Express in Godhra on February 27, 2002 in which 59 Hindu pilgrims were charred to death forms the backdrop of the story of the Parsi couple in Ahamedabad, Cyrus Peethawala (Naseeruddin Shah) and Shernaz (Sarika) searching for their 10-year old son who has been missing since violence broke out in the city. Based on a real-life story, the film unravels the personal tragedy of the middle-class family of Cyrus. A young American, who is in Ahamedabad at that time to study Gandhiji and becomes a close friend of Cyrus, is meant to be a character to give an outsider perspective on the carnage that happened in the land of Gandhiji. The outburst of emotions by the Shernaz and other victims at the hearing of the Human Rights Commission makes a cathartic effect on them and the audience that watches the movie. Cyrus also undergoes a nine-day religious purification ritual from which he comes back with a sense of reconciliation.
I am not a film enthusiast, but I cannot ignore some deep flaws in the way in which the subject has been treated in the movie. The melodramatic treatment of the personal tragedy with its emphasis on heightened emotions leaves the viewers struggling to contain tears flowing from their eyes. That shows the absence aesthetic sense of balance in the film.
It is this balance that marks out The Devil’s Arithmetic, a movie based on a novel on Holocaust written by Jane Yolen. The movie narrates the story of a Jewish girl living in modern America being mentally transported to the Nazi-occupied Poland of 1942 and transformed into a 13-year old Jewish girl from a family that experiences the tragedy at the concentration camp. The movie is a poem in celluloid as it treats the profundity of the Jewish tragedy without taking recourse to melodrama. Your eyes may not shed a single drop of tears while watching it, but you will be gripped by the enormity of the Holocaust. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen in my lifetime.
1 comment:
There has been a steady stream of Hindi movies on Communal Polarisation. The earliest one being, 'Garm Hawa'. A heartbreaking story set somewhere in Pakistan and India during partition. One scene lingers in my memory.
The Hindu family residing in Pakistan decides to travel to India and they realise that grandmother is not to be seen anywhere. After much searching, they find her cramped under the staircase. While she is pulled out she screams - i won't leave this house, let me be ---. Great acting from one of the all time greats, Balraj Sahni.
Another one in the same genre is 'Mr&Mrs Iyer'. Directed by one of my favorites. Aparna Sen, captures the ironic, but deeply romantic tryst between a Brahmin Housewife and a Muslim Photographer. One scene which cannot ever be erased from the viewer's mind is the one where a very old Muslim man is bustled out of the bus by Hindu fanatics to his death. This scene, so terribly undramatic - as the wife hands out his dentures and glasses, stays with you for long and more.
I have not seen Parzania as yet, but have been waiting to see it.
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