Parzania (2005)

Director:

Rahul Dholakia

Writers:

Rahul Dholakia (writer)
David N. Donihue (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Heaven and hell on earth

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Brother Sister Relationship | Genocide | Parsee | One Word Title | Parsi

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Naseeruddin Shah	...	Cyrus
Corin Nemec	...	Allan
Sarika	...	Shernaz
Parzan Dastur
Sheeba Chaddha
Pear Barsiwala
Asif Basra
Rajendranath Zutshi
Pushpendra Saini
Ram Gopal Bajaj
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anupam Shyam	...	Police inspector

Country:

USA | India

Language:

English | Hindi | Gujarati

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

India:A

Filming Locations:

India

Company:

Circles Motion Pictures

Trivia:

The character 'Parzan' is based upon a child named Azhar, a victim of the devastating Gujarati riots of 2002 who is still missing to this day. The parents of the child placed his picture in the end credits of the film in hopes that he is still alive and someone may recognize him.

Could have been so much better

I was very disappointed in this movie, especially because I am so interested in the events it covers. My main problems with the movie concerns its execution rather than its subject matter.

First, I found that the character development is sloppy and disorganized, but still manages to take up about half the movie length. Especially baffling is Allan's inclusion in the movie; he offers no insightful contribution to the movie, and his presence seems completely unrealistic. Seriously, why is a random white guy narrating a movie that has nothing to do with white people?!? As an American, I found it insulting that the producers thought including a white person in that role would make it more appealing in the West.

The second problem with the movie was the actual directing. The acting is very poor (it is clear that the scenes were filmed in a very broken up manner), the dialog unrealistic, and the motivations unexplained. The bad guys are literally generic Hindus instead of people with backgrounds and feelings. I think just as interesting as exploring the effect on the city and its people would have been exploring possible reasons behind what happened. Instead all we get is a Hindu man staring out the window staring at some Muslims saying "I hate those Muslims" while ominous music plays in the background.

All in all, I give the content of the movie a 6/10, and the execution a 1/10. I am happy I saw the movie - mostly because seeing it re-enacted on video is a different experience than reading eye-witness accounts - but I cannot recommend the movie to anyone but those who are very interested in the 2002 riots.