the movie reviews of parzania took a shape of discussion so starting off a discussion thread formally :-), would request other movie buffs to chip in their thoughts...

A though provoking movie
by Gaurav
4 out of 5 people found this comment useful.
User Rating: 4/5

At first I am amazed a movie like this could make it to the box office. Then I remember the rule in the center has changed hands since then. BJP government would have never let this movie come out.

As for the movie itself, it was a well made movie with a strong message. Though there were parts with which I personally don't agree. The old man preaching Gandhigiri, Naseeruddin Shah fasting for 9 days and some kind of enlightenment in the end of it are few to name. Also the message at the end of the movie suggesting the BJP government lost the elections because of Gujrat was highly politicized and IMO far from truth. 2 years is a long time and voters have short memory. Moreover, after the riots, BJP won the state elections more convincingly than they ever had.

Naseerudding Shah is a parsi married to a Muslim(Sarika). They have a son and a daughter. The movie depicts the turmoil their lives take during the Gujrat riots. The depictions of the riots, the apathy of the government and its systems esp. police, are pretty real and convincing. The scene where Naseerudding Shah is sitting in a police station trying to enquire about his lost son and station officers total indifference is something that I have myself encountered a couple of times :) .

Most of the performances were good. The old man preaching Gandhigiri was prolly dispensible.

too good a movie...
by dinrat
2 out of 2 people found this comment useful.
User Rating: 4/5

the movie is based on a real story, it's about a couple who lose their 10 yr old son in gujarat riots... the movie shows the trauma, suffering of the family as they look out for their son... naseer and sarika have acted brilliantly, you can almost cry with them... the movie is largely focused on this couple's pain but still gives you a holistic feel of what happened in riots...

dinrat

A good break from Commercial Cinema
by Shantanu
2 out of 2 people found this comment useful.
User Rating: 3/5

This is a really good movie which concentrates on the actual hardships and atrocities faced by ppl in the riots, the testimonial by Sarika in the end of the movie is really amazing, the acting by Sarika Naseer and even the small girl was too good. But I don't know why I felt that the movie was very much pro Congress, well I know that deeds done by Modi can never be forgiven, but then too I don't agree with the art film directors also falling prey to these dirty politics.

Yes I am convinced with gaurav's reviews that old man preaching gandhigiri was not wanted in the movie I still cant understand why he was there!! then Naseer going on a 9 day fast and seclusion , I still cant understand that even. But the role of Sarika was a really strong one, she is a good actress and maybe should concentrate more on parallel cinema

Yes Modi was wrong in the Godhra episode but we shouldn't forget the development he has given to Gujarat, the roads , the electricity situation and above all after that he came again as a chief minister with a whooping majority, this is a democracy and ppl want him there!!!!

posted by dinrat

though this is not the discussion abt the movie but i wud like to add to my review... i believe the reason naseer was shown as fasting for 9 days was to portray the helplessness of his character, imagine if one of your loved one is lost, you will almost do anything to get him back and your actions need not make sense or be rational (try putting someone close to your heart at stake)...   it's a higher order faith in someone with power beyond the obvious which drives them... i think it is god :-)... in general i believe most of the people are too weak to accept the truth or face the reality as it is, they need someone with supernatural powers whom they can fall back on.. (though I find intellectuals by default think other way round, they question why and how the action and effect are connected and if they dont get any satisfactory path they wont believe it!)

the second reason it was shown was to contrast the characters of naseer and sarika, sarika is facing the situation more realistically and bravely but naseer is yet to accept it...

regarding movie being too politicized, I dont think that is true, yes the last statement regarding central govt losing out was not at all related to this incident... however it was the only during the casting this statement came up, before that everything that was presented was pretty much true... i think the primary takeway was from the 2 hours of movie rather than one statement during casting... take that statement away or dont watch the casting at the end, do you still find it politically motivated? I dont! 

Yes dinrat you are right to some extent....when a man doesnt get success in the realistic efforts unintentionally he looks towards the supreme power, maybe thats why Naseer took the road to 9  days of  fasting and isolation, but even after sacrificing he did not get anything positive whereabouts of his son, but maybe that was the phase when his family got the strength to face the testimonials.

The director prtrayed the character of Chagan the local chap really well in the last part of the movie!

now that you have started this.... here i go. I never said the movie was politicized. I just said the message in the end was. Read the review carefully :) . As for not watching the casting because it contained that message, it was very childish of you dinrat. How was I suppose to know that such a message was coming and shun my eyes and ears.
Your last paragraphs is specially hilarious. I just said the message in the end was politicized and you associated all sort of random manifestations with that such as I didn't like the movie, I thought the movie was politicized, I didn't agree the government supported the riots etc. Dude, grow up. I totally believe that the riots had full support of the then Gujrat government. Infact, it is very clear from my review too had you read it in its entirity.

> But I don't know why I felt that the movie was very much pro Congress, well I know that deeds done by Modi can never be forgiven, but then too I don't agree with the art film directors also falling prey to these dirty politics.

I dont think my comments were on top of your review gaurav, they were on top of shantanu's comments, I did not make it clear explicitly beforehand, sorry about the confusion! See above the comments from shantanu :-).

> regarding movie being too politicized, I dont think that is true, yes the last statement regarding central govt losing out was not at all related to this incident... however it was the only during the casting this statement came up, before that everything that was presented was pretty much true... i think the primary takeway was from the 2 hours of movie rather than one statement during casting... take that statement away or dont watch the casting at the end, do you still find it politically motivated? I dont!

this is my last paragraph abt the movie and again sorry about not making it clear but they were more on top of shantanu's review comments as he declared the movie pro congress as well as declared that the director has fallen prey to dirty politics... which i found pretty much rubbish and almost derogatory to the director who portrayed the reality as it is and directed the movie with such brilliance (I almost took the comment personally :-)... also the distinction between the movie and casting was primarily for shantanu, I dont remember anything in the movie itself which was politically motivated... so separate the boundary and see for yourself was the deal with that comment... it might have sounded childish but I think it was a good objective boundary... the other thing was dont generalize the motive behind the movie with just one comment (again for shantanu)...

> now that you have started this.... here i go. I never said the movie was politicized. I just said the message in the end was. Read the review carefully :) . As for not watching the casting because it contained that message, it was very childish of you dinrat. How was I suppose to know that such a message was coming and shun my eyes and ears.
Your last paragraphs is specially hilarious. I just said the message in the end was politicized and you associated all sort of random manifestations with that such as I didn't like the movie, I thought the movie was politicized, I didn't agree the government supported the riots etc. Dude, grow up. I totally believe that the riots had full support of the then Gujrat government. Infact, it is very clear from my review too had you read it in its entirity.

I think I have clarified enough on the topic... though I think gaurav you read in between the lines a lot :-), I am not sure which line of my comment indicated that "you did not like the movie or you did not agree the govt did not support the riots etc"?

I think chakpak really needs a feature to let users comment on top of a specific review :-)

just to add, gaurav I think you read reviews written by you only :-)... if you had read the review by shantanu "in its entirety" then perhaps you would have seconded me :-)...

dinrat

well I dont know dinrat why you have taken the review so personally , I think in a review I can write whatever I felt about the movie whether you like it or not! oh we have one more hspraveen (Don fame) here!!!!!

dinrat, it was the language of your review that suggested it was aimed at me. You started with talking about the message in the end that was a part of my review. shantanu didn't even touch that in his review.

@gaurav

i think you can expand your reading and comprehension beyond keyword search :-), you seem to have just matched the keyword "politicized" between your and my review, i would suggest check out the review by shantanu again to see how "he touched that movie is politically motivated"... here it goes for a quick reference...

>> But I don't know why I felt that the movie was very much pro Congress, well I know that deeds done by Modi can never be forgiven, but then too I don't agree with the art film directors also falling prey to these dirty politics.

@Shantanu

yeah everyone has right to put his opinion, so did i and so did u... but it should be possible to back up the opinion with facts... which i fail to find in your case :-)...

I am loving this discussion. It seems that politics and not movies is the ethos of India. Guys continue discussing it.

looks like discussion has died down after nitin's comment! :-)