User reviews

There were just 20 odd people in a huge cinema hall in Bombay when I watched this film!! More people in India need to watch films like these. And sadly it will probably never be released in the state of Gujrat, where all this took place. This is a heart rending look at the riots in Gujrat that took place in 2002 in "response" to a "terrorist" act in Godhra, Gujrat where a train was burned and supposedly hindus were victimised. This film is based on a true story. Not as graphic as you would imagine, the film portrays the life of a Parsi family whose son was lost in the riots, or may I say organised genocide. The main focus is the family and the loss they suffer as also the apathy or rather the role of the police and the incumbent government in the massacre of thousands of Muslims/non hindus. The sub plot deals with an American PHD student doing a thesis on Gandhi, and his own journey of self realisation, dealing with his alcoholism and his painful past. All actors have done a wonderful job. The director, himself a Hindu (Gujrati) has done a wonderful job, and kudos to him for fighting all the opposition he probably did face while making this film.

this is a brilliant movie.period.master performances by Sarika Naseeruddin shah bring out the trauma which was faced by the minority community in Gujarat following the train burning incident which occurred at the city of Godhra. based on a true story,the movie tells us about a family of Parsis who lost their son Parzan when their housing society was attacked by religious zealots.parzania is the imaginary land created by parzan where everything is g8 and everyone is happy. brilliantly directed ,

this is one of those few Indian movies which makes the viewer empathize with the characters without exploiting their sentiments.all the actors and the movie deserve national award.two-thumbs up.my rating:10/10

Parzania is easily one of the best movies i've seen in a LONG while. as i watched the movie, my mind was full of respect and admiration for all those who acted and invested in this movie.

first off, it was made brilliantly. the shots, the score.. exquisite. the acting was brilliant too. it was REAL and HONEST and amazingly believable. the movie talks of the events that took place in Gujarat in 2002 on a macro level. at the same time, like in many movies, we are given a local perspective, and this makes for a very personal viewing experience. if you truly do appreciate movies, you'll notice the detail in which this movie and its production has been thought out. everything is symbolic, significant and highly stimulating.

again, the characters are very REAL and make you FEEL for the story. and thats just it. it isn't just a 'story'. it describes what ACTUALLY happened and that itself should hit you hard, right in the chest. the situation is a sensitive one, all the same it has been treated carefully and honestly and made me realize that they have truly used the potential of the medium that is motion picture.

a must-watch. recommend it to your friends and family and be prepared to be FEEL. be prepared for an incredibly REAL and DEEPLY-IMPACTING movie experience.

cheers.

Although the film looks one-sided and blaming mainly Hindus for whatever happened...

But its triumph of cinema......a triumph of film making... I never thought i would have chance to watch a better flick than Black Friday from Bollywood this year....but after watching Parzania i cant tell which one is better.....

Apart from moving storyline and direction what raises Parzania to its zenith is streak of powerful performances.....even the actors who have minuscule role fires energy in his/her role....

But the two actors who stands above all are Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika... Naseer gives one of the finest performances of his career...and when one says one of the finest performance of Naseer career one can wonder how his performance can be....

Sarika----do i dare to say that she is even better than a class actor like Naseer in this flick?? Yeah...i dare to say that she had outdone Naseer's great performance in this flick.....can someone believe that this was the actress who used to come to show her bikini in tiny roles.....where was the talent hidden?

Playing the role of a wounded and sorrowful mother she is simply incredible....she is a complete revelation and no i don't mean like some critics keep using this word every now and then...Her delivery and expression in the emotionally devastating climax of the flick where she narrates the atrocious act before Human Rights Commission left me totally speechless....and when she says "my son had to come back no matter how long it takes...i will wait,i will wait"...i cried up.... This performance should be remembered as one the best performance given by any actress in history of Bollywood....

A must watch for everyone....and if you like quality cinema then you are committing a crime by not watching this flick.....

Everyone must watch to understand what hardship did people of Gujrat suffered during riots in 2002. Parzania has to be one of the very well made movies Indian cinema has given us in the last decade. Parzania cut open the wounds of Gujarat's scarred past, and received backlash and appreciation in equal amounts. The film was based on a superb plot which revolved around a boy called Azhar who goes missing during the Gujarat riots in the year 2002. Even though the film won a National Award, its cinematic excellence was not considered enough for political parties to let it screen in Gujarat, where it was fiercely banned.

Watch Parzania Full movie in HD on https://youtu.be/HohX1dUcjvw

After the disastrous 'Kehtaa Hai Dil Baar Baar', Dholakia is back with something completely different. No need to say that he has shown great improvement as a director in 'Parzania'. Even though there have been many movies that have depicted the political conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in India that have lead to bloodshed, 'Parzania' takes a closer look at the tragedy that happened in Gujarat in 2002.

The film deals with a sensitive and poignant issue but perhaps under the wings of a more experienced director, 'Parzania' may have been a better film. Many of the scenes before the riot appear Bollywoodish and some of the scenes thereafter appear dramatic enough to interfere when it may have worked better had it been treated with subtlety. The Allan character is poorly written. At first he's portrayed as a caricature hippy-tourist type who switches to a whiny alcoholic before becoming a do-gooder. The writer fails to show a convincing transition. I also don't understand the point of Cyrus's quest which he undertakes in order to find answers.

Much of the movie is seen through Cyrus and Shernaz's point of view and those are the parts that worked best. It also helps that the aforementioned roles were played by gifted actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika. Shah downplays Cyrus with élan but it is Sarika who is outstanding. She owns each and every one of her scenes. Parzan Dastur is very likable. Of the supporting cast, Raj Zutshi and Sheeba Chaddha are superb.

Flawed it may be, but 'Parzania' is far from being a bad film. It is worth the watch. Dholakia may not have been the best choice but he took a brave step and perhaps in the future he can tackle such sensitive issues with more skill and thus do more justice to the story.

Every citizen and human being need to see this types of real truthful ness movies.. instead of fantasies..

I need to break this movie down into two categories: Intention and Execution Intention: I have to applaud Dholakia on this one. He intended to come up with a touching, heart wrenching expose on the communal riots in Gujarat. He attacks the powers that be and reveals several facts that viewers may not have gotten from the general media coverage of the riots. All this while trying to explore the effect on one Parsi family.

Execution: This has got to be one of the worst made films I've seen in a while. The dialogue was heavy handed and sounded like it was written by an angsty 13 year old. The characters were flat and uninteresting. There are obvious and stereotypical representations of various concepts such as evil Right Wing Hindu, Helpless Old Victim and my personal favourite: sidelined Gandhian. Nemec's character is a joke, liberally swearing and drinking and doing nothing outside of sanctimonious voice-overs and observations.

All in all, this is a clichéd, heavy handed and angsty treatment of a subject that demands more respect and has so much more to offer in terms of artistic exploration.

Truth has revealed..... Must watch for every one. I cannot stop my years after watching this , the condition is too critical to watch .... Must be released for all the beings.

I think it is a must watch film for every India. Fact are well researched. This film shows due to political agenda how a particular community was targeted.

It is a must watch movie for the people to understand the pain of people who got butchered, raped and massacred for someone's political gain. It shows how easily people are getting manipulated and how much audacity people will get while they are backed by people who are in power.

awesome.....some real serious & emotional stuff...after a long time.. sarika , naseerudin shah and corrin nemec....have done their best....& the man..i don't know his name...but the one who confesses in the court...i didn't knew he acts so well.....each one of them have done their best ... ..

MUCH IS BEING made about the opposition of the Hindi movie Parzania in Gujarat. Parzania is based on the real life-story of a Parsi couple, who lost their son during the post-Godhra riots of 2002. Though the movie was released throughout the country on January 26, 2007, there were no takers for the movie in Gujarat. None of the film exhibitors (theatre-owners) of the state were ready to screen the movie.

The director of the movie Rahul Dholakia has reportedly said that the film exhibitors who claim "they have been told by someone that it would be better if they don't screen the movie in Gujarat" have refused to screen the movie. However they have not specified who gave them this instruction.

The director has further gone on record saying, "This film is about what happened in Gujarat; it is about a Parsi boy of that state. However, I don't understand why the film is not being allowed to be screened in the state."

full story is here...

http://clipurl.com/?NSS791

One of the finest and based on Real True incidents happened in the year 2002 in Gujarat. Right wing goons vandalized several Muslim areas and properties thereby executing massacre and genocide. Must watch to know the real truth of Gujarat Riots of 2002 and the act of Modi at that time with ruling party BJP.

What worked: The narrative of the movie is engaging, disturbing and well executed overall. Since the movie was based on true incident, it was a difficult watch but let me understand what triggered and how the riot destroyed many lives. The story is beautifully presented and the climate of the mood is captured well, making it a watchable movie What did not work: I would say the length of the movie could have been shortened by reducing many of the family scenes, scenes with dramatic touch or scenes were not that important in the story telling. Final verdict: recommended

This movie has excellent screenplay and is based on true incidents . It shows how more than 2000+ Muslims are murdered and raped in the broad daylight under the leadership of then Bjp chief minister narendra modi.

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.