Parzania

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.

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

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.....

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

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.