Review
Totally Biased Fan Review:
A compelling film that shreds light on a horrific flash point in India's history, Parzania is also a courageous critique of Narendra Modi's government, who failed to intervene when the riots erupted and investigate and prosecute those responsible for the violence.
Allan Webbings (Corin Nemec) travels to India on a journey of self realisation. Befriended by an Indian scholar and local protectionist Cyrus (Naseeruddin Shah) and his family, Allan starts to find some peace of mind and begin dealing with his alcoholism and painful past.
This tranquility is shattered after a fire erupts on a train killing 58 Hindus, an event perceived as an act of Muslim terrorism. Within 24 hours, rioters storm into Ahmedabad brutally slaughtering hundreds of Muslims in one of largest acts of genocide in the country's history. In the midst of the terror and violence, Cyrus's son Parzan disappears. While Cyrus fights for his sanity and searches for Parzan, Allan struggles to understand the truth behind the riots.
Honest and unfliching, Parzania features stellar performances from Naseeruddin Shah, Sarika and Corin Nemec. This is not your typical "Bollywood" fare but rather an important film that needs to be seen by wider audience than it has thus far received.
Recommendation:
This is a beautiful and compelling film. It deserves a Criterion Collection release. Buy the DVD, watch it and send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you agree that this wonderful film.
Trivia
The character 'Parzan' is based upon a child named Azhar, a victim of the Gujrat 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.
Articles
India Now and “Waitress” give the city a (short) breather from TFF - Indiewire "India Now" at the MoMA Last week saw the opening of MoMA‘s India Now film program, a survey of modern Indian art cinema. Far from the average Bollywood fare, India now ... |
Response to the film "Parzania" raises the question: Can Gujarat confront its brutal past? - The NY Times MUMBAI - Rahul Dholakia, an Indian filmmaker and a native of the western Indian state of Gujarat, set out five years ago to make a movie about a friend who ... |
Parzania Movie Review - OneIndia Parzania, directed by Rahul Dholakia, affects you. Not only does the film unfold the Godhra riots and aftermath on screen, it also narrates the heart-rending story of a Parsi family ... |
Cinema at its very best... and then some not quite so at all - The Hindu For long the distributors dithered over the fate of "Parzania", an insightful essay on the 2002 Gujarat pogrom. The Censors too took time clearing the film that relates the true ... |
Cinematic search mission to locate lost Azhar Mody - Screen Weekly Defeat hate, celebrate unity! That's the slogan of this Republic Day. As US-based filmmaker Rahul Dholakia releases Parzania on January 26, he gifts each viewer with a tri-coloured friendship band ... |
Indian Film, Parzania, Hopes to Resolve Unsolved Crime - Cinematical On the surface, Parzania seems like a simple, English, fictional re-telling of the 2002 riots that were sparked when 59 Hindu train passengers died in Godhra, India from a fire ... |
Filmmaker hopes India film will solve child mystery - Reuters NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The makers of "Parzania", a new Bollywood movie set to the backdrop of 2002 communal riots in India's western state of Gujarat, hope its ... |
Death of humanity in Mahatma’s land - The Financial Express Almost five years after Gujarat riots of February 2002, a gutsy English-language feature film that looks at the communal carnage through the eyes of a real-life Parsi couple whose only ... |
Heaven & Hell on Earth (Parzania) Review - Variety Potently integrating a family saga with the tragic 2002 riots in Ahmedabad, India, Rahul Dholakia's searing "Heaven & Hell on Earth" dramatizes one family's quest for a missing son. Expatriate ... |
Parzania is a wake-up call - Rediff.com Filmmaking is about telling a story, but every now and then, the story is so strong that the telling isn't as important anymore. Rahul Dholakia's Parzania is a wake-up call, a ... |
Film on Gujarat riots to screen at Pusan - DNA Muslims, Parsis and Gujaratis make the best biryani, dhansak and dhoklas respectively. A simple understanding of the three communities that film-maker Rahul Dholakia grew up with. "Now suddenly an eight-year-old ... |
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