Firaaq (2009)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

good back-story, and good acting

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Nandita Das has done a brilliant job with Firaaq.The film is set during the Gujarat riots and everything about it is as real as it gets. This is about people and relationships in the circumstances, rather than just another non documentary depiction of that abominable period.The sets, the people, the attitudes, the mannerisms, the well chosen cast, everything held the interest.Deepti Naval's scene where she puts a drop of hot oil on her forearm to atone for not saving a riot victim who came to her doorstep. Likewise when she befriends and tries to nurture the little boy who ran away from the camps to look for his missing father.Dilip Joshi as the unrepentant rapist - rioter was most believable. It was a bit of a shock seeing Jethalal of Taarak Mehta in this serious and horrifying role.Paresh Rawal was the superb actor that he always is. The smirk on his face after managing to extract money from the car owner even when he was in the wrong, and other scenes are excellent.Naseeruddin Shah, Nawazuddin, Tisca, all of them were excellent.This is a film well worth watching though perhaps not just before bedtime as it is grim viewing.Children should also be allowed to watch so that they may hopefully ensure that pogroms such as the Gujarat riots do not occur again.

This movie is worth its efforts to document the tragic events of 2002 riots in Gujarat, with the main personality behind this project being Nandita Das, who happens to be the director besides being one of the writers, definitely made this movie without having an eye at the box-office. The movie effectively portrays, people from various strata of society getting affected. Such communal riots are not new to India, although their frequency is gradually on decline since independence, but the mere concern to empathize with the victims through this project is laudable, irrespective of the trigger for the same being the burnt railway coach at Godhra. Whenever future generations wants to know and visualize about this incident, then this movie will definitely play an important role along with some other movies like Parzania on the same event.

After watching this movie, I don't think anyone can justify that its the first movie of an actor turned director 'Nandita Das'. I heard combined views about this movie, however the movie was a fine piece of art. Although the whole movie juggled many different stories together but in the end it seemed like as if everything was being balanced and I am amazed how Nandita managed to conclude it unbiased. Marvellous cinematography, direction and bold dialogs. Hats of Nandita for daring to be so bold and straight to address the most critical issue and that too in such a beautiful package. Nasiruddin Shah's character had very few dialogs but his silence was much more powerful than words. I am surprised that none praised Raghuvir Yadav. Unfortunately, his hard-work remains unnoticed by many due to magnificence of actors such as Naseeruddin Shah. Overall, a great movie and a very courageous debut by Nandita.

I admit that I was quite interested about Firaaq, mainly because of the international felicitation that it has received. Yet I was a little hesitant in going for the movie – especially after a long week at work - I didn't want to watch a heavy movie about the Gujarat riots! I instead chose what I thought would be a light movie – Straight (and regretted it). But I couldn't be more wrong about Firaaq ...Yes its set amidst the Gujarat riots – a month after it, to be precise. But it doesn't have any of the violence or bloodshed of the riots. It instead follows a set of people who are struggling to come to terms with life in the aftermath of the riots. Nandita Das has taken some ordinary people and showed us how they react when faced with something extraordinary – it brings out the worst in some like Paresh Rawal while some like Sanjay Suri look to escape.It is a rare movie that can stir up a whirlpool of emotions inside the viewer – feelings as diverse as loathing, despair, hope and happiness and everything that is in between – all in a runtime of just 100 minutes. Nandita Das exceeds expectations in her directorial debut in Firaaq, taking on the Gujarat riots issue with a wonderful sensitivity. Sure, she has the advantage of having a stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah & Paresh Rawal in Firaaq - but the finesse with which the screenplay seamlessly weaves all the story together is completely to her creditFrom a slightly disturbing opening scene, we are introduced to the different characters and their dilemmas - the Hindu-Muslim urban couple who are leaving town, a Muslim couple who come back to their home to find it burnt down, the gujarati housewife struggling to come to terms with her guilt, a orphaned child looking for his family and an ageing singer oblivious to reality … Each of the actors' performance has been stellar – you cannot help but loath Paresh Rawal and equally you share Deepti Naval's agony and her wish for atonement. Naseeruddin Shah is in a league of his own, playing a musician from a forgotten generation who is disconnected from today's world.As if the multitude of stories were not enough, each of the stories tug at your heart in different directions. From the despair at finding her entire household in ashes to the suspecting her best friend, from the fear of the police to the anger at the bride's silly remarks about the riots, Muneera (Shahana Goswami) bares her thoughts to us. The sharing of the bindi between friends and the intermixing of the names Mohan and Mohsin – the movie is replete with such subtle subtexts.With its limited runtime, Firaaq doesn't conform to the traditional norms of giving a background to each story or taking each of them to a logical conclusion. So maybe it might feel a little abrupt at the start to some. But such trifling irritants are completely forgotten by the time you finish watching Firaaq as you would find yourself overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.I regularly review movies at http://bisprad.blogspot.com