Rahul Dholakia, an Indian director and a native of the Gujarat, decided to make a film about his friend who lost his son during the Gujarat riots of 2002. This news focused his attention to the brutality that gulped innocent lives in his hometown.
So he came up with the film ‘Parzania’ starring veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika that showed the tragic true story of a Parsi couple who lost their son during the riots.
The film tells the true story of Azhar Mody, or Parzan- a 13-year old boy, who disappeared during the riots, that arises when the Sabarmati Express was set on fire killing 58 Hindus, for which Muslims were blamed. Within 24 hours, 100,000 citizens stormed into Ahmedabad and slaughtered thousands of Muslims. And in the midst of the terror and violence, Parzan disappears.
The irony is that despite a number of politically competing investigations looking into the matter, the cause of the train fire is still unknown.
There is no official ban on the film and it is being shown in nine Indian cities. But the multiplex owners in Gujarat refused to screen Parzania under the fear that their premises will be attacked if they screen the movie.
Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, who has openly objected to the screening of the movie, said,
We will not allow the movie to be screened for public till it is shown to us.
The film has been critically acclaimed, especially the work of leading actor Naseeruddin Shah, who plays the father, and Sarika, who plays the mother.
‘Parzania’ is not the only film banned in Gujarat, last year Aamir Khan’s ‘Fanna’ was also not allowed to be screened in Gujarat at the behest of political parties because the actor had spoken out about the sensitive Narmada dam issue.
Another was Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Black Friday,’ a film about the 1993 terror attacks on Mumbai, in which Islamist militants were blamed.
And recently Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Traffic Signal’ faces a ban in Himachal Pradesh because, apparently, he used the word ‘kinnar’ to refer to eunuchs, Kinnaur is a district in Himachal Pradesh.
