Rahul Dholakia's(debuted with the dismal KEHTA HAI DIL BAAR BAAR) controversial film PARZANIA(http://www.serenepictures.com/) on the post Godhra riots in which a Parsi child went missing and continues to be missing is releasing in a limited engagement fashion in India. In an email Rahul sent to people registered on his site he beseeches support for his labor of love.

I have asked him about release dates in the USA and will post any updates as and when I get them. In the meantime for those of us in India, this maybe a good movie to support by turning in the theaters to watch it. Remember this movie almost won the National Awards for Best Director and Best Actress.

Here's a copy of the mail he sent out :

"Its been a long wait and a longer struggle- but finally we have managed to get Parzania to the theatres. The distribution circuit is more ruthless than I thought, and if we dont fare well at box office, the five years it has taken to make Parzania will be dismissed in 5 days.

We have a limited release with limited shows. In this last hour we will have to do everything to spearhead a movement of independent cinema which stands up for a cause- in our case; the message is loud and clear: Defeat Hate.

Our film is releasing on January 26th, Republic day in most cities of India. Ahmedabad already has some protests by the Bajrang Dal, and I am not sure where else there may be resistance- This is the time to unite.

You have been an invaluable part in the fight against hate. Please help once more. Lets get audiences into the theatres for Parzania on January 26th. It will be a victory of truth, justice and a new India.

Thanking you for your continued support

Best

Rahul"

Parzania

Movie Preview


By Taran Adarsh, January 27, 2007 - 09:49 IST

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 and how it loses its 10-year-old kid to the riots. The message is clear: The common man is most affected when catastrophe strikes!

The wounds may have begun to heal, but the atrocities leave behind scars that are difficult to conceal. PARZANIA doesn’t talk of politicians or the reasons that triggered off the riots. It tells you of a family whose lives go topsy-turvy during the riots.

Allan [Corin Nemec], an American, arrives in Ahmedabad searching for answers, praying to find internal peace and understand the world and his troubled life. Allan has chosen India as his school and Gandhi as his subject. It’s here that he meets Cyrus and his loving family.

Write your own movie review of Parzania
Cyrus [Naseeruddin Shah] lives with his wife Shernaz [Sarika], son Parzan [Parzan Dastur] and daughter Dilshad [Pearl Barsiwala]. Communal riots break out in the city and the Hindus target this housing colony. In the midst of terror and violence, Parzan disappears. The heart-broken family begins their search for Parzan.

PARZANIA packs in a solid punch in those two hours. The story actually takes off when hundreds of Hindus attack the colony. The helpless residents find themselves in a quandary. From this point onwards, right till the finale, PARZANIA has the power to keep you glued to the proceedings.

Sure, the pace drops in the second hour, when Cyrus and Shernaz begin their frantic search for the missing kid, but the narrative reaches its crescendo during the concluding reels [people testifying before the Commission]. It wouldn’t be erroneous to state that the penultimate twenty minutes are the highpoint of the film, especially Sarika’s statement to the Commission.

Director Rahul Dholakia has handled the subject material with utmost sensitivity. Also, he has extracted topnotch performances from every member of the cast. Cinematography is of standard. The riot portions [Sham Kaushal] are expertly handled.

Naseer is brilliant in a role that seems right for him, but it’s Sarika who outshines everyone. Natural to the core, she displays anguish and sorrow with amazing maturity. The two kids are alright, although the girl gets more scope. Corin Nemec does a fine job. Raj Zutshi makes his presence felt. The actress enacting the role of Nikhat [who’s saved by a Hindu] is tremendous.

On the whole, PARZANIA is a well-made film that’s targeted at viewers of serious cinema.

Rating:- * * * [critique].




** I posted because of acclaim for Sarika!! I was SO IMPRESSED with her 5 minutes comeback in Babul, her body language, simplicity was mind blowing!

Trailers for these showing on Zee/B4U look really good, one of the few films that I'm looking forward to at the moment.

Ali

Gujarat petrified of Parzania
By IndiaFM News Bureau, January 30, 2007 - 12:16 IST

Rahul Dholakia is disappointed to learn that his directorial venture Parzania, set against the backdrop of the 2002 Godhra riots, is not finding any takers in Gujarat.

Parzania is a film about how a Parsi family loses their son in the murderous civil riots that took place at Godhra. It is based on the true story of Dara Modi’s family. It talks candidly about the socio-political situation in Gujarat at the time. Fearing that the movie will rekindle dormant emotions and garner hatred, theatre owners in Gujarat have refused to screen Parzania. They also fear that the movie will hurt the sensibilities of Hindu activists and enrage them. Rahul however, says that there may be some political undertones in his film, but it's a human interest story at the end of the day. Reportedly, he had put ads in Gujarati newspapers and booked theatres. But not a single cinema hall is screening his film as yet.

Rahul has not given up hope. He is confident that the film will reach Gujarat for sure. A local rights group called Drishti has started an online campaign, requesting the screening of Parzania in Gujarat. A lot of people have already signed the petition. The Modi family has also come forward making the same plea, so that they can find their lost son. Hopefully, these petitions will yield results soon.

Rahul is not afraid of making bold films that deal with sensitive issues. He is now set to make a film based on the Kashmir militancy. Apparently, Rahul was moved when some students from a Kashmir Valley told him that they feel like aliens in their own country. That is when he decided to make the film, which according to him, will be a human interest story like Parzania.

Parzania stars Naseeruddin Shah, Sarika and Raj Zutshi in lead roles. The film has been doing rounds in festivals world over and saw a mass release in India in cities like Mumbai and Pune on Jan 26, 2007.

Cheers I'm well gonna look out for this.

Some xvid dvdrip, which looks really good, is out on the usual places

Did this ever get a release at the cinema? Anyone watch it? Any good?

Ali

Oh dear, this must be one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. It's hard to describe the mess this movie is. The performances of the actors are all good, the emotions that Naseer and Sarika put on are all praiseworthy but it’s more the execution and how the movie has been put together that’s the real let down. The movie is mostly in English with random bits in between spoken in Hindi, with no real understanding why the sudden switch between the languages or even why most of the characters are speaking in English in the first place. Consequently the dialogues sound amateurish making the characters flat and very uninteresting. It feels like once in a while something profound is being said by some drunken tramp. The intentions might be right to get the story told to wider audience but execution is very poor to say the least.

Ali

dvd 9 posted here, PQ looks very good indeed, but seems it is cropped or not captured right

http://www.bwtorrents.com/showthread.php?t=99655

may be ali bhaii can copy/paste some here