Parzania. 2005. India.
Directed by Rahul Dholakia
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Parzania. 2005. India. Directed by Rahul Dholakia. Screenplay by David N. Donihue, Dholakia. With Naseerudin Shah, Sarika, Corin Nemec, Parzun Dastar. In 2002, a Hindu-led pogrom against Muslims in the west Indian state of Gujarat resulted in the brutal and senseless deaths of more than 1,100 people. Dholakia, a native of Gujarat now living in Los Angeles, was inspired to make a film about Parsi family friends whose thirteen-year-old son disappeared during the riots (that they were Zoroastrian, not Muslim, did not deter the mobs from attacking them). Despite the critical praise that Parzania has received throughout India, theater owners in Gujarat still refuse to screen it, citing fears of violent protests. According to The New York Times, the chairman of a local multiplex said he would agree only if the radical Hindu group Bajrang Dal promised not to stage demonstrations. Dholakia has made a powerfully humanist statement against fundamentalist extremism, but also a gripping drama, and this is largely due to the astonishingly nuanced performances of Sarika and Naseerudin Shah as the boy’s parents (Shah, who got his start in the 1970s parallel cinema movement, has recently starred in Monsoon Wedding, Shoonya, and Omkara). Courtesy Serene Picture Classics. In Hindi and English, English subtitles. 118 min.
Sunday, April 22, 7:00 (introduced by Dholakia); Thursday, April 26, 8:00. T1
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