Many of us may remember actor Parzaan Dastur as the little kid from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai who never spoke and counted the stars. But the fellow's last outing was a film called Parzania that portrayed the apathy of a real-life Parsi couple caught in the communal crossfire in Gujarat. Parzaan Dastur played the couple's son who gets lost in the riots and is yet to be found.
Rahul Dholakia, the maker of Parzania is now working on a film set in Kashmir. Interestingly Parzaan's latest movie Sikandar is also based on what is now popularly known as 'the Kashmir issue'. Which brings me to the point – just what is it that we mean when we use this phrase.
Indeed Kashmir has a multitude of issues that need to be resolved. Among them is the alienation of young school-going boys and girls in the face of the ongoing anarchy in the state.
Sikandar, directed by Piyush Jha, hopes to address and tries to tackle the politics behind this rather sensitive issue. So you are introduced to Sikandar (Parzaan Dastur), a 14-year-old boy who stumbles upon a gun on his way to school. Despite his newfound friend Nasreen's (Ayesha Kapoor) protests, he uses it to threaten the bullies at school and to get out of every other uncomfortable situation.
Slowly but surely, the gun becomes part of his life and a terrorist spots him and sees him as a potential recruit to bump off a former separatist leader played by Sanjay Suri.
The naïve Sikandar, who is promised a reward in return, agrees but fails when Nasreen insists on standing between him and his target. Later, the terrorist confronts Sikandar and this is where the film offers a twist in the tale and starts becoming more of a suspense thriller rather than a human story that it seemed initially.
This is probably where the film fails – because it is far too slow for a suspense movie and has too many loopholes for its human-interest angle.
Ayesha Kapoor' performance leaves a lot to be desired. And we've definitely seen much better of Parzaan Dastur. R Madhavan delivers his goods and Sanjay Suri does a decent job
Visually the film is stunning in parts but then again it's difficult to get it wrong when the locations itself are breathtaking. However if you really want to understand the gravity of the situation, I'd recommend you watch this documentary called Invisible Kashmir: The Other Side of Jannat. It's all true and discusses the issue threadbare.
Rahul Dholakia, the maker of Parzania is now working on a film set in Kashmir. Interestingly Parzaan's latest movie Sikandar is also based on what is now popularly known as 'the Kashmir issue'. Which brings me to the point – just what is it that we mean when we use this phrase.
Indeed Kashmir has a multitude of issues that need to be resolved. Among them is the alienation of young school-going boys and girls in the face of the ongoing anarchy in the state.
Sikandar, directed by Piyush Jha, hopes to address and tries to tackle the politics behind this rather sensitive issue. So you are introduced to Sikandar (Parzaan Dastur), a 14-year-old boy who stumbles upon a gun on his way to school. Despite his newfound friend Nasreen's (Ayesha Kapoor) protests, he uses it to threaten the bullies at school and to get out of every other uncomfortable situation.
Slowly but surely, the gun becomes part of his life and a terrorist spots him and sees him as a potential recruit to bump off a former separatist leader played by Sanjay Suri.
The naïve Sikandar, who is promised a reward in return, agrees but fails when Nasreen insists on standing between him and his target. Later, the terrorist confronts Sikandar and this is where the film offers a twist in the tale and starts becoming more of a suspense thriller rather than a human story that it seemed initially.
This is probably where the film fails – because it is far too slow for a suspense movie and has too many loopholes for its human-interest angle.
Ayesha Kapoor' performance leaves a lot to be desired. And we've definitely seen much better of Parzaan Dastur. R Madhavan delivers his goods and Sanjay Suri does a decent job
Visually the film is stunning in parts but then again it's difficult to get it wrong when the locations itself are breathtaking. However if you really want to understand the gravity of the situation, I'd recommend you watch this documentary called Invisible Kashmir: The Other Side of Jannat. It's all true and discusses the issue threadbare.
No comments:
Post a Comment