Parzania

2005. India. Directed by Rahul Dholakia. Screenplay by David N. Donihue, Dholakia. With Naseerudin Shah, Sarika, Corin Nemec, Parzun Dastar. In 2002, a pogrom organized by radical Hindus against Muslims in the west Indian state of Gujarat resulted in the 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. According to The New York Times, despite the critical praise that Parzania has received throughout India, theater owners in Gujarat still refuse to screen it, citing fears of violent protests. 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 Omkara.) Courtesy Serene Picture Classics. In Hindi and English, English subtitles. 118 min.