Firaaq
The story of how the Hindu-Muslim riots that ravaged Gujarat in 2002 altered the lives of a number of different characters.
Acclaimed actress Nandita Das presents her seismically charged directorial debut about ordinary people, from different walks of life, altered forever after the Hindu Muslim riots which ravaged Gujarat in 2002.
Aarti (Deepti Naval) is a housewife silently haunted by the sight of Muslim women begging for sanctuary in her house, that she ignored. Her only hope for salvation comes when she takes in an orphaned Muslim boy as a servant, pretending to her family he is Hindu. Khan Saheb (Naseeruddin Shah) is a great Muslim musician who lives in a Hindu suburb, refusing to comprehend the fractured world around him. Muneera has hidden with friends during the riots but returns to find her home gutted and trust in her neighbours destroyed. Middle class Sameer, married to a Hindu wife, is torn between fleeing town or staying and being recognised as a Muslim.
While slum dwellers live in constant fear of the next outbreak of violence, others plot revenge. With masterly control Das explores the relationships, good and bad, that bind these two different religious communities to their homeland, and to each other, even in the face of the most terrible atrocities.
Cary Rajinder Sawhney
This film is nominated for the FIPRESCI Critics Award.
| Directed by: | Nandita Das |
| Written by: | Nandita Das, Shuchi Kothari |
| Cast: | Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Shahana Goswami |
| Country: | India |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Running time: | 101min |
