Firaaq

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Firaaq
Firaaq.jpg
Poster
Directed by Nandita Das
Produced by Percept Picture Company
Written by Nandita Das
Suchi Kothari
Starring Naseeruddin Shah
Raghubir Yadav
Deepti Naval
Paresh Rawal
Shahana Goswami
Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Sanjay Suri
Tisca Chopra
Cinematography Ravi K. Chandran
Edited by A. Sreekar Prasad
Production
company
Percept Picture Company
Release dates
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  • 5 September 2008 (2008-09-05) (TIFF)
  • 20 March 2009 (2009-03-20) (India)
Running time
 112 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi

Firaaq (English: Separation) is a 2008 Hindi political thriller, anthology film set one month after the 2002 violence in Gujarat, India and looks at the aftermath in its effects on the lives of everyday people. It claims to be based on "a thousand true stories". Firaaq means both separation and quest in Arabic. The film is the directorial debut of actress Nandita Das[1][2] and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal, Raghubir Yadav, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Sanjay Suri, and Tisca Chopra. It has largely been well received locally and internationally. Firaaq won three awards at the Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore in December 2008, the Special Prize at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival, and an award at the Kara Film Festival in Pakistan. It won two National Film Awards at 56th National Film Awards.

Plot

Firaaq follows the life of several ordinary people, some who were victims, some silent observers, and some perpetrators one month after the 2002 violence in Gujarat. It focuses on how their lives are affected and (irrevocably) changed.

Khan Saheb (Naseeruddin Shah) is an elderly Muslim classical vocalist, who remains blissfully optimistic of the situation happening around him. His servant, Karim Mian (Raghubir Yadav), tries to alert him to the problems the Muslim community is facing, but Khan Saheb only realises the extent of the trauma upon seeing the destruction of a shrine dedicated to the Sufi saint, Wali Gujarati. A middle-age Hindu housewife, Aarti (Deepti Naval), is traumatised because she did not help a Muslim woman being chased by a mob and finds a way to atone for her sins upon finding Mohsin, a Muslim orphan who wanders the city in search for his family. Meanwhile her husband, Sanjay (Paresh Rawal), and his brother, Deven (Dilip Joshi), try to bribe police officers to prevent Deven's arrest for gang-rape. Muneera (Shahana Goswami) and her husband Hanif (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), are a young Muslim couple who return home only to find it looted and burnt. Muneera struggles to relate to her Hindu neighbour Jyoti (Amruta Subash) in the following days, as she suspects her for taking part in the looting. Hanif, along with several other Muslim men, plan to retaliate against the violence and their helplessness by searching for a gun to exact revenge. Sameer (Sanjay Suri) Shaikh and Anuradha Desai (Tisca Chopra) are a wealthy, interreligious couple, whose store was burnt during the carnage. They decide to move to Delhi to escape the violence and Sameer comes into conflict with his wife's family over expressing his identity as a Muslim in India.

Cast

Music

Composed by Piyush Kanojia and Rajat Dholakia, the lyrics of the songs are penned by Gulzar.

No. Title Singer(s) Length
1. "Meri Gali Mein Andhera"   Sukhvinder Singh 03:43
2. "Gujarat Ke Firaaq Soon Hai"   Jagjit Singh 06:46
3. "Ummeed Ab Kahi Koi Dar Kholti Nahi"   Rekha Bhardwaj 05:41
4. "Daag Daag Ujaala"   Faiz Ahmed Faiz 02:10
5. "Kuchh is Tarah"   Mohit Chauhan, Tulsi Kumar 04:44

Reception

Firaaq won top honours at the Asian Festival of First Films 2008 in Singapore, where it won the awards for "Best Film", "Screenplay / Script", and "Foreign Correspondents Assn. Purple Orchid Award for Best Film".[3][4] The film has won awards at other international festivals, including the Special Prize award at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece, the Special Jury Award at the International Film Festival of Kerala, and the Best Editor award for Sreekar Prasad at the Dubai International Film Festival.[5] It won an award at the Kara Film Festival in Pakistan. Gautam Sen for "its perfect use of props and choice of colours to enhance the ambience of a post-riots" won National Film Award for Best Art Direction. A. Sreekar Prasad also won a National Film Award for "aesthetically weaving together unrelated sequences to heighten the dramatic impact" in the Best Editing category at the 56th National Film Awards.[6][7]

It was released in India on 20 March 2009 and received many positive reviews.[8] Taran Adarsh in his review of the film on Bollywood Hungama called it disturbing, powerful and thought-provoking and gave it 4.5 stars out of five.[9]

Professional reviews
Review Scores
Source Rating
Bollywood Hungama[9] 4.5/5 stars
CNN IBN[10] 3/5 stars
Glamsham[11] 3/5 stars
MouthShut[12] 4/5 stars
Movie Talkies[13] 3.5/5 stars
Outlook India[14] 3/5 stars
Rediff.com[15] 4/5 stars
The Times of India[16] 3.5/5 stars

Awards and honours

2009 Kara Film Festival
  • Won – Best Film
2008 Asian Festival of First Films
  • Won – Best Film
  • Won – Best Screenplay
  • Won – Foreign Correspondents Association Purple Orchid Award for Best Film
2009 International Film Festival of Kerala
  • Won – Special Jury Award
2009 International Thessaloniki Film Festival
  • Won – Special Prize (Everyday Life: Transcendence or Reconciliation Award)
  • Nominated – Golden Alexander for Best Film
19th Cinequest Film Festival San Jose, USA (2009)
  • Won – The Maverick Spirit Award
56th National Film Awards (2009)
55th Filmfare Awards (2010)

References

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External links

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