|
|
| |
 |
Little
Zizou***
*ing Boman Irani, Imaad Shah, Sohrab Ardeshir, Shernaz Patel
with guest appearances by Cyrus Broacha, Kamal Sidhu, Shiamak
Davar and John Abraham amongst other Parsis
Directed by Sooni Taraporevala
Tagline: A film made by a Parsi for the Parsis
|
| |
Indian
cinema has been making serious inroads and developments into
unchartered territories without the stereotypical Bollywood
masala in tow- so much so that now even the term 'Bollywood'
has been swiftly erased and replaced with the more professional
diction of 'industry'. With offerings of films like Oye Lucky,
Lucky Oye, Chak De India, Life in a Metro amongst several
others, the Indian film industry has been quite adventurous
in recent times with opting for alternative menus from their
regular dosages of song, dance, romance and have shown in
full glory what their cinema is capable of. Their latest offering
Little Zizou, a Mira Nair and Indian Films presentation and
the directorial debt of the photographer and screenwriter,
Sooni Taraporevala, is yet another delightful addition to
the Indian screens.
Little Zizou is a sweet poignant film, peppered with Gujrati,
that effectively and colourfully presents a slice of life
of two warring Parsi families. Through these two families,
the film presents a glimpse into the language, culture, religion
and life |
 |
|
of the Parsi community in India. With an impressive cast - all Parsis
mind you - including the illustrious Boman Irani and the young Imaad
Shah, son of the veteran theatre and film actor Naseeruddin Shah
(who is a Muslim married to Ratna Pathak, a Parsi) the film takes
you through life as a Parsi completely. While Boman Irani is already
an established and much appreciated actor, the young Imaad makes
quite an impression in this film as an actor with immense potential.
John Abraham is around for some very welcome eye candy. |
| |
Indian
cinema has increasingly begun to staunchly believe in the
terribly trite-but in their case true-adage that good things
come in small packages; the movie also introduces two incredibly
talented younger artistes, Sonni's children: Inayah and Jahan
Bativala who play Boman's spiteful yet charming little daughter
and Xerxes, affectionately and self proclaimed 'little Zizou',
respectively. These are not the only characters in the film
though, the movie is inundated with fascinating little vignettes
of people and locations. Yet despite this deluge of characters,
the film never looses its focus but keeps on its track evolving
through the comic strips, dreams of Russian invasions, temples
and homes, meandering all over Mumbai to deliver a simple
tale of faith, hope and love.
The
dialogues are pithy, witty and meaningful, crafted and stylized
like Bapsi Sidhwa's The Crow Eaters, illuminating the complexities
of people and human nature, never allowing audiences to dismiss
any character or typecast anyone in one emotion or perspective.
This is a capacity that only good writers |
 |
|
are
able to create for their characters-never allowing readers to excommunicate
or relegate them, but always see them subjectively as a holistic
whole. |
| |
 |
From
the title of the film one expects a frivolous, light hearted
family comedy centering on football and its French star Zidane.
Nothing could be farther from the reality of the film. Contrary
to expectations, it is not a hilarious laugh out loud type
of film but a quiet erudite comedy reflecting on the complexities
of life, as Imaad Shah points out in the movie, "That's
life. One day you're a cockpit, the other, scrap metal."
Although the story revolves around little Zizou and his football
craze-it centres more on his struggle for love, the pain of
being a motherless child with an ambitious, religiously hypocritical
father. In its most basic form, Little Zizou is an intimate
story of a family and its relationships with its own members,
and the members of the community it exists in. On a more deeper
level, it is a critique on total social control that organized
religions exercise. Through Little Zizou Sooni makes an important
social commentary on the religious bigotry that is rampant
around the world. In an interview she stated her outrage at
what people are doing in the name of religion: "I'm a
religious person but I don't follow it blindly. The way I
see it is that religious leaders do things for their own personal
gains and in the process destroy the world and brainwash gullible
people." She made the film on what was closest to her
own |
|
social
reality, but terrifyingly for us all, this is not an isolated phenomenon
and one that we experience everyday with our own beliefs. The film
makes some very excellent observations on how to tackle the situations
and suggests, amongst other things, to think, criticise and hope.
It is very different from the
way the Parsis were characterized in comic flicks from Bollywood
like (the Amol Palekar and Tina Munim starrer) Baton Baton Mein
and also quite different from Bollywood's recent attempt to script
a film on Parsis: Being Cyrus. Little Zizou is a very genuine straightforward
film that presents a very nuanced understating of religion and life.
A must watch to gain insight and hope for what we in Pakistan are
suffering and how we may find solace and a panacea to our quandaries.
–
Hani Taha Salim
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME
|
|
|
