Censor clears film on Gujarat riots

New Delhi: The brutality and the inhumanity that the Gujarat riots were will now be shown on the big screen, for audiences to see and come to their own conclusions about the communal violence that rocked the state in 2002.

Rahul Dholakia's critically acclaimed film, Parzania, all set for release on January 26 - over a year after its completion.

The film - which was earlier rejected by distributors because of the controversial subject line - has been cleared by the Censor Board of India and deemed it ready for the populace at large after a lot of deliberation and a few minor cuts.

Parzania is a film about a Parsi couple - played by Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika - and their children, stuck in the midst of the riots, mistaken for Muslims by Hindu fanatics.

Based on a real-life incident, the film depicts the sorry plight of the Parsi couple after their 10-year-old son goes missing in the communal crossfire and how post the riots, the family lives in constant fear and ever-hopeful of the fact that one day, they would find their son.

During the troubled times, an unstable American man - Allan Webbings (played by Corin Nemec) - is in Ahmedabad documenting the life of Mahatma Gandhi. There he meets the Parsi family and finds peace in the fact that he is able to bring some solace in their lives, by helping them in the search for their son.

Despite the fact that the release of the film was delayed in India, the film itself was screened at many international film festivals and even won laurels at the Pusan International Film Festival, Bangkok International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and International Film Festival of Kerala.

The film, when first screened at an International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was met by a lot of protest with people claiming that it only depicted one side of the religious differences - Hindu fundamentalism.

This coupled with the lack of commercial appeal and hesitating distributors stalled the release of the film.

Now, however, Parzania is all set for release and will hit the theatres on January 26.

(With inputs from IANS)