Fiza
 
    
Director: Khalid Mohamed
Year:  2000
Music: Anu Malik
Duration: 170 minutes
Rating: 6.0
For the most part Bollywood stays clear of portraying the Muslim-Hindi divide in India. But not always. The filmmakers have to be cautious though because often law suits are brought against the film, sometimes there are protests or cinema owners are concerned about showing it because of what might happen to them from extremists on either side. Most often this division is shown through the love of a Muslim and a Hindi and the family issues that surround it. The film Bombay may be the best example of this - a magnificent film. Other films explore this by setting it during the Partition - Mr. and Mrs. Iver or Hey Ram come to mind. Then there are the Muslim terrorist films like Dil Se - a love story but one of them is a potential suicide bomber. Fiza dives deep into the hatred that exists between the communities and for the most part is very sympathetic towards the Muslims.




In his debut film the director Khalid Mohamed gets the details down beautifully regarding Muslim customs and rituals. Interestingly, the three main protagonists are all played by Hindi actors - very popular ones - and so is the head Muslim terrorist. Maybe a co-incidence but possibly as a buffer against any possible outrage from the Hindi Nationalists. I mean who could get angry at a film with Jaya Bachchan (wife of Amitabh), Karisma Kapoor of the Kapoor family and Hrithik Roshan who had just struck gold in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai and was the new Hindi pin-up boy. As much animosity as can exist between the two religions, it seems to not have affected the Muslim stars who are loved by all. Muslims have proliferated in all aspects of the industry going back to the beginning. Just think of the Khans - Shahrukh, Salman, Aamir and Saif Ali. It reminds me of our own racists who love blacks as long as they are on their home teams. Recently, sadly there have been stirrings by some in the industry and the Hindi Nationalists against Muslims in movies but there has been a strong pushback by nearly all in the business. But hatred seems to be flourishing all over the world so who knows.




The film begins in Bombay in the early 1990s during the horrific communal riots that took place in which about 1,000 people were killed. A small Muslim family of a mother (Jaya), her son Amaan (Hrithik) and daughter Fiza (Karisma) are poor but content in their love for one another. Amaan has met a nice girl and is headed towards engagement. The riots break out and Amaan goes downstairs to help some friends and gets literally swept up in the bloodshed and brutal beatings taking place. He never comes back that night or the next for years. Mother and daughter just want to know if he died but many were killed by being set on fire and it is impossible to know. Life goes on - the woman that Amaan loved meets another man, Fiza is becoming involved with a Hindi, the mother prays for a miracle.




Fiza sees a photo of a man covered up to the eyes. His green eyes though give her hope and she begins on a long journey to find if that is him. The good news. It is. The bad news. He is a terrorist. Mom I found him but . . .  After this the film gets kind of bogged down in Fiza's relationship with her boyfriend and Amaan not knowing what do with himself. Apparently, for commercial reasons the director had to include a lengthy routine by comedian Johnny Lever that adds nothing but on its own is pretty good as he shows how Indians from different regions laugh and then various stars.




There are also a fair amount of songs in this which may seem a little off-key for a film about terrorism and riots - but most of them are very good -  in particular the one with Sushmita Sen and then a mournful one that begins " Don't take the coffin yet". The two ones that are questionable in taste and mood to the film were again included because of commercial pressure. Karisma who is a wonderful dancer had not done any dancing in the film - and then pressured by her boyfriend to have fun breaks into a great solo dance in her black tights in a club and everyone just stands there and watches her. And Hrithik in an even odder scene does martial arts exercises to music in which his rather astonishing physique is on display. At almost 3 hours the film is far too long and drags after the intermission but picks up nicely near the end. You can take the boy out of the terrorists but can you take the terrorist out of the boy?