‘They ask me, why was Parzan not found in The End’

We never touch these issues in our cinema. We stay away from them. We try to balance it out — even if it is historically incorrect. On Parzania, they asked me, why didn’t you show a Muslim attack as well? Why is Parzan not found in the end of the film?

When I began on Parzania, I did fear censorship. But I knew that if I have to tell the story, I have to tell it like it was. The story was too powerful, too true.

Yet, for a scene during the shoot, I kept two sets of flags ready — one was saffron, the other yellow. The ‘safety factor’ was on my mind. My lawyers had advised me that using the colour saffron would be perceived as accusing one ideology directly. But in the end, I chose the saffron. I had to be honest to what happened. I knew that using the yellow would change the film’s tone.

I didn’t want to make Parzania as a documentary. I wanted the freedom to add cinematic moments to the narrative to heighten the pain of the family. Also, unfortunately in India, documentaries have a very limited market. People don’t want to watch them. They still carry the stigma of the Films Division documentaries that we were all made to watch in cinema halls before the start of the film. Most of us went out to buy the samosa while they played.

Indian audiences are more prepared now to look history in the eye, even recent history. There is greater political and social polarisation, but increasingly, there are countervailing forces. More people are asking questions, and standing up for their rights, thanks to the media.

After Parzania, some people, family friends for years, stopped coming to our home, or talking to us. I was called ‘anti-Modi’ and ‘anti-Gujarat’. They asked me when I would stop ‘Gujarat-bashing’. But at the other end, I have got tremendous grassroots support. One year later, people are still talking about the film. The issue that it raised is still being debated, and taken further. I am overwhelmed.

Films like Parzania, or Dev, or Black Friday, or Amu are getting media attention, and people are going to the theatres to see them. Yet there is a fear. It is not just of censorship – thanks to a censor board led by Sharmila Tagore, I didn’t have to face that at all. Distribution is a real problem.

The problem also is that our film industry still operates with a star-culture. In the west, so many young people come in, tackle different themes. Here there are only the top five guys. We need to look at cinema not for its stars, but as a medium. I would like to see a JFK made on Rajiv Gandhi. Things are changing here, but we are still at the beginning of the change.

Several producers are approaching me after Parzania – to make a film with realism. My next film will be Lamha on Kashmir. I’ve spent a year and a half researching it. People are more open to funding this kind of cinema than six years ago when I started on Parzania.

The audience for such films is growing but it’s still small. But today filmmakers with a difference have so many avenues open to them that they needn’t depend on the Friday opening at the box office. That only comes into play for the big films. Like Jodhaa Akbar. For today’s filmmaker, there’s satellite, the overseas market, internet, film festivals. So many countries are willing to buy our movies that it is easy to recover the costs.

I’m not worried about making my film on Kashmir. And given a chance, I would make Parzania again. I am only sad that the boy who went missing during the Gujarat riots has still not come back home.

Dholakia is the director of ‘Parzania’