Firaaq - Notepad

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

The effect of the riots on the people of a Gujrati city who belong to different age groups, strata and communities.

What Worked

• Aarti's (Deepti Naval's) way of trying to redeem herself for not helping people during the riots and feeling a personal loss when she cannot help.
• Shahana Goswami's accent.
• Naseeruddin Shah's character - it was weird how he knew everything and yet was unaware and out of touch with reality.
• The argument in Sameer Shaikh's head being voiced out through discussions between his wife and their friends.
• The moment where Sameer says 'we' instead of 'me'
• The locket-moment between Muneera and Jyoti.

What did not

• Lighting decisions in Munira and Hanif's house. It was a little too bright with too much light on the faces.
• Some scenes which felt like they didn't belong - Hanif's attachment with his audio tapes, the whole dentures' scene with the child, the brief cut to a Madrassa
• Where is Jyoti's family when she brings Muneera to her house?
• Was the intermission not planned? It was one of the most abrupt interval breaks I've seen in a Hindi film lately.
• The four guys being fascinated by a gun.

Nitty-Gritty

• I loved the peephole on Naseeruddin Shah's main door - it added a nice touch to the ambience of that house.
• Aarti offering the child a khakra. A brilliant choice of all the food that could have been offered - khakra