People at a Mumbai based production house told me that they liked what I wrote. They liked the way I wrote and asked if I would write a story for them for a film? The attention of the film makers made me twirl, and I jumped with joy. Of course yes! I had immediately committed myself despite the brief that it has to be a passionate love story that was tender and without politics.
Hai Allah! How is that possible I thought, as I sat down to write. At a time when pyaar and mohabbat seem forbidden, almost criminalised and the likes of me from a minority community considered killable, how can my love-story be tender?
How do I keep my story detached from the political and cultural turbulence of the day?
Real life has been tricky since 2014, and some of the reel life seen recently has been puke worthy. The gore glorified in a series of films in the name of nationalism is like a repeat lesson for audiences to prepare and to indulge in butchering each other in real life as well. For almost a decade cinema houses have been bombarded with love-not-allowed stories even encouraged by audiences delighted to binge on entertainment that glorifies violence for the sake of violence.
This audience has rewarded the revenge and retribution theme projected on screen with loud applause and long cheer. The audience is a revelation that enjoys watching skulls being smashed and the guts of other human beings scooped out on screen. This kind of entertainment is a thirst buster for those who delight in witnessing the aggression sleeping within them wake up.
A neighbor told me that she looked forward to watching “Dhurandhar” for a third time.
Once cinema had united the nation, now some films are trying to shred into pieces that unity amongst citizens. Today citizens are divided, politics is divided, film critics are divided, film audiences are divided and cinema itself is divided into black and white.
The division in society is encouraged by politicians who proclaim the same message of hate not love, violence not non-violence and war not peace from public platforms that echoes the voice of some film makers who justify filming exaggerated violence as the new normal. Creative restraint and morality is considered cowardly and for the weak. Today love that people naturally feel for each other is being squeezed dry out of life.
Despite this sad state of affairs I got to see a couple of films that did warm the heart in 2025. As if film makers, especially those belonging to the minority community had re-discovered their voice in a country where violence was being pushed as an alternative answer to life’s problems.
Number one on my list of favourite films from last year is “The Great Shamsuddin Family”. This is because the film inspires audiences to watch it with a smile in these sad times. I was so happy to watch the film about the everyday life of ordinary citizens that is full of hassles but also humour. The life of the majority of ordinary citizens is such a contrast to the life led by extraordinary megalomaniacs residing in halls of power and trying to make matters great again by indulging in murder and mayhem.
There is an absence of heroes and villains in “The Great Shamsuddin Family”. It is a film that is also without a beauties versus beasts plot. Director Anusha Rizvi’s approach to film making is refreshing and her story-telling offers audiences lots of hope and humour. The film is an invite to individual angst to dissolve itself in the company of other community members like neighbours, friends and relatives who might behave crazy but who are human enough to always stand by those in trouble.
“The Great Shamsuddin Family” is about down to earth characters faced with down to earth problems and who are happy to include the audience in their midst at a time when powerful forces real or imaginary are trying to elbow out ordinary citizens out of the national discourse.
Whoever and whenever anyone is in distress, the film encourages them to simply ring the doorbell of Bani.
“Homebound” was soul searching and precious for reminding human beings that they have a heart that beats even in heartless times. “Homebound” is listed second after “The Great Shamsuddin Family” only because the film is sadder. The helplessness experienced while watching “Homebound” was overwhelming. The sorrow that the film evoked within a very impressive format of story-telling pierced the body and the soul of the audience and has immortalised “Homebound” as a film with a heart although bleeding.
“Homebound” is not about increasing attacks on individuals belonging to any one particular religious community but about on-going injustices faced every day by a sea of majority citizens who remain homeless, illiterate and starving while the life of a few handful lives in the clouds in the same country.
“Homebound” is the story of a young migrant worker who died on his way as he had walked back from the city to his hometown during the COVID-19 lockdown. But the tragedy of tragedies is that it was not COVID that killed the youthful daily wage labourer but fatigue and dehydration!
This is a true story about the sad fate of a young Indian life that must haunt the audience long after the end of the film. The question is who does one take revenge for this tragedy that has occurred in front of the collective eyes of society here and now? Any plan for avenging historic wrongs is demonic till the time the basic needs of citizens in the present remain unfulfilled.
Is “Gustaakh Ishq” proof that this society has no time for love? “Gustaakh Ishq” must be appreciated for its refined writing. The kind of language used amongst many citizens today, including in public life is a matter of shame and “Gustaakh Ishq” is that lesson in how to speak like a human being, especially one who claims to be the citizen of a civilisation that is more than 5000 years old. The film did not attract the attention it should have but “Gustaakh Ishq” is a leisurely watch on flooring especially the enemy with words.
“Gustaakh Ishq” will be remembered for Fatima Sheikh’s beautiful presence, Nasiruddin Shah’s twinkle in the eye dialogue delivery and the immensely talented Vijay Varma’s performance as a lover. That is such a pleasant change from the many hateful characters that Varma has played in the past, although with terrific panache.
Shazia Iqbal is one film maker to watch. Wanted from Iqbal are many more full length feature films in the spirit of “Bebaak”. The intensity with which Iqbal has depicted cruelty in “Dhakak 2” is unbearable but there is a difference between violence shown in “Dhadak 2” and “Dhurandhar”. In the first film violence is meant to disgust the audience. “Dhurandhar” in sharp contrast glorifies violence and seems to encourage audiences to use it as the only solution to all problems faced by them today.
“Haq” is a film that was avoided after listening to interviews of actor Yami Gautami defending the brand of nationalism so dear to her husband Aditya Dhar, the director of “Dhurandhar”. After “Haq” was praised by someone whose opinion on good cinema mattered, “Haq” turned out to be a cinematic experience most meaningful.
Every issue dealt in the film from the lawyer’s arguments to the practice of talaq, talaq, talaq, the role of women and their clash with the clergy and secular members within the Indian Muslim community has been laid out with considerable maturity and respect for the intelligence of the audience.
Hats off to Gautami for portraying the role of Shazia Bano with such heartfelt sensitivity. If her kohl smeared eyes could set ablaze all those making her life miserable they would have lit the forests on fire. Emraan Hashmi was brilliant as the Machiavellian lawyer husband, making “Haq” a socially relevant drama revolving around more pressing matters than revenge like justice and the rights of individuals.
Looking forward to many more films in the new year that will impress audiences with their nuanced story-telling and not help audiences by awakening the savage in them.
Mehru Jaffer is a writer and author. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.