''It is in the the midst of conflict that I found my peace''....or rather , I found my entertainment....
Nothing interests me more than films about religious conflict ; I never fail to watch a film that shows religions in rivalry with each other , it is cinematic heaven for me....So as soon as I heard about 'Dozakh in search of heaven' , I went to the multiplex in search of this nirvana...err heaven...
It deals with the story of a mullah who lives in a town near the holiest of holies for hindus---the city of Varanasi , called Benaras by the local people . The town where the mullah ( played by Lalit Mohan Tiwari ) lives is separated from Benaras by the mighty Ganges river .
But the gulf between the religion of the mullah ( Islam ) and the religion of the majority of the people around him ( Hinduism ) is greater than the width or the depth of the Ganges . Daily the mullah competes with the priest of the neighbouring Hindu temple to produce the maximum noise during morning prayers .
But his son Jan Muhammad ( played by Garrick Chaudhary ) , fondly called as Jaanu is too small and innocent to understand the differences between religions . He is fascinated by the Ram leela ( play enacting the Hindu epic Ramayan ) that is enacted by the neighbouring hindus , and takes part in it as the character of Hanuman the devotee of the Hindu God Ram . He has a friendship with the priest of the Hindu temple who gives him food and teaches him about Hindu customs and rituals . All this is not liked by his father , who beats his own son occasionally for the perfidy of partaking in Hindu habits .
But Jaanu continues his interest in Hindu customs and is convinced about the superiority of the Hindu custom of burning the bodies of the dead compared to the Muslim custom of burying the body . He develops a phobia of being buried in a dark grave after his death , and tells his father innocently that he does not want to be buried but rather would like to be cremated after death .
The crisis of the movie occurs when the boy loses his mother in an accident . He does not want her buried , and tries to dig her out of her grave after burial . Above all , he really believes the Hindu priest's story of the holy river Ganga ( Ganges ) being the mother of everyone , and begins to think that if he dives into the Ganga he might be able to meet his lost mother....
So what happens next ?? Where will the path taken by Jaanu lead him to ??
Watch the movie for the answers....
The path taken by the innocent Jaanu and the mullah's decision to do as Jaanu would have wanted it to be , will make the fundamentalists of both religions hang their heads in shame....
The movie is embellished with some fine acting performances by Garrick Chaudhary as the sweet little boy Jaanu and Lalit Mohan Tiwari as his father along with Ruby saini as the mother and Nazim Khan as the Hindu priest .
Editing however is rank sloppy , and voice synchronization with lip movements is not at all correct . This is because of the shoe string budget of the film . All this does not take away from the film's message and emotion . It has already won awards in film festivals and justly deserves them . However it will be liked only by the art movie lovers .
Verdict---Very decent .
Three stars .
Nothing interests me more than films about religious conflict ; I never fail to watch a film that shows religions in rivalry with each other , it is cinematic heaven for me....So as soon as I heard about 'Dozakh in search of heaven' , I went to the multiplex in search of this nirvana...err heaven...
It deals with the story of a mullah who lives in a town near the holiest of holies for hindus---the city of Varanasi , called Benaras by the local people . The town where the mullah ( played by Lalit Mohan Tiwari ) lives is separated from Benaras by the mighty Ganges river .
But the gulf between the religion of the mullah ( Islam ) and the religion of the majority of the people around him ( Hinduism ) is greater than the width or the depth of the Ganges . Daily the mullah competes with the priest of the neighbouring Hindu temple to produce the maximum noise during morning prayers .
But his son Jan Muhammad ( played by Garrick Chaudhary ) , fondly called as Jaanu is too small and innocent to understand the differences between religions . He is fascinated by the Ram leela ( play enacting the Hindu epic Ramayan ) that is enacted by the neighbouring hindus , and takes part in it as the character of Hanuman the devotee of the Hindu God Ram . He has a friendship with the priest of the Hindu temple who gives him food and teaches him about Hindu customs and rituals . All this is not liked by his father , who beats his own son occasionally for the perfidy of partaking in Hindu habits .
But Jaanu continues his interest in Hindu customs and is convinced about the superiority of the Hindu custom of burning the bodies of the dead compared to the Muslim custom of burying the body . He develops a phobia of being buried in a dark grave after his death , and tells his father innocently that he does not want to be buried but rather would like to be cremated after death .
The crisis of the movie occurs when the boy loses his mother in an accident . He does not want her buried , and tries to dig her out of her grave after burial . Above all , he really believes the Hindu priest's story of the holy river Ganga ( Ganges ) being the mother of everyone , and begins to think that if he dives into the Ganga he might be able to meet his lost mother....
So what happens next ?? Where will the path taken by Jaanu lead him to ??
Watch the movie for the answers....
The path taken by the innocent Jaanu and the mullah's decision to do as Jaanu would have wanted it to be , will make the fundamentalists of both religions hang their heads in shame....
The movie is embellished with some fine acting performances by Garrick Chaudhary as the sweet little boy Jaanu and Lalit Mohan Tiwari as his father along with Ruby saini as the mother and Nazim Khan as the Hindu priest .
Editing however is rank sloppy , and voice synchronization with lip movements is not at all correct . This is because of the shoe string budget of the film . All this does not take away from the film's message and emotion . It has already won awards in film festivals and justly deserves them . However it will be liked only by the art movie lovers .
Verdict---Very decent .
Three stars .
