‘Sikandar’ Shoots Straight to the Heart

Posted on August 19, 2009
Filed Under Guest Columnist, MOVIES |

by Nina Rothe

One late afternoon this past April, I flopped down into my seat at the Hollywood Arclight cinema, weary and exhausted from a full schedule of movie-watching during one of my favorite film festivals — the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, IFFLA for short. As much as love the yearly event, this time around I really did wish there were fewer films to enjoy and perhaps a clone of myself — shall we call her Filmi? — to attend those double-booked screenings that I always regret missing. Stressed out from an unusually hot LA day and prepared to feel my bum get flatter by the minute, I breathed in a long, deep breath, popped open a box of Goobers and got ready to watch what I thought would be a ‘kids’ movie’ — Piyush Jha’s ‘Sikandar’ (The Warrior).

From the very first frame of the film — produced by master director Sudhir Mishra, in association with Big Pictures — the images, sounds and story captivated me. I knew then and there this was no boy/girl/children movie. This was a serious film for all audiences of all ages and a fantastic teaching tool to enlighten the unknowing out there about the open-ended issues of violence-plagued Kashmir. The film opens with an eerily tranquil slice-of-life shot of a street market, somewhere in rural Kashmir. Kids playing, men talking, women shopping for vegetables to the sounds of the haunting ‘Gulon Mein (Rang Bhare)’ — a tribute to the original ghazal lyrics by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, whose title means approximately “Let the flowers be filled with colors…”. What comes next sets the tone for a poignant, fascinating film about the spellbinding power finding a lost gun has on the teenager Sikandar, who is played brilliantly by Parzan Dastur of ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ cute Sardar child fame! Because this boy in turn has been pushed to the limits in his own life.

In the process, the film turns into a telling social and political commentary on the seemingly minute reasons behind those giant acts of violence. While a reasonable, fully functioning adult member of a civilized society could face strife, tragedy and hardship with a cool mind, choosing discerning means of solving his or her problems, a young man with a painful past and plenty of conflict in his present may not be so wise. Read actor Sanjay Suri’s interview on Tehelka magazine to see what a brilliant mind and caring heart can go on to create out of tragedy and pain.

While the film carries a strong enough message on its own — with an ending that required a second viewing by yours truly, courtesy of Adlabs’ PR, to fully understand it — it acquired a whole new, deeper meaning for me after my interview with Sanjay Suri, who plays a reformed militant turned politician in the film. I was blown away by Suri’s performance, as I was moved to tears by his interpretation of the HIV-infected title character in ‘My Brother Nikhil’ and his rendition of Sameer in Nandita Das’ ‘Firaaq’, where he plays a Muslim man married to a Hindu woman and faced with an unfathomable decision during the infamous Gujarat riots in Ahmedabad.

I remembered having read somewhere that Suri hailed from Kashmir and left the Valley as a young man due to the unbearable situation there, but nothing could have prepared me for the stunning piece that emerged from my unassuming and unsophisticated questions. I would be exaggerating if I admitted that I edited more than three words in the whole interview. Suri quite simply and honestly opened up in a touching and illuminating way.

Among his unforgettable words, when asked what it was like to go back to Kashmir for the filming of ‘Sikandar’ he answered, from the heart “It was like going back home without a place to stay!!!” And about what he had noticed to be the most dramatic change in the Valley he said “Kashmir looked like a Beautiful Widow who had lost her color, vibrancy, smile and had an expression of irreversible loss… after the mass migration of Hindus in early Nineties, the Valley was left with just one culture and faith. To me a beautiful garden needs to have all kinds of flowers.” To read the full interview, click HERE.

It turns out that the main message of ‘Sikandar’ has also been the struggle in real life for its actor Sanjay Suri. He is the perfect example of a thinking man turning tragedy into triumph or as Kahlil Gibran wrote “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain…” His performances now hold new and stronger meaning to me, after finding out what he has been through as a human being.

‘Sikandar’ opens worldwide this Friday, August 21st. The film also stars the dashingly intense R. Madhavan as the army chief and the gorgeous, charismatic Ayesha Kapoor — who stole the show in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Black’ — as the mysteriously unexpected Nasreen. The infectious soundtrack is curated by the musical genius of Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy, Sandesh Shandilya and Justin-Uday. And a hint for getting the ending on fewer tries that me — though there is nothing wrong with seeing the film more than once, I would actually recommend it — keep your eyes on the Hand of Fatima…

‘Sikandar’ images courtesy of BIG Pictures, Kashmir photo by ©2009 Sanjay Suri



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