"Little Zizou" and the Parsi Community

[Jimmy]

"Little Zizou" and the Parsi Community

I saw Little Zizou yesterday. I don't know what the hype is all about and I don't understand what fascination Parsis have with movies that portray their own culture in a negative aspect. Its like they have a masochistic tendency when it comes to film. The worse a film portrays Parsis and Parsi behavior the greater applaud it gets, BY PARSIS! I just cant figure it out.

I know we have our problems, I know the fighting is petty, but this movie portrayed it in the worst way. Sure this will help bring to light the problems but the movie could have taken a more constructive tone. It did not address any of our root causes, or hit home at all. It did not inspire me to do anything except make a better movie about Parsis! I can only imagine what non-Parsi people thought about Parsi's when they saw this movie.

Why for once cant a Parsi director highlight the good things about our community? Why cant we inspire our youth and say Look THIS is who we are, This is what we have done, This is what we are capable of, and this is you... This movie made me want to give up hope, which of course I never will, but if it could have that effect on me, I don't even want to think of the way it will decimate a young Parsi's view of their community.

Also, I hate to bring this into the picture, but this film really made traditionalists look like corrupt money/power grubbing paranoid womanizing Nazi frauds, who kick poor old women out of their houses. To some, Khodaiji may look like some random lunatic, but I thought they were not so subtly character assassinating people on the traditional side. It was really disgusting and totally uncalled for.

If our ancestors, hell even if my great grandparents and even yours too were to see this movie, they would have raised hell because they had pride in their community and their religion. And here we are giving it kudos, really.... I need to ask for what? Kaizeen, Jamsheer, don't mean to jump down your throats, but ive heard many Parsis our age say this movie was good, but I honestly I thought it was repugnant. I encourage you all to think for yourselves. I feel like people just like this movie because a Parsi director and somewhat Parsi cast makes a cute sounding movie revolving around a 'cute little boy'. Like somehow we have to stand behind their work and 'support our community.' If you really look at the undertones of this movie, you are doing anything but supporting your community by encouraging this sorry excuse for a movie.

Phew.. OK done ranting.

[Senorita]

I've heard so much hype about this movie and most of the people I've spoken to have said its good but I'm yet to get a hold of a copy. It'll be one of the first movies I watch when I get to India, but just to embellish further on your point Jimmy, I usually hate all the movies Parsi's make about Parsi's because they almost always portray the community in a negative light.
In fact, and I'm switching from movies to texts here, but I was thinking about recommending some of Rohinton Mistry's books to a colleague of mine yesterday and stopped myself because I'm not sure that's the image I want people to have of my community. It made me think about why Rohinton Mistry and perhaps even Sooni Taraporevala would choose to represent our community in such a way. The simple fact is that whilst they are Parsi's they are also trying to create a story. Being Parsi's they obviously know the community inside out and they need to find a story to tell to gain critical acclaim. They are simply trying to be the best at what they do, and whilst mushy feel good stories are great, they aren't the ones that gain the kudos.

[naveak99]

Originally Posted by Jimmy

Why for once cant a Parsi director highlight the good things about our community? Why cant we inspire our youth and say Look THIS is who we are, This is what we have done, This is what we are capable of, and this is you...

I can't answer for Sooni Taraporewalla or Rohinton Mistry, but I can tell you my motivations for the films I make. I would think that other Parsi artists and writers who work on the subject of Parsis would have similar motivations.

Why do we make the films we make? This is a question that's not only asked by the people who see or read our work, but it's also a question we keep asking ourselves to understand what makes us who we are as artists or writers or filmmakers.

I reproduce from an earlier interview my responses to this question. I wrote them out about 2 years back, but they still hold true.

- why you make films on your Parsi community / life

I didn't set out to make films on Parsis. It was a process that evolved gradually over 4 years at the Film Institute in Pune, at the end of which I found myself with five short films about Parsis. I am quite dispassionate about everything, including being Parsi, but a filmmaker has to make something he is passionate about. And delving deep into myself, trying to find a part of me to put into my films, I struck upon my identity, my community, my pride and shame.

- what issues you address and why you choose them

I grew up on stories about the grandeur of the Parsis - how we were the pioneers of practically everything in India. The not-so-great aspects of the community were something I was left to discover myself. This blinkered vision of the community, refusing to see what it considers inconvenient or embarrassing, has always disturbed me. And that has had its outlet in the films I made while studying at the Film Institute.

My effort has been to balance the perceptions that Parsis have of themselves (as well as those that other communities have of us) with the realities that they refuse to acknowledge (or are unable to see, in the case of other communities). My intention is not to shame them or to puncture their pride, but to present a more realistic portrayal of the community in their eyes and the eyes of others.

- what you expect from the films

I made the films primarily for myself. But once I found myself with a set of films on Parsi issues, I wanted Parsis to see them. I wanted to communicate to them the discomfort that saw me make these films, to experience the same discomfort themselves. And to let that discomfort provoke something in them, the way it did in me to make these films.

- how you as a young Parsi feel about your reliogn and its future.

I am not as interested in Parsis as a religious group but more as a distinct Indian community and culture. As a community, our extinction seems inevitable though it could be possibly be delayed. The community hasn't been adapting to the changing times, it comtinues to mourn for the past instead of carrying on with the present. It now needs to be more inclusive rather than exclusive.

[shahvir]

why so serious?


movies can be for entertainment, for artistic reasons and as a form of social commentary to address an issue. maybe the director/scriptwriters wanted to address an issue they felt needed to be brought to light.

if they made a regular movie about the day in the life of shahvir or jimmy. it would be pretty chill, happy and positive but ultimately everyone else would find it pretty boring.

[Kaizeen]

I agree that certain parts of little Zizhou were koyla and some of the character portrayals have been done to death but I think there's another way in which you can look at the movie.

It has shown some good parsi qualities like our kindness (the lady treating the little kid like her own), our grit and determination (Boman Irani's character awakening the youth with his writing), our innovativeness (the teenage boys trying and eventually succeeding in building the flight simulator).

I think it was a brave effort for a first time director - unless, I am mistaken and Sooni has directed before.

[Bennie]

Kaizeen, I really like your thought process. I tend towards positivity just as you do.

But...I failed to enjoy this piece of work. To be honest (and I am never this direct), it made me want to puke. It was hardly entertaining and in particular, I did not like the underlying connotations. It showed a whole bunch of issues in a tangled mess and the director had an ugly take on just about everything. She even made the poor lady in Udwada look like a nut case.

This movie was shown at an high profile international film festival in New York City. It was picked to be shown at the final closing dinner where tickets were going at USD 250 each and tables were going at USD 5000 each. I am extremely glad that I did not go....it would have been the worst 250 spent.

I thought the tones in this movie could have taken a positive spin even if it was about harsh circumstances. Take slumdog millionaire for example...That movie showed some very sad realities and may even have hyped up some, but the director managed to give the movie a feel good positive spin. I would really prefer if a director made an inspiring movie like that!

Sooni probably had certain motivations, but I think that this movie was a poor one.

[naveak99]

To add to what I wrote earlier:

In the last story in "Tales from Firozsha Baag", Rohinton Mistry takes this question up.

“In the stories he’d read so far Father said that all the Parsi families were poor or middle-class, but that was okay; nor did he mind that the seeds for the stories were picked from the sufferings of their own lives; but there should also have been something positive about Parsis, there was so much to be proud of; the great Tatas and their contribution to the steel industry, or Sir Dinshaw Petit in the textile industry who made Bombay the Manchester of the East, or Dadabhai Naoroji in the freedom movement, where he was the first to use the word swaraj, and the first to be elected to the British Parliament where he carried on his campaign; he should have found some way to bring some of these wonderful facts into his stories, what would people reading these stories think, those who did not know about Parsis – that the whole community was full of cranky, bigoted people; and in reality it was the richest, most advanced and philanthropic community in India, and he did not need to tell his own son that Parsis had a reputation for being generous and family-oriented. And he could have written something also about the historic background, how Parsis came to India from Persia because of Islamic persecution in the seventh century, and were the descendants of Cyrus the Great and the magnificent Persian Empire. He could have made a story of all this, couldn’t he?”

[Bennie]

That is interesting. Thanks! In continuation, a good movie focused on parsis does not have to be a historical account of us, but yet it can focus around positive, inspiring characteristics. The negativity is a little evilish...

[Jamsheer]

Like Shahvir said, "why so serious?" Why can't movies just be for light hearted entertainment, plain and simple? Why do we parsees get our knickers in a twist every time a character is portrayed in an "over the top" or negative light? Is it because we don't want to admit to ourselves or others that some of these characters do have some truth to them?

[Jimmy]

Easier said than done I guess. I prefer less gunk in my movies. This movie seemed like it was made by person with poor character....Sorry, but this is the way it made me react.

Kaevan, I really liked your films, they seemed more real and less pathetic. They really touched my heart and made me draw parallels to our family lives. Thanks for sharing! I have yet to complete seeing all of them.

[Jimmy]

That was Bennie's post by the way (the one before this one). She logged on to my desktop by mistake....