Director: Nandita Das
Starring: Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjay Suri, Raguvir Yadav, Shahana Goswami, Deepti Naval, Tisca Chopra
Music: Rajat Dholakia, Piyush Kanojia
Cinematographer : Ravi K Chandran
Story: Suchi Kothari, Nanditha Das
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Art Director : Gautham Sen
Sound Designer : Manas Choudhary
Producer: Percept Picture Company
Release: 20 March 2009

Film has got enormous power. Power to change the way people think and act. The Power to transform society and the power to touch people’s heart. Novice filmmakers don’t know how to use it. But there are great minds who know what is to be told in their cinema. They are the people who realize that film is not another medium to show female nudity, sub standard comedy and love which they call as entertainment. These kinds of films will endure the test of time and this kind of filmmakers will be followed and respected by the future filmmakers and viewers. Nanditha Das is one of them.

Nanditha Das was mostly seen as actress in off beat films. She understands the futility of masala films. In her debut as director she took Gujarat riot as subject. The 38-year-old actress has not acted in her first venture.

The script writing process took 3 years. The film was planned with a story, but lot of stories relating to riot came to her mind. Thus this film got multiple story tracks.

The story is set over a 24 hour period, one month after carnage that took place in Gujarat, India, in 2002.

Firaaq was screened at many prestigious film festivals in London, New York, Toronto, Pusan and Thessaloniki in Greece. Firaaq was the only Indian entry in 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie has won several awards in Dubai International Film Festival, Asian First Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival etc

Them and Us

The film is an emotional journey of ordinary people who were victims, perpetrators and people who chose to watch silently. Through these characters the director chose to tell that violence spares nobody.
Firaaq explores this impact of violence on human psyche and relationships and it is a non-judgmental film.
Cinema that dealt with real issues of life has always had fewer takers, but things are changing now in Hindi and in many regional languages.

People are coming forward to appreciate the effort taken by this courageous director and Percept Picture Company. This film stands for hope and makes people realize we all are just human beings who want to live happily in this beautiful world. Let’s not divide ourselves on the basis of caste and religion.

But there are people who won’t understand these things and they end up being weapons in the hands of shrewd politicians. Lets us find out how the film will fare in this age of intolerance.

The quest for peace and understanding is our only hope.

Firaaq is not a prescriptive film, but it raises questions we hesitate to ask ourselves.

Some of the responses after watching Firaaq

Salman Rushdie: "Nandita Das' Firaaq succeeds because it allows the humanity of its characters to shine through the darkness, even the horror, of the events it describes, and because of the skill with which the many narrative strands are interwoven. It's a remarkably assured directorial debut by one of India's finest actresses."

"I returned from viewing Firaaq yesterday evening in a mood of profound sadness, but sadness mingled with the frisson of pure aesthetic excitement that great art can give. I was deeply moved and shaken by Firaaq"

Nanditha Das

Nandita Das is the daughter of painter Jatin Das and writer Varsha Das. From her childhood she showed creative tastes possessed by her parents. She began acting with the street theatre group Jana Natya Manch in New Delhi. She has also taught at the Rishi Valley School, started by renowned philosopher Jiddu J Krishnamurti.

After completing her master's degree in social work, Nandita started working with NGO Ankur and then for Alarippu. Alarippu is an organization which aims to make education enjoyable for children from underprivileged homes. She was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.