Last Update: February 03, 2023, 08:47 IST
Last year, Hansal Mehta had told Faraz to be similar to his previous films Shahid (2012) and Omerta (2017). All three films have many things in common – a modern Muslim man grappling with the idea of religion in today’s times. Like Shahid and Omerta, Hansal takes a leaf out of a real-life incident with Faraz and yet again delivers a powerful film. However, at some points, it seems like he takes it too far.
For the uninitiated, Faraz is inspired by the July 2016 attacks at the Holy Artisan Bakery in Bangladesh. In the film, a fringe group attacks a restaurant in Dhaka, killing 29 people. One of the victims, Faraz Ayaz Hussain (played by Zahaan Kapoor in the film), is given the opportunity to leave because of his religion, refusing to leave his two friends behind. Due to this he and his friends died.
Hansal takes no time to spring into action. Giving minimal time to connect with the characters, the director throws you in the middle of a painful onslaught with his actors. Brutally raw writing by Raghav Kakkar, Kashyap Kapoor, and Ritesh Shah, and close to reality cinematography are Faraaz’s biggest tools that Hansal uses to get under your skin. While the filmmaker’s focus seems to be on exploring the mind and influence of the world on five young minds, it also tries to capture the bigger picture—the bureaucracy, the power play, and the blame game played by the parties involved. The narrative stays away from adding unnecessary doses of drama, tries to narrate the hostage situation as concisely as possible and delivers hard-hitting lines only at necessary places.
In a way, Faraaz makes for a tight watch, without wasting time in unnecessary subplots and drama. In less than two hours, Hansal packs it all in, perhaps making Faraaz one of his crispest films till date. Owing to the tight screenplay, FARAZ does not give you time to look away from the screen. However, this backfires even in the case of a titular role as there are not enough compelling visuals for the audience to connect with Faraaz. The film seems to be heavily tilted towards Nibras (Aditya Rawal), defeating the purpose of the title of the film. The film could have had a few more scenes on Faraz to impress the audience with his sacrifice.
Cinematographer Pratham Mehta is assisting the writing of the film. While he not only engages in the brutality of mass murder without any emotion, there are scenes that make you feel suffocated, as if you’re in a room with hostages and gasping for air. Having said that, Pratham and Hansal take things a bit too far in some scenes, forcing you to look away during the gory scenes and hope that it all ends soon.
Another complaint people may have is the sound quality. While Hansal is trying to make the scenes as authentic as possible by whispering the stars’ dialogue and talking at low volumes, the sound is so low that you can’t understand what the character has said.
The film is well acted by the lead and supporting actors. Faraaz has a bunch of new faces – Aditya Rawal, Zahaan Kapoor, Sachin Lalwani, Jatin Sareen, Ninad Bhatt, Harshal Pawar, Palak Lalwani, and Resham Sahni – who follow Hansal’s orders down to a T. Aditya holds the film together, changing gears rapidly to show the volatile mind of his character. Meanwhile, Zahaan is showing great potential, similar to his grandfather Shashi Kapoor, when he debuted in films such as Dharamputra (1961), The Householder (1963), and Waqt (1965). I look forward to seeing what he does next.
But you walk out of the theater feeling moved by Juhi Babbar’s stellar performance as Faraaz’s mother. Juhi as the mother who tries everything to save her son and finally surrenders and takes pride in her sacrifice, leaves a solid mark in the film.
A special thanks to Sachin Lalwani who plays Rohan and manages to annoy me with his character. The last time I felt like this was when I saw Arturo in Money Heist and all I could think was when is this character going to die?
Bottomline: Faraaz is a trademark Hansal Mehta film and is not for the faint hearted. The movie is bound to leave you upset and empty till the end. Watch this if you liked Shahid and Omareta.
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