Review of Fiza

Introduction

During the Bombay communal riots of 1993 an innocent family, consisting of Nishatbi (Jaya Bachchan), her daughter Fiza (Karishma Kapoor) and her son Amaan (Hirtik Roshan), life changes forever. Amaan is caught up in the riots and disappears from his sister and mother life. This affected both women for six years and Fiza now wants to find out what has happened to her brother inorder to regain the peace she once had within her life with her family. The journey for her starts when she learns about her brothers presence in North India with a terrorist group..................

While Video-Sound own the rights to the film in the USA/Canada, Spark International own the film rights in UK and Europe. When IDN broke the news that Spark was to release this film on DVD with the authoring done by DEI, a record number of hits was counted and e-mails was sent to me. Many had purchased the Video-Sound DVD and was sorely disappointed with it. This included myself. Hearing that DEI would do the DVD was a great triumph but there was one snag, the DVD is only allowed for sale in the UK and Europe territories.

Still many die hard DVD purchasers imported this version to the USA via the internet and looked amazed with the picture quality sending us reports on its excellent picture and sound quality that would put Video-Sound mediocre version to shame. Luckily, for the american audiences, the DVD was done in an NTSC signal rather then the PAL signal, used in UK, otherwise having access to this DVD would be a hard task. Yet one wouldn`t have mined if the DVD was done on PAL as resolution is better then NTSC. Still from looking at this DVD the picture quality satisfies me well, and becomes one of my favourites DVD for this year along side with DEI`s Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000) & Jung (2000), Ayngaran`s Kandukodian Kandukodian (2000), BMD`s Hey Ram (1999) and EROS`s Dharkan (2000) and Josh (2000).

Video

The DVD is presented in its original 2.66:1 ratio, in an anamorphic transfer. Clearly this is a bonus point as picture information quality and the excellent photography work by Santosh Sivan is restored on this DVD, in cinematic quality for home viewing.

Authored from its original 35mm print source in India, the film had signs of wear and tear, in the form of tiny specks that will certainly go unnoticeable to the eye and will never disturb viewing (Besides they only appear in a couple of sequences). As a result of this clean print a presence of freshness is seen throughout the very high visual picture quality that is rather naturalistic and retains the film`s original intentions.

Noise levels, grain and compression artefacts which were detected throughout the Video-Sound DVD, do not appear on this DVD authored by DEI. The excellent picture information had no signs of any distortion. Picture sharpness is also very well handled, and much detail can be seen without hesitation on the eye.

It could have even been better had it not been for the extras that take up the disc space, making the average bit rate around 5 - 6 Mbit/sec for the main feature. If the extras were placed onto a second DVD then the picture bit rate could have been boosted up to 8 - 9Mbit/sec giving us picture quality beyond our expectations. Still I am pleased with the current picture information as it displays so much already.

Colour details are correctly coded and is reference quality displaying the many colours the film had, from muted colours during the riots scenes to glamorous colours during the dance sequences. Saturation in all aspects never becomes weak, truly representing the director`s vision and capturing the realistic art direction with precise concision. Again no signs of any colour bleeding could be detected.

The contrast and black details has depth, deepness and the crispness that display the many shades, helping audiences to understand darkly lit scenes without any problems. Some instances the contrast details seems a little high but that was how the film was originally shot and intended, creating an effect of mood and tone suited to the themes of the film.

The one area where I thought the image suffered was the occasional annoying NTSC artifacting. There are a few shots where shimmering and moiré are pretty obvious. Yet while that only represent a minor part of the picture my eyes was glued to the refreshing detail and colours that to me was alive in dimensions.

Audio

The Hindi Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is one of activity and this disc recreates that perfectly. Dialogue is natural sounding and never with even a hint of strain. Directional effects in the front soundstage image wildly across the front, matching the onscreen action perfectly. Surrounds are used predominately for Ranjit Barot`s thumping music score and for occasional effects such as an urban environment and bullets. Back surround effects are also aggressive as one expects, which are perfectly and appropriately realized. The back surround is used more as an enhancement and really completes a convincing 360 degrees soundfield across the back of the room.

There was two minor glitches in the soundtrack, when the sound turns mute after reel changes. One occurring after the `Aaja Mahiya` song, and one during the climax. It was a slight distraction and could have been certainly improved upon.

Features

The extras on this DVD are very informative and entertaining. Beginning with a twenty-nine minute making of feature, which looks rather deeply into the characters, plot and and other behind the scene look of the film and the makings of it. It is a hell lot better then the many promotional features we get on many Indian DVD`s.

The making of feature opens with a press conference, which is seven minutes long. This press conference is rather poor quality and is very inaudible to the ear.

It would have have been better to make this a separate supplement as navigation is non exsistent, making us watch this press conference before watching the making of feature. Chapter marks, if used here, would have helped this by making it more accessible.

We also are treated to six t.v. spots which have a total running time of nine mins. Each are chapter mark so navigation through them are easy. Finally we are treated to a t.v. spot of the film Jish Desh Mein Ganga Retha Hai (2000), which is under a coming soon attraction.

The menus and box design are of excellent quality and really do add a feel of value to the overall product.

Conclusion

First time director Khalid Mohammed, who is a respected film critic, dons on a new cap and displays to bollywood what can be achieved visually in a film, and how a plot can take its audience to high expectations. This newly developed plot, with characteristics and representations that is very much three dimensional and anti-stereotype, commends the director for his skills as a film-maker.

Its very rare to find an woman, displayed on the moving canvas, as independent, strong and intelligent. Films like Mother India (1965), Bandit Queen (1996), Roja (1993), Hazzar Churasi Ki Maa (1998) and The Terrorist (1998/1999) are examples and the movie Fiza (2000) joins such list. Here the main character called Fiza, played wonderfully by Karishma Kapoor, is seen as such. Fiza is a woman presented in a material world that profits from politics and religion, a male dominated environment. Fiza, which means seasons, goes out in a dangerous world to find her brother, who is in contrast to Fiza as we soon learn.

Amman, played convincingly by the talented Hirtihk Roshan, is seen as rather weak willed, easy to command over and psychologically unbalanced while finding his own identity. Even though he is built as a strong man through his physicality, his inner strength is weak and Fiza knows this. This forms part of the reason for his search when she leans that he is has associated with a terrorist group and the justification for this is rather strong. It also shows that man is not as perfect as they think to be and really brings out a new representation of them in this Indian film.

The characteristic of the mother, played by the wonderful theatrical actor Jaya Bachchan, is also similar to Fiza which has been fully developed making audiences emotionally bonded with her. This is due to her growing up in the times of post independence when women were considered to be below the male species in India. Living throughout two generations she carries both ideologies of the past and present seen through her own eyes. While respecting her religion very thoroughly, she is seen to be very close to her children and loves them dearly. This adds another reason why Fiza needs to find her brother, to make sure that her mother remains strong like her and that her believes that her son is still alive is true.

Yet when she sees the real colours of her son, she is dismayed and admits defeat. Sadly she commits suicide as a result. Many audience found this to be rather `bollywood`. Yet to me it makes sense why the director took this path. She is a product of the past, and of faith. When she realizes that her faith of bringing Amman had failed in her eyes, she cannot face herself and as a result dies. If Fiza had a son, like Amman and the same circumstances happened in the future then Fiza would be able to cope with this as society is much more open then it was when Nishatbi was growing up. Clearly the director has thoughtout the characters past, present and future rather wonderfully and intelligent audience who capture this understand engage in the film more deeply then what the film offers us on the surface.

There are moments when the film does play on stereotypes with the ministers, leaders, hitmen and media, and this could have been improved upon. Yet these bollywood conventions manage to work within this screenplay as it is very brief and never dwelled upon. Other minor disappointments with the movie is the way songs come into the narrative structure making this film seem more aptable for commercial cinema audiences. Dances, glamour and overly high modern songs seen in this film don`t agree with the overall narrative jarring the viewing senses and prolonging time. The song only applicable for the film would be `Piya Haji Ali`, beautifully composed by A.R. Rahman, and the song `Mere Watan` composed by Ranjit Barot as they help with the film`s screenplay.

Now that I have talked about the content of the film lets ponder over the technical values, all of which are breathtaking. Cinematography by Santosh Sivan is excellent throughout capturing the images and light effects with perfection, while art design work is also very realistic and helps with the overall look of the film. Editing is also rather good and manages to blend the scenes rather well never deviating from the core matter, just wish those useless songs were edited out.

The film is an interesting concept from the new director and displays that his future work will be something all audiences will view with high expectations. But the director must move away from the 20 year old conventions we have seen in all of bollywood films, in order to achieve something properly intellectual. Still Fiza is a good movie with brilliant characters, acting and technical credits.

The question that many Indian DVD fans ask when it comes to any DEI tittle is not `Does it look good?` but `How good it looks!` and that statement is a testimony to their hard effort placed in a tough battle. Fiza DVD is a stunning visual and sound experience that is worth the purchase. Kudos to Spark for allowing DEI to do this DVD.