Little Zizou
Starring- Boman Irani, Imaad Shah, Jahan Bativala
Director- Sooni Taraporevala
Running Time- 101 minutes
Rating- ***
With big budget movies facing drastic money cuts and bombing at the box office, 2008 can be called the year of the small budget films. A film like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was nominated in the same categories in award ceremonies as a Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or a Rock On!!. Audiences watched A Wednesday as enthusiastically as they watched Dostana. With the trend continuing in 2009, it seemed perfect timing for Little Zizou.
Director Sooni Taraporevala who earlier penned scripts of Diaspora films like Salaam Bombay, The Namesake and Missippi Masala gets down to her first directorial venture. Little Zizou piqued enough interest before release with its overall look. Set in the Parsi community (which was earlier tributed in the successful Being Cyrus), the storyline deals with current issues of identity and fundamentalism pervading the community, all narrated through the eyes of Little Zizou aka Xerxes, a 11 year old motherless and longing-to-be-loved Parsi boy
The dynamics of the Parsi are remarkably different from other religions. The old generation continues to live the same old world they always did. (“We have been living in the same house for four generations where do we go now?” remarks an old lady when told of eviction)
The middle generation is stuck having to choose between two polarities. One is fanatism and protection a dwindling community represented by self proclaimed preacher Cyrus II Khodaji (Sohrab Ardeshir) who has formed the Parsi Liberation Army to cleanse the community banning converts and unions with non-Parsis. The other side is given by free-speaking liberal-minded Boman Pressvala, (Boman Irani) who inspite hating Khodaji never discriminates against his children. His beautiful wife Roxanne (Xenobia Shroff) is Zizou’s surrogate mother much to the displeasure of her human-hating animal-loving daughter Leah (Inayah Bativala).
Zizou can’t connect to his older brother Artexerxes (Imaad Shah) because Art is “Lost in his own world” With being busy writing graphic novels, trying to build a flight simulator and wooing Zenobia (Dishad Patel), Pressvala’s older daughter, Art represents the youngest generation disillusioned with fundamentalism and his ‘bogus humbug father’.
Taraporevala scores in the first half which is full of delightful character sketches. With Bollywood always reducing Parsis to mere caricatures of ‘Rustom’, the film succeeds in going beyond the usual bawa cliches. Each character is lovingly etched with the director also showing how they shaped up to who they are as she is aware the film is an introduction of sorts to the Parsi world. Being a ‘bawi’ herself, she makes sure to give an in-depth picture.
However the second half takes the form of a docudrama and thats where the charm factor dulls down. Somehow the issues between the two warring parties come across as individual problems rather than larger community issues. All it takes for Boman Irani is to have a heart ataack and he has public support. The track featuring Roxanne’s mother (Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal) and Zenobia’s boyfriend Arjun (John Abraham, in a guest appearance) is left midway. Cyrus Broacha and Kamal Sidhu hardly have screen time. Bend it like Beckham maintained the actresses fascination with the footballer throughout the movie. However amidst the chaos Big Zizou is forgotten.
The acting matches the hype it created. Boman Irani once again delivers a perfect performance of a man being the lone voice of reason and his interaction with wife Xenobia Shroff is highly endearing. The film is full of spectacular supporting starcast- Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal as the grand old dame still living in her past is regal. Imaad Shah, inspite of being non-Parsi stands out while Sohrab Ardeshir creates pity and hatred for his character with the audiences.
However the two stars of the show are the children Jahan and Inayah. Jahan’s narrative role never clashes with the story rather offers an unbiased view of it. His desire to establish a connection with his mother (He asks his brother, “Did she see me before she died?”) and his talk about ghosts and angels with Inayah strikes a chord
Special mention to the highly qualified technical team- Arjun Bhasin and Shahnaz Vahanvaty’s costumes, Nitin Desai’s production, Amrita Singh’s art design and Bickram Ghosh’s music contribute minute details all which creates the perfect setting for the old, quaint Parsi world.
In all, watch Little Zizou. Get a glimpse into a hitherto unknown world and come out feeling good with a smile.
