"Nakkash" | A compelling film with social message
Religion often creates conflict if not preached and understood properly. Though meant to unite people and consider every single of them equal, it is the religion that often ends up dividing them. And politicians are known to take advantage of religious discord for self-interest.
Written and directed by Zaigham Imam, Nakkash(Engraver/Carver) portrays the same conflict of religion and its end result. Allah aur Bhagawan insaan ke bich fark nahi karate. Insaan ke bich fark karata hai insaan. (Allah and Bhagwan never differentiate between human. It is the human who does that). This one dialogue summarises today’s society in one line.
Set in Varanasi, it is a tale of contemporary India where religious politics has ruin the communal harmony. It is a tale of personal conflicts while making a choice between Karma (Duty) and Dharma (Religion). It is a tale of the struggle for survival by protagonist Allah Rakha, who defines religion in his own way and is surrounded by religious fanatics.
There is no doubt that this story has been told-retold millions of times, but it seems like writer-director Zaigham Imam has put lots of efforts to bring something fresh out of the aged theme. He has put religious differences, social distortion and hatred spreading in society to the point and in even proportion while writing and directing the film. He has sketched bigotry of both Hindu and Muslim religion uniformly. And that is what makes this movie stand alone. Remaining unbiased is something that we have forgotten with time and it is a need of the hour.
All the actors have justified their roles and have done a great job. But most praiseworthy is the acting of Inaamulhaq who as Allah Rakha has lived the character’s sensitivity and sense of intuition with a great sense of conviction. His sense of emotions is on the spot.
Filmistaan famed Sharib Hashmi is an accomplished actor and has brought out different shades of his character with perfection. Rajesh Sharma as an Inspector and Gulki Joshi as Sabeeha, though got nothing much to do, have played their respective characters gracefully. On the other hand, Kumud Mishra as Vedantiji is influential in his short but important character. Child artist Harminder Sigh has portrayed the innocence of character Mohammed instinctively. His chemistry with on-screen father is pure and praiseworthy. Pawan Tiwari, who is one of the producers, has also done a good job. Moreover, the background score complements the storyline.
The movie has its own flaws too. For example, it seems slow in some parts and it could have been at least 15 or 20 minutes shorter. Few scenes are melodramatic but, it’s a movie which is all about drama and emotions. Overall, the movie is a complete package with a social message.
When the mutual trust between two main religion of the country is on the verge of getting destroyed, Nakkash is a credible effort to glue the religious sanity together. It prompts the viewers for introspection. A beautiful and compelling movie, thumbs up.
