Real Life Story Of A Gritty Woman Is Punchy, Dramatic

Direction: Suparn Varma

The Shah Bano verdict of 1985 drew national attention to two issues: Gender and minority rights. The issue of the alleged conflict between the Sharia and our paramount parchment required a judicial pronouncement. Historically, it turned paradoxical. This makes the task of the scriptwriter, Reshu Nath, even more critical and worth appreciation. The politico-social drama even in 1985 had a great impact on policy. Today, a tad removed from the immediacy of the happenings, the dramatics surrounding the battle may have decreased.

So too the trauma. So also the seeming conflict between the two jurisprudential sources. To quote from ‘Shah Bano’, the apex court rightly said: “The moral edict of the law and morality cannot be clubbed with religion”.

The storyline is about the marriage of advocate Abbas Khan (Emraan Hashmi) and Shazia Banu (Yami Gautham), which is hunky-dory — albeit the usual wear and tear — till Abbas marries Saria (Vartika Singh) with the approval of his mother (Aparna Goshal). The laboured advertisement tracks are soon beyond repair. Banu walks out of her matrimonial home and returns to her parents (Piloo Vidhyarthi and Danish Husain). She is pushed into litigation by circumstances. Even the miserly trickle of maintenance to the children stops.

The personal conflict flows into a huge conflict between personal law and constitutional guarantees. A decade-long battle stretches itself. Kick-started at the magistrate court, it crawls its way to the apex court.

According to the protagonist, “to fight is not a choice.” She does a short preface that denounces that at the basic level, it is a simple fight for her basic rights. As a lower court voice is a cliché of alternative remedies, she carries the burden of prejudice, drawn out in familiar patterns dubbed as an infidel, seen as a woman defying the Sharia law. Those cuddled in the pockets of power feel threatened and join Abbas Khan in the larger battery.

Yes, there are stereotypes. There are a few suggestive accusations. What is a rose doing in the court of Abbas Khan? Hopefully a bizarre unintended accident. In the context of the maintenance controversy, it is worth recalling that the apex court had critically evaluated the stance of the orthodox that mehr was sufficient “to meet the requirements of women”, observing “this is a most unreasonable view of law as well as life”.

With the script that stays substantially committed to the fundamentals, there is little room for needless tone. Yet has sufficient punch and drama.

Most performances, particularly from Aparna Ghoshal as Khan’s mom, Piloo Vidyarthi as Banu’s mom, Danish Husain as a supportive father of Banu, sharing halves of the trauma, and Smriti Mishra, are all sincere and natural. Debutant Vartika Singh, as the second wife, is too stiff. She lets go of multiple opportunities to leave a lasting impact. Emraan Hashmi shows it again. Given an opportunity, he is more than a dependable actor. Yami Gautam in the main role in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is at best adequate; she simply lacks the gravitas. Did the casting director hear of a certain Tabu or Shefali Shah? Any filmmaker with artistic juices would know that either would have impacted the film, like Shah Bano did our law.

Unfortunately, systemic interference makes the film a non-starter. The law-life matrix designed on the premise of the conflict between traditional personal law and the vicissitudes of fate, culture and economics are woven with required drama, convincing fate and articulate conviction. ‘Haq’ is the window that answers some very important questions in the context of using religion as an intelligent fig leaf.