Parzania, which opened last week, is bound to open up raw wounds in Ahmedabad. It slices through sensitive issues of the communal divide. The dialogues are also graphic and explicit. Apart from the Hindi cuss words there’re dialogues like... [that cannot be even astrixed here]. This, from a jaded American journalist to the Parsi protagonist played by Naseeruddin Shah.

“Surprisingly though, the Indian censor board has allowed the explicit dialogues to remain,” says Rahul Dholakia, who earlier directed the fluff stuff, Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar, based on the Steve Martin comedy, Father Of The Bride.

“Yes, I plead guilty,” laughs Dholakia who’s distributing the hard-hitting film on his own. “As a Gujarati, I felt strongly about what happened there after Godhra. My family has been actively involved in socio-historical issues in the state, whether it was the Quit India movement or the Gujarat Maha Sabha. You could say Parzania is my initiation into the family’s constant concerns.”

The Los Angeles-based filmmaker says Parzania is a story that had to be told. “What happened after Godhra cannot be ignored or suppressed. When I went to Ahmedabad I met this Parsi, happy and peaceful. Then Godhra happened. The family’s son went missing. When I met them everything had changed.”

The film was completed back in 2004. “But we kept it under wraps because of the sensitive nature of the theme. We didn’t want any controversies. Then the film was stuck with the censors for about six months.”

Parzania might be accused of a distinctly pro-Muslim leaning, showing the other side entirely as saffron savages. Dholakia explains, “I’m not pro-Muslim or anti-Hindu in Parzania. I’m against fundamentalism. If you see the history of the post-Godhra Ahmedabad you’d see that there was mass scale genocide against Muslims. I think it would’ve happened regardless of Godhra.”

About the alien language for the rigidly Indian tale, Dholakia rationalises, “Quite frankly we made Parzania in English because we never thought it would be released in India. I’m surprised that the censors cleared the film for release here. They passed it with very minor audio cuts. They somewhere saw the sincerity of the endeavour. We’re trying to get it released in Gujarat. But I don’t think it would be taken kindly there. Nothing has changed in Gujarat. The government still believes in its own rightness.

“People need to be reminded of how wrong they can go in dealing with the communal issue. The hatred still simmers under the surface in Gujarat. But mine isn’t a political film. It’s the story of a family torn apart by events they can’t control.”

Dholakia is candid enough to see where his film is coming from, and where it’ll go. “I don’t see the audience packing it in for Parzania. But, yes, it’ll hit home with the thinking audience.”