toro1

The second half of this movie seems to be largely inspired by "Eye of the Needle" which I had watched twenty years back. It starred Donald Sutherland. "Eye of the Needle" has the backdrop of World War II. A German spy gets marooned on a desolate British island colony, probably Gibraltar. He falls in love with a woman who stays on the island with her crippled husband and their son. She too falls for the hero. When she learns about the hero being a spy she mercilessly shoots him. The tag-line of the movie ran like 'it is easy to love an enemy but difficult to kill a lover' (not verbatim). Replace the island by Kashmir made inaccessible in winter. Replace the German spy by lost husband terrorist. Crippled husband by alcoholic father. Presto, you get "Fanaa".

The story writer (who won a Filmfare award for this movie!) owes us an explanation.

This movie is not banned in India as said in some of the reviews. I have watched the movie on a legal DVD. It was released in movie theatres too. Like most of the other reviewers I too found it to be a great movie. I was disturbed for some days after watching this movie. But I must also add that the depiction of widows in the movie is not representative of Hindu community as of today. No one of my generation here talks of or is aware of Manu's Laws on which this movie is based. I come from a fairly conservative small town Hindu family . But I do not remember my widowed aunts, grandmothers or cousins being treated in the way depicted in this movie. None of them was banished to live in an 'ashram'. They stayed at home and led a quite but dignified life. A cousin of mine who lost her husband in an accident was remarried by her parents! I am not an ultra-rightist. I too deplore the harassment Deepa Mehta faced while shooting in Varanasi. But through this review I wanted to give a balanced picture especially to the western movie goers.