MEE RAQSAM IS A MODERN MASTERPIECE

Iam not a film buff. If someone praises a movie, I might make an effort to catch it, but there are more good films I miss than I get to see. That’s as true of Hollywood as it is of Bollywood or any other cinematographic forest for that matter!

However, I definitely know what I want from a film: A gripping story, moving acting, a few pretty faces and heart-stirring emotions. When I get all of that, I’m riveted to the screen. It’s impossible to distract me. If, in addition, it’s a tear-jerker, I’m quickly reduced to floods. There are many movies I’ve cried through, even in cinema halls with people looking sideways and wondering what’s going on.

Well, there’s a movie I saw last Sunday which has all of this and a lot more. It’s called Mee Raqsam. That’s Urdu for “I Dance”. It’s a simple gentle story that overwhelms you as the film plays out. Even though it has a heroic ending, the anguish and anger you feel is never totally erased. It’s still there when your tears of rage turn to tears of happiness as the credits start to roll.

Mee Raqsam is the story of a young Muslim girl, born and brought up in an Uttar Pradesh village called Mijwan, who has a fascination for Bharatanatyam and wants to learn the dance. In the eyes of the village’s Muslim elders, this is heresy. In fact, for them it’s tantamount to a betrayal of Islam and the honour of the Muslim community. On the other hand, the Hindu patron of the Bharatanatyam academy she joins is no less hard and cruel. For him little Mariam’s passion is proof that Hindu culture will triumph over Islam. That’s what matters to him. Not her talent nor her story.

Fortunately, Mariam’s father, a widowed village tailor, brilliantly