Starring: Jaya Bachchan, Karisma Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Neha, Bikram Saluja, Isha Koppikar with Manoj Bajpai and Sushmita Sen Written by: Khalid Mohamed Dialogues: Javed Siddique Art Direction: Sharmishta Roy Cinematography: Santosh Sivan Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad Audiography: Anuj Mathur Choreography: Saroj Khan, Farah Khan, Ganesh Hegde Action: Shyam Kaushal Lyrics: Gulzar, Sameer, Shaukat Ali, Tejpal Kaur Music: Anu Malik, A.R. Rahman Background Score: Ranjit Barot Produced by: Pradeep Guha Directed by: Khalid Mohamed

Synopsis

Amaan has been missing for nearly six years since the Bombay riots of 1992 - 93. Nishatbi, his widowed mother and Fiza, his sister strive to lead their lives normally but are always beset with Amaan's absence. Finally unable to take it no more, Fiza sets out to determine whether Amaan is dead or still alive. Using various methods - the media, politicians, the law force, Fiza tries everything she can to trace Amaan. While doing so, she comes into contact with various characters and situations. Is Fiza able to find Amaan? If Amaan is alive, what prevents him from returning home? And can life be beautiful once again for this devastated family? Fiza provides the answers.

There was no real decision to turn director, says Film Critic turned Screenplay Writer turned Director - Khalid Mohamed. In fact once he had written the screenplay, he initially wanted Ram Gopal Varma to direct the film. But Varma was already committed and busy with his own work. It was cinematographer Santosh Sivan who at a meeting in Chennai airport told Khalid he would shoot the film provided Khalid himself directed. After that things just fell into place. Pradeep Guha of the Times of India Group heard the script and decided to produce it himself. Karisma Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Jaya Bachchan reacted favourably to the script and agreed to be part of the film.

Unlike the films he wrote for Shyam Benegal - Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeida which were his personal stories, Fiza is just a fiction story set about six years after the Mumbai riots of 1992 - 93, says Khalid. When asked about the fact that there was a common element of a kind of search often repeating itself in his screenplays be it Sardari Begum or Zubeida or even Fiza now, Khalid points out that in the earlier mentioned films the search element was used for reconstruction of memories of a person no more, whereas in Fiza it is a very real and physical search for a missing person who might still be alive.

Speaking about the film, Khalid says that he has tried to construct the story differently with a lot of voice-overs and a liberal use of montages and flashbacks. He has often tried to get straight to the action so as to maintain the tempo of the film.

Surprisingly, Khalid maintains it was none too difficult to convert the screenplay into 'filmic' language. He says cinematographer Santosh Sivan and he had similar sensibilities and along with his assistants - they worked on the shot breakdown the night before the shoot with camera movements etc. And once the actors had an understanding of the script it was easy to leave the field free to them to interpret their roles though the newcomers of course needed a bit of working on.

Fiza is an extremely important film for both Hrithik Roshan and Karisma Kapoor. For Hrithik it is his second release after Kaho Na Pyaar Hai and expectations from him are sky-high. Speaking on his role in the film, Hrithik said that it was extremely challenging as Amaan's role is totally different from Rohit or Raj of Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. Amaan in Fiza is actually going to surprise a lot of people if they expect to see him as a typical 'Hindi Film Hero' because here he plays a person who has been through a lot of turmoil and who falls into the wrong hands. For Karisma, after Zubeida, the title role of Fiza is her second foray away from the regular Bollywood Masala Films to prove that her National Award for Dil to Paagal Hai (1997) was no fluke.

Jaya Bachchan, who plays the role of Amaan and Fiza's mother, Nishatbi, feels she is in the best stage of her career now because she has no worries about the box-office at this age. Thus she is free to take on the roles which make her feel good about acting. Speaking of Nishatbi's character she elaborates, Nishatbi is a person who tries to take life as it comes. She is a very dignified person. Looking at her, you would not know that she has had a tough life, or that she has been through a lot of pain. Even if she wants to say strong things to her children, she does so very lightly, very gently, in a funny way, laughing, joking through it all.

Khalid is pretty surprised that a lot of talk is going on about him turning director. Abroad it is quite natural for film critics to become filmmakers, but here in India it is regarded as bizarre. And speaking on the use of songs and dances in Fiza, Khalid says that while he has been exposed to various schools of filmmaking, he has grown up on popular Hindi cinema and always wanted to make popular cinema but with a sense of purpose thrown in. While on the songs, the music of Fiza has proved to be extremely popular and is currently at the top of all countdown charts.

When asked now that he has a film behind him, are there any changes in his perception of filmmaking, Khalid replies in the negative. He has been going to the studios right from when he was a child and even in his work as a film critic is often present on the sets of films for interviews etc. so he has seen it all, he says.

Speaking on the possibilities of making more films, Khalid says nothing is certain. Maybe if some idea excites him, then...

Fiza releases on 8th September all over. This is one film all filmmakers, whose films Khalid has reviewed, would like to turn reviewers on!!!