By Anayat Ali Shah,
Fitoor, released on February 12, an Indian adoption of Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, set amidst in the disputed territory of Kashmir. It starts in a snowy wintry, Chilaikalan, somewhere in the Dal Lake, a humble orphaned thirteen year old boy Noor Nizami, (Pip) encounters an injured man (Magwitch), who looks very scary and asked him to bring some food and warm clothes for him. The man is depicted as an “atanqwadi” (terrorist) who escaped from an army encounter somewhere near the border and was hiding himself from their sight.
Noor is an apprenticed to his brother-in-law, who is an artisan, dealing with walnut Kashmiri arts. He is brought to Begam Jan’s (Miss Havisham) mansion where he meets a girl about his age, Firdous (Estela), who was very pretty and seemed very proud. Noor instantly falls in love with her and loved her throughout the story. He then meets Begam Jan, a willowy, yellowed middle aged woman dressed in fancy wedding clothes. Begam Jan seems getting pleasure while Firdous insults Noor for his dress and his broken boots.
Noor is insulted, but thinks there is something wrong with him. He vows to change, to become uncommon and a gentleman. Begam Jan, was enjoying the ill treatment that Noor received from Firdous, she once said to him, Firdous ko hasil karana hai to pehley uskey qabil bano. Meanwhile, Noor dares to dream of becoming a gentleman and one fine morning under sudden and mysterious circumstances, he finds himself in tenure of ‘great expectation’ in the form of art scholarship and moves to Delhi. He was in the notion that it is Begam Jan, who is his secret benefactor as she intends for him to marry Firdous. In this gripping tale of Love, deception, revenge and reward the compelling characters like run off rebel, real benefactor of Noor; Firdous, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Begam, an eccentric jilted bride, whose motive is to take revenge as she has been jilted in her youth and are unable to come out from the same. Noor encounters Firdaus again in Delhi, but this time she is engaged to Bilal, a Pakistani diplomat. However, Noor’s feelings have not changed and the relationship goes on. Noor’s success in his career changed the initial reluctance in Begum. However, she was still adamant that Firdaus should marry Bilal because she wants to feel the same pain of deception in Noor’s heart. Noor’s love for Firdaus tote all the hardships and complex emotions and succeeds at the end.
Firdous, narcissistic character, subvert the notion of true love and serves a bitter criticism against the class system in which she is mired. Brought up by Begam to torment men and break their hearts. She wins Noor’s deepest abiding love by practicing deliberate cruelty. She is cold, cynical and manipulative. In the midst of all this drama, Kashmir Conflict has been again misinterpreted by showing that Kashmiri youth wants to make their future and the ‘freedom sentiment’ is nothing but a hurdle against the same. At the auction party, while Bilal along with Firdous about to leave, Noor shouted at him repeatedly, ‘dood mango gey to kheer dengey, Kashmir manggo gey to cheer dey gey’ (if you would ask for milk , we will provide you Kheer, but if u would ask Kashmir, we will tear you apart). Noor’s sister died in the bomb blast when he was still thirteen and during the burial ceremony he run away and directly went to Begam’s house to come out from the grief. But, Begam in a sadistic tone says, ‘she has sent Firdous to London for studies’, and insulted his innocent feelings again.
Landscape in the movie is what defines Kashmir, winter, snowfall and tall Chinars in the month of October with crimson red leaves. The moment I saw the Chinar leaves spreading on earth it reminds me of the Persian poet, who once visited Kashmir and after seeing the red leaves of Chinar, he abruptly uttered, che naar ast (what kind of fire it is?) and afterwards this gigantic tree of love gets its name Chinar. Moreover, the hair of grownup Firdous is also depicted red and one may ask the same question what kind of fire it is that Bollywood is creating through freak stereotypes. With the release of Haider, Indian cinema has at least broken off the traditional and conventional images.
But, this Alice- in-Wonderland delusion type movies, like, Fitoor affects not just those who are unaware about the problem of Kashmir Conflict, but even the glut of stereotypes that abound in Indian Film Industry.
(Author is a Ph.D. Research Scholar, MANUU, Department of English, HYDERABAD. He can be contacted- [email protected])