Little Zizou

Lately I have been noticing quite a few things Parsi. News items regarding the feud in the Parsi Panchayat, and a viewpoint into all things Parsi and how it is displaced in a foreign setting in Bapsi Sidhwa’s book ‘An American Brat’. That included with the last week’s dinner outing at Jimmy Boy Café where I had delicious Chicken Dhansak. So an opportunity to relish some more of this very interesting community came in the form of the new movie ‘Little Zizou’. And I was glad to have made good of the opportunity. As the name suggests, it is little and lazy in its scale and ambition, but it is also definitely extremely likeable.

At the helm of the script for some excellent movies (The Namesake, Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala – all with director Mira Nair), Sooni Taraporewala finally gets into her own act with this little movie. And she has chosen the topic closest to her heart for her first movie - the delightful landscape of the Parsis in Mumbai and their little, vastly unkown eccentricities.

The director's own son Jehan Batliwala playes Xerxes, a 10-year-old football fanatic who dreams that his dead mother will bring Zenedine Zidane to Mumbai. While Zenedine Zidane is the Zizou, Jehan – the Little Zizou is an ardent soccer follower. His brother Artaxerxes or Art (played by Imaad Shah) is a cartoon-sketching teenager who spends his days trying to construct a flight simulator with his other Parsi friends. Both the motherless boys have to make-do with their father Cyrus Khodaji II (played by Sohrab Ardeshir) who is more interested in making money out of power-plays and politics in the Parsi Punchayat. He is a Parsi fundamentalist who believes that any Parsi who marries outside the religion should be ostracized from the community and not be allowed to pray in the community fire temples. This pits him against the younger, moderate and free-thinking Parsi generation led by the liberal-leaning editor-publisher Boman Pressvala (played by Boman Irani, excellent).

The motherless Khodaji boys detest their father so much that they spend most of their happy moments at their dad’s rival Pressvala’s house. The motherless younger Little Zizou gets all affection from Mrs. Pressvala (the pitch-perfect Zenobia Shroff - a brand new revelation), much to the jealousy of Mrs. Pressvala’s younger daughter – Liana (Iyanah Bativala). And Art hangs around at the Pressvala’s because he is in love with their elder daughter Zenobia (Dilshad Patel), but the poor boy has to pay second fiddle to Zenobia’s love interest, the non-Parsi Arjun (John Abraham, returning to his Parsi roots with this Parsi movie. The other Malayali root of John's is still unexplored).

Most of the movie touches on the premise of the clash of the religious fundamentalists v/s the liberals, which frankly is nothing new in any of the religions in India. We have all, at some stage, sided on either half of this debate. The director uses this clash to drive home the point that protectionism is not benefitting anyone and as the world changes, the older & orthodox values change and give way to newer values.

Things go way too complicated when people react to the articles written by Boman Pressvala. And when Maharashtra politics interferes with the Parsi Punchayat politics, things take a nasty turn. In the middle of all this melee, a host of characters walk in and out of the plot making their relevant points where it calls for. The most touching character of all of them being Mrs. Pressvala’s mother, played by the grand-old dame of the Mumbai’s English theatre, Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal, who turns in an absolutely brilliant performance as the slightly batty, but still full of joie de vivre mother.

It is an extremely simple, small scale and lovable movie. Having made her grand debut in the movies ages ago, Sooni Taraporevala could have chosen any topic that would have raked in the moolah for her, but the fact that she chose the topic closest to her heart speaks volumes about her conviction and love for this project. And the passion and enthusiasm shown by the largely Parsi cast in bringing her vision to reality is there for all to see. The movie is filled with warm little moments that are born out of the director's sharp understanding of the Parsi community, and her ability to bring their quirks and charms to the screen. The movie is entirely well cast, and almost all actors have played their parts convincingly well. Boman Irani as usual stands tall amongst all the characters and Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal left a lasting impression on my mind. The two child actors, Iyanah Bativala and Jahan Bativala also turn in noteworthy performances. They do a great job of being believably vulnerable without overacting the goody-two-shoes type of kiddie characters that one most often encounters in Indian cinema. All-in-all the movie is a very recommended, lazy Sunday watch. A little zany, a little crazy, that’s Little Zizou for you.