Amidst Parsi neighbourhood; 'Little Zizou'

Little Zizou
Cast: Jahan Batlivala, Imad Shah, Sohrab Ardeshir, Cyrus Broacha, Boman Irani
Director: Sooni Taraporewala
Rating: **, 1/2 *

The scriptwriter of feted films like ‘Salaam Bombay’, ‘Mississippi Masala’ and ‘The Namesake’ has taken on the role of director/screenwriter in this small film that attempts to think big.

The film is about two Parsi Zorashtrian families with contrasting perspectives. One is headed by an extremist Cyrus Khodaiji (Ardeshir) out to cleanse the community of it’s impure blood while the other is headed by a liberal rationalist, a publisher Boman Pressvala (Boman), of a sinking daily.  

Sooni’s directorial abilities don’t seem as comprehensible as her screenwriting skills. The narrative is rather simplistic and the perspective is limited to community matters –rather to an issue( racial purity)  that seems to have raised it’s ugly head in recent years. The tone of the film basically vacillates from the satirical to the serious. In fact even the central character Zizou (played by Sooni’s son Jahaan) son of Khodaiji, has little  effect on the outcome of the story. His obsession wth footballer Zinedane Zidane- apropos his entire role appears incidental at best.