When the Veil Lifts
HER ANGER IS a quiet ocean, washing over her in waves. All Shazia (Yami Gautam Dhar) wants is what is due to her. When her husband marries another woman, she just wants his time. When she realises that he loves his younger, prettier second wife, and has loved her for years, she leaves his home with their three children.
When the maintenance stops coming, Shazia fights for it, only to be blindsided by her husband divorcing her. As she runs from the court to the Muslim Personal Law Board, she becomes an articulate exponent of both the Sharia and her Constitutional rights. As Shazia Bano, Gautam Dhar delivers a heartfelt performance, the confusion and pain reflected in her face, as she struggles to comprehend why her husband who is careless with his religious obligations is allowed to misuse the faith for his personal needs, while she, the one who observes all the rituals, is punished. She receives able assistance from Sheeba Chadha as her lawyer. Emraan Hashmi, as her stern and unforgiving husband is the antithesis of the lover boy the world has come to expect of him. Based loosely on the Shah Bano judgment which was unfortunately reversed by the Rajiv Gandhi government, the film does no favours to Islam and the way it is used to oppress women. As a political issue it is conveniently timed, and as a cinematic experience, it pulls no punches.
