Problem of creative people are manifold. Their work has to face Censor for approval from government and regulatory authority. Noted film maker Majid Majidi has faced enough of it with the present day religious government of his native country Iran for his past movies. .Now the latest is protest against his movie Muhammad: Messenger of God in India and elsewhere by Sunni Sect.
The protest in India came from Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim organisation Raza Academy , it has approached the Union Home Minister as well as the Iranian Consulate in India seeking a ban on his film on life and time of Prophet Muhammad., calling it “blasphemous for more than one reason”.
In a memorandum sent to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the easy prey in this episode is composer A R Rahman, who has given music for the film as Raza Academy has also sought “legal action” against him as he has given music for the film, for “hurting the sentiments of Indian Muslims”.
The film by the renowned director is the first of a trilogy on the life of Muhammad, and shows his childhood and adolescence till he becomes a prophet.
After its world premiere on August 27 at the Montreal Film Festival, Muhammad: Messenger of God opened in Iran simultaneously in 57 screens but it is yet to release in other parts of the world.
Demanding “action against the filmmakers”, Mohammed Saeed Noori, founder secretary of the Raza Academy, wrote in the memorandum: “Firstly, the name of the prophet shouldn’t be in the film’s title. People use a film’s name loosely, like when someone says bad things about the film, it sounds like an insult to Muhammad himself. Secondly, photography isn’t allowed in Islam. We have a problem with various actors shown playing Muhammad.”
Since visual descriptions of the prophet is prohibited in Islam, Majidi has chosen not to show the face of Muhammad in the film, keeping in mind religious sentiments. The Oscar-winning Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, has worked on various combinations of light and
darkness to make this possible. Yet, the film has sparked controversy outside Iran. Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars has also denounced the release of this movie.as it contains scenes showing representations of the body of Prophet Muhammad. In a statement, the organization said that any representation of the Prophet in this manner showed little reverence for him and a disregard for Islamic law.Earlier this week, the Kingdom’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said the film “is a mockery of the Prophetand a degradation of his status.” The Muslim World League and Al-Azhar scholars have slammed the decision to release the film. Al-Azhar University said “it is not permitted under Shariah to embody the prophets.”
Nearly 140 cinemas in Iran began showing the $40 million film, the most expensive in Iranian history, this week. According to the film’s director Majid Majidi, the 171-minute production is “to promote Islamic unity.” Majidi said the aim of his work, the first part of a trilogy, is to reclaim the rightful image of Islam, which he said extremists have distorted.
While Iran has denounced cartoons depicting the Prophet, such as those published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Shiites are generally more relaxed than Sunnis about depiction of religious figures. Iranian government has partly funded the film. It is not out of way to mention that Majidi, the 56-year-old director, has made acclaimed films such as Colour of Paradise (1999) and Children of Heaven (1997), which was nominated at the Oscars for the Best Foreign film category.
“The film is being dubbed in many languages and likely to be released all around the world. That will make it worse.
Restricted by both its narrative scope (it follows Muhammad from the year of his birth to the age of 12) and religious prohibitions against showing the prophet’s face, Majidi tries to enliven matters whenever possible with action scenes (legendary battles, chases through the marketplace, pilgrims circling the Kaaba, hand-to-hand combat, camel caravans, horses galloping across the desert), but action is not this helmer’s forte. These cliched scenes, in combination with the elaborate but cheesy-looking special effects, register mostly as second-rate copies of Western cinematic conventions.
Also problematic, at least for offshore audiences, is that those unfamiliar with the history of Islam- and the story behind the man considered by Muslims to be the last prophet sent to humankind by God — may be more than a little lost. Given the surge of worldwide interest in what Islam is all about, and that the pic is likely to be Iran’s Oscar submission for best foreign-language film, it would pay to invest in some title cards providing pertinent background information so that non-Muslim viewers know the relationships between the dramatis personae, how the Bani-Hashim relate to the Quraysh tribe, and just who was worshipping what and ruling where at the time. Right now, the film’s main takeaway is that Islam, Judaism and Christianity share similar values and roots.
Majidi respects Islamic convention by never showing Muhammad’s face and shooting him mostly from the back. At the press conference, he explained that he and cinematographer Storaro customized a Steadicam especially to show the prophet’s point of view. However, since the central part of the film covers Muhammad’s life before he became a prophet, we hear the actors playing him at the ages of 6, 8 and 12 (Alireza Jalili, Hossein Jalali and Amir Heidari, respectively). But in the scenes that bookend the film and are set 50 years later, his words are repeated by his uncle Aboutaleb (Mehdi Pakdel).
Muhammad’s birth in Mecca in the year 570 AD follows the failed invasion of the city by the fierce and flashily clad Abyssian General Abrahe (Arash Falahat Pishe) and his fearsome elephant army. It’s the first of many action set pieces featuring risible but no doubt expensive effects work — in this case, a whirlwind of computer-generated birds that repel the advancing warriors by dropping sharp stones.
Muhammad’s grandfather Abdolmotaleb (a scenery-chewing turn by Alireza Shoja Nouri, who during his time at the Farabi Cinema Foundation was one of the architects of the post-revolutionary Iranian cinema) is the elder of the Bani-Hashim clan, which is part of the Quraysh tribe. A firm believer in only one god, he is also the guardian of the Kaaba, a site of worship and pilgrimage.
The hackneyed visual iconography used to depict Muhammad’s birth to Ameneh (played by the beatifically smiling Mina Sadati) resembles that which usually accompanies the birth of Christ — twinkling starry sky, bright lights — although, of course, no manger. But Muhammad’s arrival sparks some discontent in the Bani-Hashim clan. His conniving uncle Aboulahab (Mohammad Asgari) and jealous wife Jamileh (Rana Azadivar) refuse to allow their maid to be the baby’s wet nurse.
Pious patriarch Abdolmotaleb, who recognizes that the infant is special, dispatches Muhammad to the desert under the care of Bedouin foster parents Hamzeh (Hamidreza Tajdolat) and Halimeh (Sareh Bayat). With the baby’s arrival, barren nature transforms into a green and abundant oasis. Meanwhile, elders of the Jewish community also recognize the portents surrounding Muhammad’s birth and try to track his whereabouts. Likewise, but much later in the narrative, a Christian priest recognizes in Muhammad the values of Jesus.
Given that there’s a limit to the interesting things babies can do, the story starts to perk up when the 6-year-old Muhammad (always clad in sparkling white) breaks pagan idols and heals Halimeh as she lies on her deathbed. Rumor of his special power spreads, and he becomes a target for kidnapping: Cue some additional action scenes of hand-to-hand combat. Riding rapidly across the scenic desert, Hamzeh reunites Muhammad with Ameneh, but she dies during their travels together. Abdolmotaleb takes over as guardian and teacher, and on his deathbed appoints Aboutaleb to care for him.
Although young, Muhammad works as a traveling merchant with Aboutaleb, and develops a reputation for honesty and good deeds. He also demonstrates a pronounced sympathy for the weak and persecuted. His compassion is expressed in its most spectacular form when he and Aboutaleb arrive at an impoverished coastal city with their camel caravan, and Muhammad not only saves the miserable souls designated as human sacrifices but apparently summons a tidal wave full of fish for the starving villagers.
Since Iran is an Islamic country, there has not been much furore over this. Irrespective of creed, everyone deserves the same punishment for committing a crime,” said Noori of Raza Academy.. He also claimed that the Iranian Consulate in Mumbai refused to meet a five-member delegation from the academy, led by him, on Thursday. But an official at the Consulate denied that the delegation was given an appointment. “Apparently, the Raza Academy members had come for a meeting with us but there was no appointment, and hence, we couldn’t receive them.”
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