Haq movie review: Yami Gautam, Emraan Hashmi-starrer tells an extraordinary story with restraint, authenticity

Haq is ‘inspired by’ the Shah Bano case, but that standard use of ‘inspiration’ isn’t used, thankfully, to inject melodrama into the film: there’s anyway enough unwanted drama in the life of a happily married woman being forced to live with her husband’s ‘second’ wife, and the subsequent ignominy of triple-talaaq.

The film could have gone horribly over-the-top, joining the stream which has been used as a hook to demonise an entire minority community, something we have been experiencing in the last decade and more. But Varma is steadfast in his intent, lacing his story-telling with welcome restraint; what helps also is the authenticity and detailing in the every-day language the characters use — far from the flowery Muslim-social-esque adaabs — as well as the locations, which include the homes the characters live in, and the court-rooms where the battle is fought.

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The performances are all solid. As Shazia Bano, the woman hurt and angered by her husband’s betrayal, yet someone who holds on to the fraying shreds of her dignity, Yami Gautam Dhar is excellent, keeping flashy histrionics in check even in the mandatory climactic monologue. So is Emraan Hashmi as the entitled ‘shauhar’ hiding his patriarchal prancing behind the fig-leaf of faith, lashing out at his wife for having the temerity of asking for a meagre maintenance sum. Danish Hussain as Shazia’s supportive father, Sheeba Chaddha as her resilient lawyer, and Aseem Hattangaddy as the latter’s second-in-command all add to the flavour. Newcomer Vartika Singh, as the other woman, fits well into the tone of the film, trying to find her place in a home that is someone else’s, as well as trying to keep the peace: again, she could have been portrayed as a shrew, but the filmmakers resist the temptation.

The lack of shrillness is the hallmark of the film, and works well to keep us engaged. My only grouse is how it steers clear from exploring the larger implications of Shah Bano’s case: the outside world and its conflicts is kept strictly out of the frame, with eyes only on Shazia and her fight. But then that would have been a different film, and perhaps those inclusions would have made it difficult to get past ultra-righteous, overtly-censorious eyes in these times, though in the post-credit scene, the film does pat the current regime on its back as having banned the contentious practice of triple-talaaq.

‘Haq’ does what it sets out to do with clear-eyed empathy, giving us an ordinary woman who found extraordinary strength and resilience to fight for her cause, and created, without ever quite realising it, history.

Haq movie cast: Yami Gautam Dhar, Emraan Hashmi, Vartika Singh, Sheeba Chadha, Danish Hussain, Aseem Hattangaddy
Haq movie director: Suparn S Varma
Haq movie rating: 3.5 stars