# Fiza

Fiza, also known as Fiza: In Search Of Her Brother, is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film written and directed by Khalid Mohammed. It stars Karisma Kapoor as the eponymous lead, along with Hrithik Roshan as her terrorist brother and Jaya Bachchan as their mother. The film was produced by Pradeep Guha on a budget of ₹55 million and had a theatrical release worldwide on 8 September 2000.
Upon release, Fiza received positive reviews, with its storyline and soundtrack, as well as cast performances earning praise. A box office success, the film earned ₹322 million (US$7.17 million) worldwide. Fiza received seven nominations at the 46th Filmfare Awards and won Best Actress for Kapoor and Best Supporting Actress for Bachchan.

## Plot

Fiza's innocent younger brother, Amaan, disappears during the 1993 Bombay riots to save his life after his friend Firoz was brutally killed. Fiza and her mother Nishatbi desperately hold on to the hope that one day he will return. However, in 1999, six years after his disappearance, Fiza, fed up of living with uncertainty, resolves to search for her brother. Fiza decides to use whatever means she can—the law, media, and even politicians—to find her brother, which brings her into contact with various characters and situations. She also learns that Amaan was reprimanded by a police officer when he asked him to save his life and was asked to go to Pakistan for same shocking him and later was later attacked, but escaped. While his lover Shehnaaz who kept waiting for him all these years marries Salim due to family pressure. On the basis of Amaan's eye matching a terrorist, Fiza's friend Anirudh Roy concludes that Amaan might have joined a terrorist group in Rajasthan borders.
She finds him in Rajasthan borders and is horrified to learn that he has joined a terrorist group. He narrates how he survived riots and the horrendous views he witnessed amidst this and how Murad Khan involved him in his terrorist group after saving his life. She forces him to come home, and he finally reunites with their mother. Soon Amaan learns of Anirudh's romantic feelings for Fiza and his desire to marry her and always be with their family. After realising the purity of Anirudh's love towards Fiza, Amaan approves him to approach her and requests that he always stand by his family. Amaan tries to find a job as he doesn't want to be a burden on his sister and mother but is repeatedly rejected due to his shady past. Due to this, his allegiance and thoughts make him want to return to the terrorist network, led by Murad. A confrontation with two men who harass Fiza leads Amaan to reveal his involvement with the terrorist network to his sister, mother, and the police. His mother's grief of losing her innocent son as a terrorist eventually led her to kill herself.
Fiza tries once more to find her brother, with Anirudh's help.
Amaan is sent on a mission to kill two powerful politicians who use people on the basis of religion and approached Fiza too once for same reason when she was on her quest to find Amaan; when he does succeed in assassinating them, his own terrorist group tries to kill him. He escapes, and Fiza follows him. They confront each other, and with the police closing in on him, Amaan asks Fiza to kill him stating he can never feel proud of his life but wants a dignified end to his life by death through her hands. As a last resort to give him an honourable end, Fiza kills her brother.

## Cast

* Karisma Kapoor as Fiza Ikramullah: Nishatbi's daughter; Amaan's sister; Anirudh's love-interest
* Jaya Bachchan as Nishatbi Ikramullah: Fiza and Amaan's mother; Ulfat's friend
* Hrithik Roshan as Amaan Ikramullah: An innocent boy turned terrorist; Nishatbi's son; Fiza's brother; Shehnaaz's ex-boyfriend
* Shivaji Satam as Kunal Sawant (cameo appearance): The man whose son died in riots and Fiza asked for his help in her quest of searching Amaan
* Shabana Raza as Shehnaz Sulaiman: Salim's wife; Amaan's ex-girlfriend
* Asha Sachdev as Ulfat Jaan: Nishatbi's friend
* Bikram Saluja as Anirudh Roy: Fiza's love-interest
* Manoj Bajpai as Murad Khan: Amaan's boss in the terrorist group
* Isha Koppikar as Gitanjali Malhotra: Fiza's friend
* Johnny Lever as Laughing Club Comic (cameo appearance)
* Sushmita Sen as Reshma (guest appearance)
* Savita Prabhune as Policewoman with whom Nishatbi kept asking about Amaan's information amidst his disappearance phase (cameo appearance)
* Jaya Bhattacharya as a fellow job interviewer with Fiza (cameo appearance)
* Sanjay Narvekar as Police Officer who asked Amaan to go to Pakistan when he came to ask for his help to save his life (cameo appearance)
* Anup Soni as a Goon who used to eve-tease Fiza and picked fights with Amaan after his return leading him to reveal his terrorist side once again

## Production

Khalid Mohammed originally wanted to have Ram Gopal Varma direct this movie when he finished the script and had Urmila Matondkar in mind for the central role of Fiza, which was eventually played by Kapoor. Although Kapoor plays Roshan's older sister in this film, he is 5 months older than her in real life. Originally, the role played by Roshan was supposed to be a minor one. But after his debut film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) became a blockbuster overnight, Mohammed panicked. He knew expectations were high because of Roshan, so he increased the length of his role. Many scenes like his workout, and an extra song were added to suit Roshan's new status of a superstar. Additionally, the film was set to be an artistic film. But Mohammed decided to commercialize the film due to pressure from the distributors. A dance number for Kapoor was added, in addition to the park scene with Johnny Lever.

## Reception and awards

The film was critically acclaimed and did well at the box office. Critics praised the lead performances. Kapoor in particular was applauded for her performance as a disillusioned sister.
Vinayak Chakravorty from Hindustan Times gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "Fiza is more than just about Mohammed's foray into film-making. It is about Kapoor proving a point as an actress of some substance. It is about Roshan's establishing that he doesn't need maximum footage or glitz to impress. It is about the return after a hiatus of the ever-delightful Bachchan." Mimmy Jain of The Indian Express, in a positive review, wrote, "Fiza is the kind of movie that every critic prays will never come his way. For a critic's job, after all, is to criticize. And Fiza offers little scope for criticism." She further noted Kapoor for delivering "a superbly flawless performance". Sanjeev Bariana of The Tribune labelled the film "only a little above average", but was highly appreciative of the performances. Suman Tarafdar of Filmfare gave a positive review of the film and Kapoor's acting, and Chaya Unnikrishnan of Screen praised the performances and concluded that Fiza "does live upto the expectations". Screen magazine's critic Chaya Unnikrishnan, while disappointed with the film's second half, described it as "a mature film" and commended the performances. Dinesh Raheja of India Today praised the performances but concluded: "Fiza remains watchable for its captivatingly-captured sequences within a close-knit family. But, the big picture it wants to capture remains underdeveloped."
In May 2010, Fiza was one of the 14 Hindi films selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center to be screened as part of a section called "Muslim Cultures of Bombay Cinema" which aims to "celebrate and explore the rich influence of Muslim cultural and social traditions on the cinema of Bombay to the present".
Fiza was banned from screening in Malaysia.

## Music

Initially, A. R. Rahman was approached to compose the music for the film, but he declined citing date issues. However he agreed to compose one song which became "Piya Haji Ali", while rest of the songs were composed by Anu Malik. He later composed for the director's next, Tehzeeb (2003). For the background score of Fiza, Rahman suggested his associate Ranjit Barot. Barot composed the score. The album was one of the most popular soundtracks of the year. It features popular songs like "Aaja Mahiya", "Aankh Milaoongi", "Tu Fiza Hai" and "Mehboob Mere". "Mehboob Mere" was performed by Sushmita Sen as an Item number. At the 46th Filmfare Awards, Malik received a Best Music Director nomination for the soundtrack of the film. for his work on this album. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 25,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was one of the highest-selling of the year.
| # | Song | Singer(s) | Composer | Lyricist |
| 1 | "Aaja Mahiya" | Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik | Anu Malik | Gulzar |
| 2 | "Mehboob Mere" | Sunidhi Chauhan, Karsan Sargathia | Anu Malik | Tejpal Kaur |
| 3 | "Tu Fiza Hai" | Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Prashant Samadhar | Anu Malik | Gulzar |
| 4 | "Gaya Gaya Dil" | Sonu Nigam | Anu Malik | Sameer |
| 5 | "Piya Haji Ali" | A. R. Rahman, Kadar Ghulam Mushtafa, Murtaza Ghulam Mushtafa, Srinivas | A. R. Rahman | Shaukat Ali |
| 6 | "Na Leke Jao" | Jaspinder Narula | Anu Malik | Gulzar |
| 7 | "Mere Watan: Amaan's Fury" | Zubeen Garg | Ranjit Barot | Sameer |
| 8 | "Aankh Milaoongi" | Asha Bhosle | Anu Malik | Sameer |

## Accolades

The film received several accolades, including, four Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, two Filmfare Awards, two IIFA Awards, two Zee Cine Awards.