It is a very contextual film but it is also a universal film. Ethnic conflicts are not confined to India alone. We have realised more than ever after 9/11 that we need to have more dialogues about ethic and human rights conflicts. We need to use the arts to heal our communities.

The film will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Congrats.

We are in discussion with festival authorities in more than a dozen countries. By the end of the year, just as the film is getting ready for a release in India, it would have been shown at film festivals in Europe and Asia. These festivals are important but they are starting points to promote the film. I want audiences in India to see this film in big numbers.

What does the title mean?

Firaaq is an Urdu word that means separation and quest. My film is a work of fiction, but it is also based on a thousand true stories.

What is the story like?

The film looks at a number of lives one month after a horrific communal carnage in India. It traces in the course of a day the emotional journeys of ordinary people. Some of these people are victims, some perpetrators, and some who chose to watch silently. It deals with many fierce and delicate emotions -- fear and prejudice, guilt and revenge, trust and betrayal. And there is also a loss of innocence that wounds the soul forever.

Give us a few examples from the story?

You will see a middle-class housewife closing the door on a victim and, later, she is struggling with her guilt. The loyalties of two best friends are tested in the times of fear and suspicion. You will also see a bunch of young men having suffered the riots, seeking revenge to fight their helplessness and anger.

Then there is the story of a Hindu-Muslim couple's struggle between the instinct to hide their identity and the desire to assert it. There is also the touching story of a boy searching for his missing father, having lost the rest of his family in the riots. A saintly musician clings on to his idealism despite all the violence in the city, but one incident shakes his faith. There are so many stories...

These stories are at times interconnected and, at times, discrete. They also cut across class, gender and religion but there is an organic unity and you will not feel you are watching episode after episode.

Also Read: 'We are always preoccupied with who won or lost'

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