Made at a time when an insidious agenda can be read into it, Haq is an important film that deals with a contentious subject with maturity, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The bitter legal battle that came to be known as the Shah Bano case was one that had far reaching consequences.
In a conservative society, accepted norms allow men to get away unscathed on abdicating their responsibility towards their family, while women bear the whole brunt of scorn when a marriage falls apart.
Since it became a case of secular versus religious laws, it was even more difficult for a divorced wife to get justice.
In Haq, directed by Suparn S Varma from a script by Reshu Nath, the story behind the Mohd Ahmed Khan vs Shah Bano Begum of 1985 has been fictionalised, names and ages changed, but the core remains -- one woman's fight for her right.
Every religion is somehow skewed against women, as they stress on obedience and subservience as virtues.
This prevents most ordinary women from seeking help outside the home. So despite constitutions of most countries being fair, there is a lag in execution of laws in favour of women.
When, like in India, the rights of minorities are stirred in, the problems intensify.
Shazia Bano (Yami Gautam Dhar) had a seemingly happy marriage with Abbas Khan (Emraan Hashmi) even though, after a few years and two children, he neglects her for his thriving legal practice.
Then suddenly, Abbas leaves to go on a property matter to Pakistan, leaving behind a pregnant Shazia.
When he returns, there is a second wife, Saira (Vartika Singh) in tow.
The woman, meek at first, claims she was Abbas' first love, and Shazia is the interloper.
Gradually, Shazia is shut out, till the humiliation gets too much to bear and she leaves with the three kids for her parents' home. It is rare, but her father (Danish Husain) stands by her, even against the coterie of Muslim leaders.
Abbas promises a meagre sum as child support, which he stops after some time. Shazia is then forced to approach the court, where she is rudely told to go to the Muslim Law Board.
The general opinion is that she made a personal matter public, and brought shame on the family.
All attempts to mediate fail, and Abbas divorces her by saying 'talaq' thrice and putting the meher amount on the table.
According to him, his responsibility towards her ends there, and she is not entitled to maintenance.
Lawyer Bela Jain (Sheeba Chaddha), along with her reluctant associate, Faraz (Aseem Hattangady) take up Shazia's case, while an arrogant Abbas represents himself.
Being a maulvi's daughter, Shazia has a better knowledge of Sharia law than Abbas, and is able to counter him on those points. She is also able to correct religious leaders when they accuse her of rebelling against the community.
The widely reported case is turned into a 'spectacle' by Abbas, who claims that when the country was partitioned, the Muslims that remained in India were promised the right to their personal laws, and were not bound by secular laws of the country.
So Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which is a secular law that mandates a husband to provide maintenance to his wife (or ex-wife) if she is unable to maintain herself, does not apply to him.
So eloquent is he that the otherwise supportive Faraz is also swayed for a while.
The Supreme Court rules in Shazia's favour.
The actual controversy had raged when the then Rajiv Gandhi government, under pressure from Muslim leaders, diluted the decision, and caused a storm with accusations of 'appeasement' of minorities and demand for a uniform civil code.
It took many more years and court cases to bring some semblance of justice to Muslim women, affected by triple talaq.
The film does not go there, however, giving Shazia her moment of victory.
Suparn Varma and Reshu Nath have used some powerful dialogue -- like Shazia asking why as a citizen of India, she cannot have the same rights as others -- but avoid melodrama.
Shazia says in an interview to a journalist that she took to wearing black so that the dirt thrown as her would not show but there are no scenes of her being attacked.
Abbas, like the husband in the actual case, is needlessly callous, simply because such behaviour is not adequately condemned by society.
Yami Gautam has played the challenging role with ease, never letting the dignity of Shazia slip, even when she is at the end of her tether.
Emraan Hashmi has the more difficult role and he makes Abbas believable. The man makes use of his privilege and twists personal laws to crush a woman, but is no worse than so many men across social, economic or religious lines, who are just as nasty. Still, he does not play Abbas as overly villainish.
Made at a time when an insidious agenda can be read into it, Haq is an important film that deals with a contentious subject with maturity.
Nearly 40 years later, women are still going through trauma, in spite of adequate laws.
Hopefully, Haq will ignite some discussions as to how social attitudes might be changed, when women are progressing in so many ways -- in the week the film releases, the Indian women's cricket team wins the World Cup. It should be seen as a call for gender justice and not minority bashing.
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