Скачать или смотреть The production design of Bani's house carries a certain kind of reading: Anusha Rizvi

In the fourth episode of SpeakEasy, senior journalist Amit Baruah is in conversation with filmmaker Anusha Rizvi, on her latest film “The Great Shamsuddin Family” and the questions it raises about fear, belonging, and everyday life in contemporary India.
Rizvi discusses how the film unfolds over the course of a single day, capturing the quiet anxieties of a middle-class Muslim family in Delhi. She emphasises that there is no single, uniform idea of “Muslimness” in the country, a point the film quietly makes through its characters and situations. She reflects on why the film avoids overt drama, instead foregrounding the persistent undercurrent of fear—of being misunderstood, misread, or targeted—that shapes ordinary decisions, conversations, and silences.
The conversation also explores Rizvi’s approach to representation, her resistance to stereotypical portrayals of Muslim households in cinema, and her focus on women characters who navigate work, family, and crisis with agency and humour. Rizvi also speaks about how social media, surveillance, and heightened public hostility have altered the emotional landscape in which artists and citizens now operate.

Highlights
-Why “The Shamshuddin Family” centres everyday life rather than spectacle
-Breaking cinematic stereotypes around Muslim families and homes
-Women’s agency, work, and emotional labour
-How artists negotiate self-censorship in today’s climate
-The meaning of migration, staying put, and belonging

Perfect for
-Viewers interested in contemporary Indian cinema and storytelling
-Those engaging with questions of identity, fear, and representation
-Students of film, media, and society

Credits:
Host: Amit Baruah
Camera: Dipesh Arora
Editing: Razal Pareed
Creative Assistance: Vedaant Lakhera and Vitasta Kaul
Producer: Kavya Pradeep M

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