Qissa

2013

1h 49m

Drama

List

88%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

73%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

A Sikh man tries to start a new life for his family while hiding their true identities during the ethnic cleansing in 1947.

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Audience Member

This is a linear tale with multiple identities and diverse layers: something that explore all the variants of love, family, relationship and quite explores the corners of the heart. No Bollywood film has done it yet. But it's title alone makes it stand out of the queue: noticed the 2 titles? Actually, Anup Singh summarizes the story's subversive-ness and its dark undertones with its depiction of the emotional supernatural: someone who is a lonely ghost- or wait- a ghost who is a lonely traveller? Be it any, Tilottama Shome as the ghost here is a total finesse. She carves the account of this man who is stringed into the horrors of identity confusions in a way that is quite remarkable. Irrfan Khan as the aristocratic Umber Singh, is as always: a find, a new character. Divya Dutta ticks the boxes of a dramatic performance, and Rasika Dugal is a find. The film is beyond a fine film: the way it deconstructs its own horrors makes it a fantabulous watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Effective story of gender and personal identity in a gender obsessed society.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

A fable with its heart in the right place...

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Oh my god, wow! This film was stunning and beautiful. I loved how daring this is for a Punjabi film and displays the madness of gender, religion division on the soul of each individual.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Anup Singh

Director

Irrfan Khan

Umber Singh

Tillotama Shome

Kanwar Singh

Rasika Dugal

Neeli

Tisca Chopra

Mehar

Faezeh Jalali

Baali

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Namrata Joshi

Outlook

One of the most beguiling films of recent times, Qissa captivates even as it confounds.

Rated: 3/4

May 18, 2015

Full Review

Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

Full-bodied, satisfying, [and] disturbingly lyrical.

Rated: 3.5/5

May 18, 2015

Full Review

Clarence Tsui

Hollywood Reporter

Early promise of a poised and substantial piece gets undermined by a final, inexplicable leap into the paranormal -- an odd denouement for a narrative centered on the very real and corporeal issue of gender-based violence.

May 18, 2015

Full Review

Dipankar Sarkar

Vague Visages

By grounding Qissa in naturalism and avoiding melodramatic tropes, Singh creates a uniquely beguiling viewing experience.

Sep 20, 2023

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Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Qissa seeks to show, without sensationalizing, how tradition, economic distress and homelessness make Indian families see their daughters as a burden and threat to family honor.

Feb 27, 2021

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Tomas Hachard

Cinema Scope

Qissa is most captivating when it treats Kanwar's identity dilemma head on; its best scenes are intimate ones that portray the tempestuous inner turmoil wracking its protagonist.

Oct 16, 2017

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Synopsis

A Sikh man tries to start a new life for his family while hiding their true identities during the ethnic cleansing in 1947.

Director: Anup Singh
Producer: Vikramjit Roy, Jaspal Singh Chattha
Screenwriter: Anup Singh
Production Co: Heimatfilm, Augustus Film, Ciné-Sud Promotion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, National Film Development Corporation of India
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Punjabi
Runtime: 1h 49m