In early October, late Shah Bano’s daughter Siddiqua Begum sent a legal notice to the makers of Haq, alleging that the film was based on her mother’s case and made without her consent. When mid-day sat down with director Suparn S Varma, he insisted that the upcoming Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi-starrer isn’t an adaptation of the landmark Supreme Court case, but a fictionalised work inspired by multiple cases. “Our legal teams are talking directly to theirs. So, I’m not in a position to talk about it. But I can say this: once the world sees the film, they will walk out with tears, love, and respect,” began the director.
Shah Bano
In the November 7 release, Gautam plays a Muslim woman, who takes the legal route when her husband refuses to pay the monthly maintenance. Varma’s journalistic roots brought the story to him. “Being an ex-journalist, I’ve read up a lot, whether it’s hijacking cases or court [cases]. Haq is inspired by a landmark Supreme Court ruling and the first case taught in law schools.”
With Haq, his idea was to spotlight women’s rights. The director counts it among his most special projects alongside his production Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (2023), and The Family Man 2 (2021). “We never talk about feminism from an intersectional perspective. Haq asks difficult questions about religion, women’s rights, and identity. The story begins in the 1970s, which was a more orthodox time. What was normalised then isn’t normal today. But [even today] women are fighting the same battles against bias, gaslighting, and a system built by men. If men had periods, the amount of money spent on research to make their life simpler would have been enormous. That’s the world we live in.”
Suparn S Varma
To do justice to the story that revolves around a Muslim family in the 1970s, Varma dove deep into a different world. “Reshu [Nath, writer] and I spent over two years researching, talking to Islamic experts and clerics, and going through case files. We didn’t want a single false note. When I’m making something about a world I’m not part of, I want to be as true as possible,” he emphasised. He found the perfect collaborators in Gautam and Hashmi. “Yami’s character quotes the Quran, so she spent time learning Arabic. You needed two actors at the top of their game, and Emraan and Yami delivered in spades.”
In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Shah Bano, a 62-year-old Muslim woman who had been divorced through triple talaq and was denied maintenance by her former husband. It became a landmark judgment in Indian women’s rights.