A NEW IMAGE: MUSLIM IDENTITY IN SAMAR KHAN’S SHAURYA

Muslim identity worldwide is associated with fundamentalism and violence. This has led to generalizations about Muslim culture. Shaurya – a film directed by Samar Khan- center of the Indian Muslim identity and the stereotype image resulting in pre-conceived notions about Muslims in the post Babri Masjid scenario. It is the story of an army officer Javed Khan who is charged with murder of a fellow officer at point blank range. It is a courtroom drama with Kashmir as the backdrop. Although the film is about army yet it is not a war film. Rather, the battle is of the conscience and the enemy is not an unknown soldier on the other side of the border. The film questions the very concept of valour (literal meaning of the word Shaurya). The paper explores the concept of honour which makes Javed silent and he refuses to speak in his defense. The problem of fundamentalism is the main issue and the paper also outlines the trial of Javed Khan in the course of which Siddhant (the defence lawyer) discovers the humane side of his own self. On the periphery is Kavya Shastri (a journalist).The dynamic character of Brigadier Pratap moves from the periphery to the center as the film moves to its climax. The movie presents a strong sense of anti-fundamentalism without any sermonizing and its intense moments awaken us to some serious issues.