Shinaakht


Shinaakht is an Indian Hindi-language short film directed, written and produced by Pragyesh Singh under the banner of TNV Films. The film stars Raju Kher, Shishir Sharma, Shakti Singh, Navni Parihar, Arfi Lamba, Stefy Patel, Bikramjeet Kanwarpal and Krishna Bhatt. The film is based on Circumcision which challenges Male genital mutilation and Female genital mutilation as per Islamic Law.
The film raises the issue of FGM, which is practised in the Bohra Muslim community in India and it also questions the practices of Circumcision in Islam. It had its premiere at Gorakhpur, Hisar, Raipur, Jamshedpur, Allahabad, as part of the Jagran Film Festival in August and September 2019.
The film has been selected and screened in the several National and International film festivals including Crownwood International Film Festival, Delhi Film Festival, Apulia Web Fest, Italy KinoDUEL International Film Festival, England, International Short Film Festival Pune Films Infest, L'Age d'Or International Art-house Film Festival and Ploiesti International Film Festival, Romania.

Plot

The story of the film shows a close relationship between a father named Liaqat Ali and his two kids named Idrish and Sofiya. As per the religious customs in Islam, both were circumcised at the age of 8 and 9 as respectively. On attaining Adult age, Idrish and Sofiya filed a case against their father, Liaqat Ali, Maulvi Muhammad Basheer and Zarra Jumman Miyan, an illiterate, who performed circumcisions. The case was registered as per the provision of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Section 326 and 326A of the Indian Penal Code. When matters were brought to the Mumbai High Court, Liaqat Ali took their children's side and supported them and the Constitutional laws of India.
Liaqat Ali was not willing to undergo the circumcision of his children but he was pressurised by Maulana Muhammad Basheer, who explained Liaqat Ali that it is mandatory for Muslims to undergo circumcision or else they cannot be treated as Muslims. Liaqat realised that it was his fault when he faces the facts that circumcision was carried out in medically unhygienic conditions by an unprofessional person, which affected the kids seriously and they suffered from health issues. Later, Liaqat learns that circumcision as identification of religion is nowhere mentioned in the holy book Quran and found that it isn't a mandatory practice as per the religion.

Cast