“The reason women don’t play football is because eleven of them would never wear the same outfit in public”, goes a famous quote about football and women. But Jafar Panahi’s football based flick Offside is about six women who surely don’t have the luxury of that. The movie is a revelation – it shows an Islam dominated country where women need to conceal their femininity in entirety, to merely catch a glimpse of a sport they so fervently admire – let alone indulge in such finicky femininities. Here, six Tehrani women sloppily slip into the loose, unfitting clothes of men, determined to watch the football game live. Apparently these football freaks are banned by an unwritten law that pervades through Iran, one that prohibits women from attending such matches - innocent women must not be exposed to those unruly swear words, rowdy cheers and chauvinistic styles that dart through these stadiums (the men in question will tell you, of course).

This film of Panahi’s will entertain you for most part – but with the cheerless poke of pity and question all along. Capturing the Iran-Bahrain match in 2005, where Panahi’s country qualified for the forthcoming World Cup match, Offside shows a group of die-hard women fans, who are impatient for real life glimpses of the thrill and excitement, but remain detained in a security fence outside the stadium all along. These girls are troublesome and insisting, but with an innocence and rationale that excludes any tinge of rebellion. They cajole and complain; talk and trick; struggle and fight for reason - one that taps at your quizzical corners with equal force and exasperation. Why? They keep asking in implacable desperation. But all they get in return are soldiers who guard their prisoners with a confusion and uncertainty to match – “We have orders,” they say powerlessly. Soldiers, who are considerate and sympathetic but helpless, like benevolent brothers out to tackle their tiresome sisters.

Taming these women is no tiny task – the soldiers sweat while dealing with a group of fiercely adamant girls who make them want to pluck their hair out. If there’s one cranky kid who sulks in a corner, because she’s lost her uncle in the crowd; there’s another who’s horribly desperate to use the loo and escapes into the crowd after the guard finally gives in to her natural urges; and another who comes across as typically tom-boyish as she logically debates to be sent out to watch the match; along with most bratty of them all who’s brought into the pen after she’s caught attired in an army uniform, being comfortably seated in the official stand of the stadium! But even while the guards are helpless and waiting for the Vice Squad van – that will take these girls to the concerned authority, they give in to some of their prisoners’ whims in true compassion. And that is very heart-warming to watch. One of the guards actually gives them graphical descriptions of the scene that ensues achingly close to the prisoner’s pen, and there’s another who painstakingly holds on to the shaky radio transmitter in the Vice Squad van, so the girls can listen to the final minutes of the match. Many such moments of gratifying humanity and kindness compel you to think of the brotherhood and bonding that really exists in the law stricken country. Even so all those boundaries are elapsed when the country wins the match in the end – men kiss each other on the cheek in the uncontained excitement of victory, girls join in the joy with the boys and flood the roads with shouts and songs, the soldiers are pulled out to dance, and even fire crackers are lit in the Vice Squad van.

Offside is a funny take on the fundamentalist Islamic oppression of women. In the words of the director, “This film is bitter humor, it makes us laugh, but it hurts.” For these girls the punishment of sneaking into a football match or observing “bad hijab” (when girls show some of their hair) is the same – the vice squad is sent to deal with them, they pay fines, are sometimes detained and imprisoned, or their families are sent for to reinforce their misconduct. The film mockingly validates the instructions of the mullahs and authorities through its straight forward dialogue. It clearly conveys that the reason women are not allowed in such matches, is to retain their virtue and purity by keeping them away from the rowdy language, the curses and swearing. But another point quite ridiculously made by the Ulema (ministers of religion in Iran) recently, states that the entry of women is forbidden as it is immoral for them to see men with bare arms and legs in the stadium. Try as we might to keep our eyebrows in place, the state of affairs in the country with regard to its women is awfully distressing.

Panahi was inspired to make this film when his daughter wanted to attend the soccer game a few years ago. Despite his explanations about prevailing laws she insisted on coming along, and was obviously denied entry. Ten minutes later she was sitting next to him saying, “Women always find a way.” – Panahi had found the subject of his next film. He chose unknown amateurs, mostly college students to enact the roles of the girls, and kept up to his realist impulses. His film executes a documentary feel, and many scenes like that of the football match and those of the victorious celebrations, towards the end of the film were actually filmed in real time. The added factor of the film being close to 90 minutes in length - the same as the overall time of a single football match, makes the events that unfold seem more realistic. Panahi’s uncovering approach to filmmaking has made him one of the most important and controversial Iranian filmmakers to date. Except for a few film festivals, most of Panahi’s films have been banned in Iran. But a film so full of reality rarely finds itself lost. Offside remains one of the most watched and most loved films of 2006, and you can only watch it to know why.

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