India, Dec. 22 -- Indian cinema has perfected a particular moment when it comes to representing Muslims. Somewhere in the act, usually amid rising tension, a Muslim character raises his voice and announces with conviction: "Main apna desh nahin chhodunga." I will not leave my country. It is almost always a man who says this. Women are rarely granted that line. Allegiance, after all, is a masculine burden in Hindi cinema. Muslim men must prove it, publicly and repeatedly, as though citizenship were a performance. Muslim women, meanwhile, are tasked with carrying culture, modesty, and silence.

The Great Shamsuddin Family opens with Bani, a divorced Muslim woman living alone in a fairly large apartment, racing against a deadline. A montage ...