The Partition Of 1947 and Indian Cinema
The Partition of India had perhaps the biggest impact on the people of the Indian subcontinent and the effect was not lost on the creative platforms of the time. It sprung up a number of memorable stories and films.
The first film on Partition came from Bengal, when in 1951, Nemai Ghosh made Chinnamul, about the uprooted people from East Bengal who had to re-adjust to their lives. Originally planned as a documentary, it slowly emerged as a total feature film. The commercial success of the film was limited, it left the director, who was a cinematographer by profession, to relocate himself down south in Chennai and earn a living as a cameraman. However, the legendary Russian director, Vsevolod Pudovkin was in Kolkata where he saw the film and was so impressed that he purchased a print and took it back with him to Russia. He even wrote a very positive review in Pravda. Chinnamul was possibly the first major neo-realistic film made in India.
One of the members of the crew of Chinnamul, who also acted, was Rwitick Ghatak. On his way to become a standalone chapter in Indian cinema, he made three films, (actually four, but one, made in 1952 was released after his death) referred to as the ‘Partition Trilogy’. These three, in order: Megehe Dhaka Tara, Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha, centre around stories of displaced people, who had to find a new life in an alien environment.
Meanwhile, in Hindi cinema, while there were a good number of films based on socialist themes like Do Bigha Zamin, Neecha Nagar, Dharti Ke Lal, the first major film on Partition came in 1973. Garam Hawa.
Based on a story, perhaps unpublished, by Ismat Chugtai, Garam Hawa by M S Sathyu was the first Hindi movie to tackle the issue of Partition, that too from the perspective of a Muslim family. It was a runaway success and even though listed as a part of the Parallel Cinema, it was taken very well by the audience cutting across all spectrum. However, Sathyu had great difficulty in getting the film passed by Censor Board, who feared there would be a communal backlash if the film was released.
This was Balraj Sahani’s best performance and he passed away the day after finishing the dubbing for the film. It was also the debut appearance of a young stage actor who participated in IPTA shows — Farooq Sheikh.
If Garam Hawa led Hindi cinema into looking at Partition, the momentum was revived by Govind Nihlani, who produced and directed Tamas, a six-part TV serial in 1987. Based on a story by the same name by Bhisma Sahani, Tamas is set in Pakistan during the Partition and dwells upon Sikhs and Hindus migration issues as a result of it.
We must mention here that though there were a few other films on Partition like Pamela Rooks’ Train to Pakistan (1998); Gadar – A Prem Katha (2001) — a less Partition, but high on Pakistan bashing and made for commercial gains; Earth (1998) and Pinjar (2003) — based on a story by Amrita Pritam; the impact of the early films/serials seemed to have died out. As had films on socialist themes.
The last major film on Partition, indirectly, to have made the audience react was Nantida Das’ biopic on Manto (2018), which has a generous representation of Manto’s stories on Partition.
In Bengal, however, Gautam Ghosh’s Sankhachil (2015), an emotional journey of a family along the border and the humane story of the two guards from either side of the border committed to their tasks, has been very well-received. Rajkahini (2018), again a film on the fixing of the border in 1947 and the subsequent problems that crop up when a brothel falls into the line dividing the new nations, also took the box office by storm. It also presented us with the complete version of the national anthem.
Perhaps it is time for a relook into the Partition of undivided India, with more and more material now available and somehow, the interest of the younger generation at an all time high on the subject.
Courtesy : Artpickles