Movies - Artistic depictions of the partition of India

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	Movies - Artistic depictions of the partition of India

The partition of India and the associated bloody riots inspired many creative minds in India and Pakistan to create literary/ cinematic depictions of this event. While some creations depicted the massacres during the refugee migration, others concentrated on the aftermath of the partition in terms of difficulties faced by the refugees in both side of the border. Nearly 60 years after the partition, even now once in a while fictions and films are made that relates to the events of partition. Some of the books and films are discussed here. However, the list is far from being exhaustive.

Fiction

Pinjar

Pinjar is a novel written by Amrita Pritam which deals with the story of a woman in the post-partition atmosphere, and how she brings a change in the man who rapes her. It was adapted for the screen in 2003 under the same name.

Kingdom's End and Other Stories

Kingdom's End and Other Stories (1987) is a collection of stories written by Saadat Hasan Manto, published by Penguin Books India (ISBN 0140117741). The majority of stories by this Punjabi writer revolve around the end of the Raj, Partition and commmunalism. His stories include Thanda Gosht, Khol Do, Toba Tek Singh, Iss Manjdhar Mein, Mozalle, Babu Gopi Nath etc. Some of his characters became legendary.An online translation of is available.

Train to Pakistan

This saga by Khushwant Singh was first published in 1956. Singh’s version of the Partition is a social one, providing human accounts in a diverse, detailed character base where each person has unique points of view, pointing out that everyone is equally at fault and that placing blame was irrelevant. Interwoven with this point are the subtle questions of morality which Singh asks through his characters, such as whether or not the bad needs to be recognized to promote the good, and what constitutes a good deed.

Train to Pakistan (1990). Grove Press; ISBN 0802132219.

Tamas

Penned by Bhisham Sahni, Tamas depicted riots in a small Indian town. The fiction was later adapted into a TV series. Tamas - Penguin Books India. ISBN 0140114777

Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie wrote this famous surrealistic fiction full of satirical references to the event of partition and independence. The "midnight" alluded to in the title is the moment at which partition and independence became official.

Midnight's Children (1980). New York: Knopf, 1981; ISBN 039451470X.

Purbo-Paschim

Purbo-Paschim (East and the West) is an epic Bengali saga by Sunil Gangopadhyay. The narrative deals with a particular family that had to migrate from East Pakistan to West Bengal, and their fight against the tide.The story stretches from a pre-independence period to early 1980s and reflects the socio-economical changes that this region went through during this long period of time.

A Fine Balance

Written by Rohinton Mistry, the story is set in 1975. However, the Partition plays a dominant role in the narrative.

A Fine Balance.(2001). Random House ISBN 140003065X

Ice-Candy Man

Bapsi Sidhwa wrote this story in the backdrop of the riots in Lahore. Later the story was made into a film, called Earth
. Ice-Candy Man (1989) ISBN 0140117679, later published as Cracking India (1991). ISBN 0915943565

Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Interpreter of Maladies, a collection of short stories some of which involved the aftermath of the partition.

Interpreter of Maladies(1999). Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 039592720X

Feature films

Garam Hawa

Directed by M. S. Sathyu, Garam Hawa (1973) was Balraj Sahni's last major role.

Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star)

Directed by Ritwik Ghatak, Meghe Dhaka Tara
(1960), never explicitly mentions the Partition, but takes place in a refugee camp in the outskirts of Calcutta, and concerns an impoverished genteel Hindu bhadralok family and the problems they face because of Partition.

Komal Gandhar (E Flat)

Directed by Ritwik Ghatak (1961), the protagonists suffer from the same anguish: the separation from their home, on the other side of the border.

Earth

Directed by Deepa Mehta, Earth
(1998), an India/Canada co-production, is a thoughtful examination of a circle of friends and acquaintances affected by the Partition. A scoundrel uses communal violence as an excuse for retaliation against a romantic rival. The film is based on Bapsi Sidhwa's Cracking India; Sidhwa co-wrote the screenplay with Mehta. Contains brutal scenes of communal carnage.

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