On August 14 and 15, 1947, under the policy of "dividing and conquering" by British colonists, Pakistan and India declared independence respectively. Along with independence are large-scale ethnic and religious conflicts, with 10 million people displaced and more than one million people killed in the conflict, and the hostility that is difficult to reconcile has been planted between two new countries that "before they have the same roots".
In August 1947, Pakistani people were far away from their ruined homes.
" India-Pakistan partition " has a direct impact on the Indian film industry that practitioners have to re-select nationality and are forced to move between the two countries. For example, the gold medal producers of Hindi films in the 1950s, Anand brothers, and B.R. Chopra, all came to Mumbai, India from Pakistan's film center in 1947. In fact, many of the great actors in the history of Indian films after independence, the ancestral homes of many great actors in the history of Indian films, including Raj Kapoor and Shah Ruk Khan, are all in Pakistan. The greatest female singer and actor Noor Jehan and playwright and novelist Saadat Hasan Manto moved from India to Pakistan during the partition of India and Pakistan, becoming a Pakistani citizen; and many Bangladeshi filmmakers moved from India to Kolkata to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
"Lahore" poster
Although the theme of India-Pakistan partition is very sensitive, since the late 1940s, movies in various types and languages centered on this have begun to be brought to the big screen. The movie "Lahore" directed by M.L. Anand in 1949 reflects the joys and sorrows of Lahore, a Pakistani city that has received the most immigrants in India. In 1948, in the classic film "Aag" directed by Raz Kapoor, the actor who is familiar to Chinese audiences, the heroine said during the audition that she "has no name or family" from the "hellish Punjab province that was destroyed by violence" in the partition of India and Pakistan. The 1949 film "Apna Desh" tells the tragic experience of a woman who was abducted in the riots accompanies the partition of India and Pakistan. The 1954 film Nastik tells the story of a Hindus who witnessed the murder of religious sects during the partition, became an atheist and gave up revenge and seek inner peace.
Khushwant Singh's famous novel "Train to Pakistan" was born in 1956, probably the first English literary work of a local writer on the partition of India and Pakistan. The novel was adapted into a movie in 1998. The story tells the story of a village in Punjab province located on the Indian-Pakistan border where the peaceful life between Muslims and Sikhs is broken by partition. Sikhs in the village are preparing to retaliate against Muslims who moved to Pakistan by train, cutting off the rails and causing an accident. A young Sikhist, a "villain" in the eyes of the former villagers, finally discovered his conscience, and stopped this tragedy in time but sacrificed himself. The movie is a story about the escape from disaster through this train to Pakistan, reflecting the human nature existing in a crazy killing craze.
"Mother India" poster
Although many classic Indian movies do not directly reflect the theme of division, they often help deepen the connotation of the movie by mentioning this event. For example, "Mother India", which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957, is an epic patriotic film after India's independence. The heroine is considered a symbol of the newly independent New India. The scene of villagers leaving their hometowns under natural disasters in the film is not difficult to remind people of the migration of refugees during the partition of India and Pakistan. There are many details in the film that express the nostalgia complex for a "complete" India. For example, farmers formed the shape of the Indian territory before the partition in the middle of a pile of wheat piles, singing "The days of sadness have passed."
"Son of the Fa" poster
Movies related to the partition of India and Pakistan often try to eliminate the barriers between Hindus and Muslims.In the 1961 film "Dharamputra" directed by Yash Chopra, he tried his best to express the vision that religious differences should be respected. Through the grudges and entanglements between a Muslim family and a Hindus family, the film reflects that people who believe in two religions are actually flowing with the same racial blood, and the only difference in lifestyles is the acquired religious and cultural factors.
Women are often the biggest victims in ethnic conflicts. About 100,000 women were kidnapped, raped or trafficked to the other side of the border during the partition of India and Pakistan, and a large number of women were killed by men of their clan in the name of maintaining religious and family honor. Indian films boldly reflect the tragic experiences of these women. The 1960 film Chhalia tells the story of a woman who was abducted during the partition of the country and finally reunited with her family. The male protagonist played by Raz Kapoor in the movie falls in love with the female protagonist, but learns that she has been married and has children and is separated from her family. Finally, with the help of the male protagonist, the female protagonist and her son returned to their family. There are sorrows and joys in the movie, which is a very ideal happy ending. But in reality, these abducted women are not so lucky. During the partition of India and Pakistan, many women were raped, abducted, forced to become prostitutes or marry and have children with pagans. In December 1947, the Indian and Pakistani governments introduced the "Recovery" policy, that is, to "rescue" women who were abducted to the other side back to their motherland. This policy actually caused secondary harm to the abducted women: some of these women who struggled to survive in foreign countries have become mothers, but have to face the secondary tragic situation of separation between mother and son. After returning to China, the previous families often find it difficult to accept the fact that they were raped, married and had children with pagans, and what awaits them is often a family that cannot accept them and the fate of wandering on the streets again.
"Hot Wind" DVD cover
Perhaps the partition of India and Pakistan left too much pain to Indians, so commercial movies rarely touched this theme. Even in the "golden age" of Indian films - the 1950s and 1960s, movies about partition still rarely had high box office. Until 1973, a film about the Muslim community that remained in India after the partition attracted widespread attention. In this movie, Indian Muslims who chose to stay in Agra after independence began to suffer from the exclusion of majority Hindus, gradually creating an identity crisis. Faced with rapid social and political changes, they began to doubt whether the decision to stay in India was correct. At the beginning of the film, the male protagonist Salim was sarcastic for bargaining the human power tricycle. "I think it's expensive? Go back to your Pakistan!" He couldn't help but sigh that as a Muslim, he shouldn't have become a citizen of India? As an Indian who has lived in Agra for generations, I have become an "outsider" in my hometown just because I believe in Islam. Although the experiences of these Muslims in India were not as naked as those in the killings during the division, they gradually destroyed their identity. A classic scene in the film is the protagonist standing in front of Taj Mahal and falling into infinite confusion. The Taj Mahal is not only a symbol of India, but also a tomb built by Muslims, and is also part of the daily life of this inhabitant who grew up in Agra. The partition of India and Pakistan forever changed the Indian subcontinent and his life. Salim couldn't help but ask himself, as a Muslim, what mistakes did he make? !
In 1997, forty years after the partition of India and Pakistan, another classic work reflecting partition was born in the history of Indian film: "Border, A Love Story" (Gadar - Ek Prem Katha). This is a Punjabi film about a Sikh who saves a Muslim girl in a riot caused by partition, and the two fall in love and get married and have children. The daughter, who was married to a wife, was detained by her father who opposed the marriage when she returned to Pakistan to visit her family. The male protagonist came to Pakistan to try to convince his father-in-law, but was detained by the Pakistani army. Under the force, he had to commit Islam, but he always refused to betray India. In the end, the male protagonist successfully escaped from military control and brought his lover back to India. The movie has a box office of over Rs 1.3 billion, making it the first time that the partition theme film has won large-scale audience recognition.By creating a male protagonist who is tolerant, strong, brave to sacrifice himself and loyal to the country, and a kind Muslim heroine who is willing to stay in India, the film looks back at this national disaster forty years ago in the interweaving of loss and national pride, and from the separation and sorrow of a small family, people imagine the dilemma of ten million people.
"Hey! God's poster
also reflects the partition of India and Pakistan. Among them, there are many local language films that rarely touch on "Indian nationalism". The production center of Tamil films is located in the main city of Indian in southern India, Chennai , and is the second largest film industry in India after Bollywood . The Tamils have a strong "Tamil nationalism" complex, and the content of the movie rarely touches on the India-Pakistan conflict. In 2000, Tamil movie superstar Kamal Hassan directed and starred in the movie "Hey! "Hey! Ram" (Hey! Ram) boldly and deeply reflects on the conflict between the Hindu Hindu disciples and the Muslims. The protagonist of the movie is a radical Hindu young man named Rama and his Muslim friend. They live in Chennai in 1999. The story tells the story of the Indian-Music conflict between the two protagonists in Chennai on the 7th anniversary of the Mosque incident in Babur, while the main chapter of the movie is used to recall and reflect on the "India-Pakistan partition" more than 50 years ago and the disasters that followed. The film not only condemns the riots caused by the future Pakistani founding father Jinnah in 1946, but also criticizes the social gap caused by the Hinduism (Hindutva), and adopts a critical and reflective attitude towards Muslims and Hindus. The film reflects the trauma caused to ordinary people by the partition of India and Pakistan and the Babur Mosque incident and the irreconcilable rift between the Indian and Muslims.
In Indian movies, any part of India-Pakistan involves Pakistan will be mentioned. For example, the box office hit in 2004, "Veer Zaara" tells the bumpy transnational love between Indian Air Force pilots and Pakistani girls. The heroine's family is a famous family in Lahore, and her grandmother's last wish is to bring her ashes back to her motherland India before the partition. The girl met the hero on her way to India. At the same time, it can be seen that those families who moved to Pakistan during the division and governance still have their concern for their hometown no matter how rich they live. The film also emphasizes the cultural traditions of Punjab that both India and Pakistan share, and how the Sikhs located in the border areas of the two countries have built a bridge of communication between the two countries.
"The Monkey God Uncle of the Little Loli" poster
The Indian-Pakistan theme movie that Chinese people are more familiar with in the past two years is "Bajrangi Bhai Jaan" starring Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in 2015. A Hindu nationalist risked his life across the Indian-Pakistan border and escorted a lost Pakistani girl home in India. At the beginning of the film, the little girl and her mother were separated on a train from Lahore, Pakistan to New Delhi in India. This train, called the "Samjhauta Express", is the main route to transport Indian Muslims to Pakistan in the partition of India and Pakistan. The place where the girl and her mother were going to is the Nizamuddin Shrine in Delhi, India. This holy site is the tomb of the Sufi saint Nizamdin in the 14th century, and it still has sacred significance to Pakistani Muslims. Although the state machine draws an insurmountable border between the two countries, this line has little meaning to the people on both sides. This movie makes people believe that love and humanity can transcend national boundaries and historical rifts.
Many movies about the theme of "discretion and reunion" in Indian movies took place during the partition of India and Pakistan. For example, the 1977 movie "Amar Akbar Anthony, Anthony" starring Amita Bachang, starring Amar Akbar Anthony, tells the story of the mother and her three sons who were separated from each other under a Gandhi statue on August 15, 1947 when India's independence occurred. The three were adopted by Hindu, Islamic and Christian families, and named Amal, Akbar and Anthony three names with typical religious colors. Many years later, the mother and son were reunited and were filled with emotion.The theme of the film is that national division and belief differences can never be cut off from mother and son, brother and sister.
As Professor Rachel Dwyer, an Indian film scholar at the University of London, said, one of the difficulties in using movies to express the division of India and Pakistan is that it is difficult to attribute which is right and who is wrong. "In India, there are many people who accuse the founders of the UK or Pakistan, but no organization is enough to be responsible for the atrocities that have occurred. We can pay tribute to those who have suffered and died, but the survivors are still ashamed, and those who are guilty may include those among us." I think this is also why the movies on this topic rarely sell out, because it touches the nerves of everyone, and these audiences may come from the victim's families, or from the descendants of the perpetrators.
In the writings of Indian historians, the partition of India and Pakistan has always been a grand historical narrative on the negotiating table. It was not until the historian Urvashi Butalia, who recorded the personal experiences of women in the partition in the form of oral history in the 1990s, that the darkest page in subcontinent history was unveiled through the memories of these little people, and gradually emerged its "silent side". Indian movies have long recorded the partition of India and Pakistan from all angles: individuals, families, national encounters, violence and peace, hatred and understanding, evil and integrity, etc. Whether documentary or fictional, movies form an unquestionable treasure house of information outside of historical academics. For India, where the illiteracy rate is as high as 26%, movies can undoubtedly help ordinary people understand and remember history. A more way to view history outside of textbooks is a supplement and reshape of history. Regarding the partition of India and Pakistan, Indian films are not only about reproducing and understanding history, but also about morality and human nature, and reflection on the present.
Another day of independence for India and Pakistan is approaching. The relationship between the two countries has been tense again due to the recent announcement of the withdrawal of the autonomy of Kashmir region. Whether it is the frequent outbreak of India-Muslim conflicts under the prevalence of Hindu nationalism in recent years, the difficult Kashmir issue, or even the national honor and disgrace carried by both sides in cricket, it cannot be traced back to the partition of India-Pakistan. Through movies, India is reexamining its history. In this process, how to view Muslims, Pakistan, and how to tell the history of division of governance tests the wisdom of Indian filmmakers, and also reflects the attitude of the Indian film industry towards the relationship between the two countries.
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