Partition: Women and Cinema

Nonika Singh

“All wars are fought on women’s bodies.”

BAPSI SIDHWA’S profound thought in ‘Ice Candy Man’ impelled filmmaker Deepa Mehta to adapt the Pakistan-born author’s novel into ‘1947 Earth’. It is the heartrending story of a woman caught in the crossfire of Partition and the love of two Muslim men. In the filmography of films on Partition, ‘1947 Earth’ is one more emphatic reminder of how women bore the brunt of those harrowing times.

Partition, with its fractured history, devastated millions of lives. Involving migration of millions across the hastily drawn Radcliffe Line, it affected women much more, as many were abducted, raped and killed. Estimates suggest that 75,000 to 1,00,000 women were kidnapped and violated, though figures never reveal the true picture. Has cinema been able to unravel the trauma inflicted on women during this cataclysmic period?

Today, 75 years after Independence and consequently Partition, it’s not just Amrita Pritam’s poetic wail “Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu…” that pierces our hearts, so does her book ‘Pinjar’. Its cinematic adaptation by director Chandraprakash Dwivedi brought out a hair-raising account of Puro, emblematic of millions of women, abducted across religious communities. Urmila Matondkar, who played Puro, gets goosebumps even today, 19 years after she brought to life the fate of a woman disowned by her family — the destiny of many ill-fated women.

Recalling her role as a woman who does not find refuge in her parents’ home, Matondkar says she does not view Puro as another victim of those tragic times but as a woman of strength who finally learns to find her own feet.

Viewing Partition through the lens of women as depicted in several films, including Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar’s ‘Khamosh Pani’ starring Kirron Kher, may not be the only or perfect sounding board. Divya Dutta, who has essayed several powerful roles in many films on the subject, such as ‘ Train to Pakistan’ and ‘Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh’, feels, “Why classify films on the basis of gender?”

Her experience of working in Partition movies was overwhelming and taught her some home truths about the gnawing reality of what it means to be displaced sans food and shelter. She remembers how glycerine went for a toss when she canned a particularly moving scene in ‘Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh’, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Punjabi. Starring her and Gurdas Maan, the film by Manoj Punj encapsulated the tragic fate of lovers across borders.

Whether films on Partition should depict women as victims or not, none can dispute that women had little choice or control over what happened to them and their bodies. Shyam Benegal, director of the delightful and insightful ‘Mammo’, agrees, “In any situation, women are more vulnerable not because they are less than equal, but our attitude towards them is more patronising.” Actor Rasika Dugal echoes similar thoughts in a more hard-hitting vein, “In any war or conflict, men mark women’s bodies like territories.”

In Anup Singh’s much acclaimed ‘Qissa’, the main protagonist might have been a male, Umber Singh (Irrfan Khan), and his loss of identity, but the multi-layered film that talks of gender identity and fluidity as well is also about the anguish inflicted upon the women in his family. In ‘Qissa’, Dugal, who played the role of Neeli, at some subconscious level, drew from the poignant television series ‘Tamas’. The scene about women jumping into wells remains indelibly etched in her mind and she transferred the same pathos while enacting Neeli’s death scene.

However, she considers Nandita Das’ ‘Manto’ as more of a marker among the Partition films that she has worked in. Having played Manto’s wife Safia, she can sense a parallel between the story of the birth of two nations and Manto’s marriage. She says, “For, the toll that Partition took on Manto also affected his relationship with Safia.”

Not all films on Partition explore the concerns of women or for that matter of humanity in all its complexity or entirety. Till date, ‘Garam Hawa’ is rated as the ultimate masterpiece in which the tragedy of a young girl is intertwined with up-rootedness from one’s motherland as well as Muslims grappling with identity issues in India. But more often than not, simplistic cross-border love stories like ‘Gadar Ek Prem Katha’ have been the easiest route to revisit the watershed moment that tore apart a country. Love tales involving nationals of divided countries has been a time-tested tactic and Bollywood trope to reinforce the tragedy. In some cinematic narratives like Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Begum Jaan’, a brothel becomes the fulcrum of cruelty inflicted upon women. Sadly, the tale of prostitutes headlined by none other than National Award-winning actor Vidya Balan only had a few powerful moments and failed to capture the searing pain of lives turned upside down by a political decision.

Why is it that not enough films retell the Partition saga? Both Dwivedi and Mehta admit that producers are reluctant and wary to back films on Partition, especially if these are told from a woman’s vantage point. Mehta says, “Subjects that explore the horrendous and tragic journey of women rarely find an audience.” Dwivedi recalls how difficult it was to find a producer to back ‘Pinjar’. Even today, the dynamics of women-oriented films is no different.

Among the challenges that makers encounter is delivering the message of religious harmony in the background of vitriolic communalism an onerous one? Mehta begs to differ, “Any film that’s about sectarian war, whether about Partition, or Rwanda or Israel and Palestine tries to drive home the bleakness of division of disharmony. It is about the futility of aggression.” Of course, in today’s world, she adds, “These are tough times where phobias about someone not of our own mirror image has become, sadly, an anathema.” In ‘1947 Earth’, told through the eyes of an eight-year-old Parsi girl, one dialogue goes, “This neutral position is not comfortable.” Do makers face the same dichotomy and find it difficult to strike a balance in approach? Back in time, Dwivedi was accused of being pro-Hindu even though ‘Pinjar’ essentially talks of synthesis and does not waste time playing the blame game.

While Dwivedi opines that it is important for films to convey a message of harmony, Benegal feels that those living in the Indian subcontinent are, by nature, conciliatory. His film ‘Mammo’ may not have recreated the trauma and violence of Partition, however, the pain of displacement of a Muslim woman who considers Bombay her home and keeps returning to it even though she is sent to Pakistan is no less palpable. According to Benegal, “Gair mulki is a world of emotion in itself. Only those, men or women, who experience it know what pangs of separation, displacement from a place one feels at home, means.”

‘Mammo’ was based on a real-life incident. In the story written by Khalid Mohamed, the character of Mammo is based on his grand-aunt. But today, 75 years after Partition, Benegal feels the tragic event is no longer a question but an acceptable truth where the identity of three nations, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is a given. Hence, more films on the subject may not be the demand of the current times or present generations. Dwivedi, however, argues, “If the West will never let us forget the horrors of Holocaust, there is no reason why more Partition movies should not be made.” A reminder of human bestiality can be a telling reckoner on how to move forward. More so, since the harsh reality involving women, as Matondkar puts it, “has not changed much”. Each time we confront the shocking truth with a heavy heart, something within stirs. As Mehta puts it, “To leave a film with a heavy heart is a good thing. That means we can start a dialogue — and it’s only by talking, arguing and/or agreeing that we can expand our own beliefs. Surely, that can lead into viewing our lives, our history with another perspective, however slight the change might be.”

If the West will never let us forget the horrors of Holocaust, there is no reason why more Partition movies should not be made. — Chandraprakash Dwivedi Director, ‘Pinjar’

The scorching winds of Partition dehumanised many among us. And though there are ample reasons to forgive but not forget, Aanchal Malhotra, author of ‘Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory’, writes, “Memorialisation is not a passive practice but an active conversation.” What better than cinema to keep the conversation going.