Independence Day: Important films on partition that one needs to watch
As India prepares to celebrate its Independence Day, here are some movies about the partition that you must watch.
Tamas
The only TV show to make it to this list is Govind Nihalani's haunting Partition drama 'Tamas', which was based on the award-winning novel by the same name by author Bhisham Sahni. Featuring some of the stalwarts of Indian cinema, including Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Dina Pathak, Deepa Sahi and others, the show aired on India's national channel Doordarshan in 1988 and narrated the plight of the Hindus and Sikhs in riot-ridden Punjab during 1947.
1947 Earth
Deepa Mehta's film was based on Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, 'Cracking India' and featured Nandita Das, Rahul Khanna and Aamir Khan in lead roles. Set in Lahore, it narrates the story of Shanta(Das) - a housemaid in a Paris family in Lahore and her two admirers, Dil Navaz, the Ice-Candy Man ( Khan), and Hassan, the Masseur (Khanna) and how their lives change due to the partition.
Garam Hawa
Filmmaker M.S. Sathyu's 1973 film is considered one of the most important films on the Partition. Featuring veteran actor Balraj Sahni as the patriarch of a Muslim family which decides to stay back in India after partition, the film accurately depicted the pains of separation from one's motherland and loved ones amid a changing society. The film remains arguably the best film made on partition and also featured Shaukat Azmi and Farooq Shaikh in prominent roles.
Train to Pakistan
Based on Khushwant Singh's famous novel, director Pamela Rooks has set the plot against the backdrop of partition. Based on a fictional village on the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, the plot has Muslims and Sikhs living in harmony in a village whose fate changes overnight when a train with mutilated bodies of Sikhs and Hindus comes in from Pakistan. The film featured Nirmal Pandey, Rajit Kapur and Smriti Mishra in lead roles.
Midnight's Children
Based on Salman Rushdie's award-winning novel, the film, helmed by Deepa Mehta, narrates the story of two babies born on the same day India attained independence who are swapped at the hospital. The film travels back in time to tell a haunting story of individuals whose lives are changed by the country's political turmoil.
Pinjar
Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi presented a glossy version of Amrita Pritam's best-selling Punjabi novel, also titled Amrita Pritam. Starring Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee, and Sanjay Suri in the lead, the film was a romance drama set during the era of partition. It highlighted the class divide in rural Punjab and was a story of a Hindu woman reluctantly finding solace in the arms of a Muslim man who was once her abductor.
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