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A nation is built upon a collective sense of a past, beliefs and value systems. The formation of a nation

state is essentially influenced by political motives, the construction of which involves inclusion of a group

and exclusion of the other. For long, the national agenda of reconstructing the national identity influenced

the politics of cinema. While one saw Doordarshan broadcasting 'Mahabharata' and 'Ramayana' regularly

during the 1960-80, it was not easy to locate a tele-series or film or any show that sought to talk about the

horrors of partition and individual experiences, which made it difficult to understand the experience of an

individual located within the social milieu in all its originality. Hence, it is vital to make a movement away

from the National narratives towards the fragmentary depictions, which have a different story to tell.

Hence, I am going to look at Khamosh Paani, a movie by Sabiha Sumar and Garam Hawa, by M.S.

Sathyu both of which are located in post partition Pakistan and India, and are a part of what has come to

be known as Parallel Cinema.

The partition of 1947 caused Hindustan to divide into two separate nation states- theocratic Pakistan and

Secular India. Both these movies depict the tensions from two different standpoints. Garam Hawa islocated in Agra after Gandhis assassination in 1950, while Sabiha Sumar locates Khamosh Paani in

1970 Pakistani village, which moves from being a peaceful settlement of muslim migrants from India to a

location of strife owing to Isalmization which became the general rule after General Zia Ul Haqs milita ry

coup.

Ayesha, in Khamosh Paani, is one of those women who had been left behind during the mass exodus of

Sikh and Hindu families from Pakistan to India. A victim of sexual violence, Ayesha is abandoned by her

family when she refuses to jump into the well as a way to preserve the honor. In the movie, the

audience is acquainted with her past through these flashes where it is indicated that she was probably

gang raped. She marries a muslim, buries her past and converts to Islam, thus changing her essential

identity, which has nothing to do with her individuality but her relationship to the men and their religion. It

is interesting to note that Ayesha or those of her village, most of whom are also immigrants, do not refer

to themselves as either Indian or Pakistanis and are united by the joviality of the spirit, until the youth of

the village come under the direct influence of religious extremism which came with the execution of

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by Zia.

The protagonist of Garam Hawa, Salim Mirza is on the other side of the fence, however. Mirza is located

in Agra. The proximity with the capital of the newly formed nation and the city being one with a muslim

heritage and a vibrant muslim culture highlights the contrast and helps in foregrounding the political

tensions that permeate the movie. Mirza has an acute political consciousness and belongs to a rich

family, now in ruins owing to the strife in the land after the partition and the sudden movement of a huge

number of muslim families to Pakistan. Mirza is slowly abandoned by his family, who migrate to Pakistan

in order to safeguard a present and a future for themselves. As M.S. Sathyu said in one of his interviews,

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What I really wanted to expose in Garam Hawa was the games these politicians play. How many of us in

India wanted the Partition?. This statement is reflective of the general sentiment on both sides of the

border which could not find expression owing to the splintered relationship between the people and the

nation. Sumar makes the movie a personal narrative with the story line closely revolving around Ayesha

and her stranded position with respect to the nation state, Sathyu, the director of Garam Hawa makes it a

point to not only highlight but also critique the governments incompetency and a common mans

helplessness in the face of such turmoil.

Khamosh Paani opens with a scene where Ayesha and her friend are drying clothes. I think that the fact

that Sumar chooses to begin a movie on as contentious an issue as Partition and its effect on the lives of

the 2 countries by a scene as simple as this is a further reassertion of the fact that demagogue is still not

able to connect with the propagated National Identity and the affiliation so imposed on them.

In the introduction the movie, Kirron Kher, who plays the character Ayesha comments that prior to suchIslamization, the women and the men of Pakistan were no different from Indians, with whom they shared

not only their past but also, their traditions, beliefs system and language. The similarity which Sumar aims

to portray can be understood as an opposition to the difference which were imposed upon an individuals

as well as the national consciousness. 1970s was also the time when Pakistan opened its doors for Sikh

pilgrims who wanted to visit their shrines in Pakistan. The pilgrims receive a warm reception from the

villagers who refuse to be bothered by the youth extremists of the village, thus symbolizing the amiable

relationship shared by the people of now two different countries. On the other hand, Sabiha also

highlights how the Partition of 1947 now looms as a dark cloud over any interaction that is possible

between the citizens of now India and Pakistan. (Movie Clip).

While the residents of the village welcome the pilgrims as those of their own kith and kin, the interactions

between them are not very amiable owing to the imposed sense of difference and otherness which has

been imposed upon them by those in power. The friction finds expression in the confrontation that occurs

between Ayesha and her son Salim, who is now an extremist. (MOVIE CLIP)

The movies, interestingly, do not sympathize or part with any one facet of that event. Both the movies see

a representation of the larger sentiment of the people, who were united in their apathy but differentiated

by the dirty politics of the power-holders. Mirzas helplessness lies in his refusal to give in to the

gruesome politics which functions on the basis of exclusion and inclusion, while Ayesha suffers at the

hands of her powerlessness as a woman, whose has no identity to herself but is invested with the honor

that she is forced to preserve- even if at the cost of her life.