Abstract
-Dr. Brian Mendonca
In curricula across the country, film is a new entrant. It is only recently that film studies have been accorded the importance they deserve in piecing together the narrative of the nation. This is a welcome development as UG students who are weaned on social media are motivated to 'read' Partition through film. Instead of the hitherto linear discourse of Partition today a number of voices are being seen as valuable sources to mandate lived experiences. These include memoirs, and testimonies of women and children.
Along with other films of Partition like Khamosh Paani, Garam Hawa, and Train to Pakistan, Earth and Pinjar provide their own take on Partition. What seems to unite the last two films is the notion of Truth. In Earth Lenny Baby is applauded when she tells the truth in the beginning of the film, but it her trusting nature that gets her care-giver into trouble. In Pinjar, Paro is disowned by her family but she finds a home with the very person who she hated. The last scene has her telling Rashid, 'Tu he mera sach heh.'
Through the various scenes, screenplay and sets, the films serve as valuable texts to decipher Partition. Nationalism cannot be understood without understanding Partition and its various categories. The challenge here is to mediate this complexity to the minds we seek to ignite.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two-day multi-disciplinary national conference on 'Diverse Faces of Nationalism: Past, Present and Future,' Government First Grade College and PG Study Centre with Government First Grade College for Women, Shivamogga, Karnataka, 6-7 September 2019. Pix of Dr. Brian Mendonca presenting his paper at the conference venue, Shivamogga on 6 September 2019.
Comments