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Images: details from photos of refugees in 1947 by Margaret Bourke-White.

Film/Stage

Sikh-Briton Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha::
A New Film on Partition

INDIA TODAY

 

 

 

Sikh-Briton filmmaker Gurinder Chadha is ready to wear the director's hat again. She'll soon begin filming a movie on Partition -- to be shot in Delhi and Jodhpur -- for which she is keen to rope in  Saif Ali Khan to play the role of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gurinder, who recently lost 25 kilos, has already got Naseeruddin Shah's consent to play Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film.

"This is my biggest challenge to date. I've been working on my Partition film for some time now. The central character is Lord Mountbatten. The movie is set in January 1947 when Mountbatten was asked to oversee India and the movie ends in August 1947, so it's a brief time span," she said.

"But (it is) a huge canvas requiring tonnes and tonnes of research and scores of characters. I've spoken to some people including Naseer and Saif. Nehru's role is a cameo, so I wonder if Saif would be willing to do it," she added.

Gurinder has been working on the Partition film while changing nappies and feeding her babies. She plans to start shooting the movie by October.

The film's central figure would be Lord Mountbatten, and either of the two Hollywood biggies -- Colin Firth or Michael Fassbender -- will step in to play the role.

The "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Bride and Prejudice" filmmaker has already locked locations for the shooting.

"I've already acquired the necessary permission to shoot everywhere in India, including Rashtrapati Bhavan. So I am all set. I don't have to shoot in Pakistan at all. This would be my ultimate dream project and I can't wait for it to take off," she added.

Gurinder has been busy preparing for the Olympic torch orun, which she did on Saturday, June 23, 2012.

When getting ready for it, she explained: "Though it's just a 300-yard run, I've been practicing for it for months. There will be 8,000 people to cheer me on. My friends and relatives are coming there with drums and other musical instruments to cheer me.

"I am super excited to have been selected to run and I see it as a great honour. I get to keep the torch too, so my children will have a very special memento to keep in years to come," added the 52-year-old.

Since Gurinder's five-year-old twins have started attending school now, she has six hours to herself at home. "I'm making up for lost time," she quipped.

She was also in Mumbai last month for her friend Karan Johar's 40th birthday party. "But no one saw me slip in and slip out, probably because there was so much less of me now to see," she joked.

 

June 25, 2012

Conversation about this article

1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), June 25, 2012, 5:07 PM.

The Partition story has yet to be told. It needs a Steven-Spielberg telling. Hope Gurinder will rise to the occasion,

2: R. Singh (Canada ), June 26, 2012, 12:48 PM.

It is a great topic, yet to be explored in depth, but it difficult to be optimistic about anyone currently being able to do justice to the topic by being totally objective. We need someone to tell the Sikh story as well, which generally is lumped under an Indian perspective or mutilated and politicised according to how others documented it, rather than as how our own forbears witnessed it. Will Gurinder be able to tell it like it is? It is difficult to tell, for her films have been about Sikhs, seen as Indians. A lot depends upon whether one who is able to visualize pre-partition Punjab, a former Sikh kingdom, a home to the third party at the table, and a huge population that lost the most in terms of lands, wealth, health and, above all, parity and political independence vis a vis the other two. Hope she can capture that, otherwise it will be just another film, unilke 'Khamosh Pani' which was a great work in recent times, but to a limited extent vis a vis the scope of the film.

3: Gurteg Singh (New York, U.S.A.), June 26, 2012, 10:27 PM.

If her past films are any guide, I highly doubt she will be able to do justice to this serious subject. Expect the usual Indian version of the heroes and villains. Do not expect her to portray the cunning, selfishness and criminality of the Hindu leaders including M.K. Gandhi in causing this tragedy of epic proportions. Do not expect her to show the out-maneuvering of the naive, trusting and simpleton Sikh leadership by M.K. Gandhi, Nehru and Patel and their scheming in subjugating the Sikh nation.

4: N. Singh (Canada), June 27, 2012, 5:44 PM.

Although I have enjoyed her films, her story line tends to be very flimsy and the characters lack depth, appearing more as caricatures rather than real people. Gurinder is best suited to the comedies like 'Bend It Like Beckham'. Even in 'Bride and Prejudice,' Gurinder lacked the courage to authentically portray the seduction of the younger sister by Wickham through fear of casting Indian women in a negative light. The whole thing was a sham. She should leave the subject of the Partition to someone else who has the courage, conviction and integrity to do justice to the subject. A bigger and more powerful director who will portray the unbiased facts and not bow to decorum. Sorry, Gurinder, stick to the light comedies ...

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A New Film on Partition"









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