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| The national flag of India hoisted on the Red Fort in Delhi; hoisted flag is a common sight on public and private buildings on Independence Day.
As India marks the 70th anniversary of its independence this year, a
slew of movies tackling its colonial history are hitting cinema screens,
including a controversial account of partition by the director of "Bend it
Like Beckham".
Gurinder Chadha's "Viceroy's House" is released in India on
Friday under the name "Partition: 1947" and tells the story of how
India's last governor Lord Mountbatten oversaw the end of three centuries of
British rule.
Partition and the British Empire have been the source of dramatic material
for filmmakers in the past, from Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning
"Gandhi" to David Lean's "A Passage to India".
Hindi language film "Lagaan" used cricket to spotlight a
village's rebellion against a draconian colonial-era tax.
But experts say the period has often been overlooked by filmmakers in
the past, despite its dramatic potential perhaps because the trauma of
partition was still so fresh in people's minds.
"As a space for stories, 1947 has not been mined as much as WWI or
WWII or other historical events that have caught the imagination of the
world," film writer Shubhra Gupta said.
"Now there is enough distance between 1947 and us, and we are able
to look back less in anger and anguish," added Gupta, a film critic and
columnist at the Indian Express newspaper.
Other Western movies to deal with the Raj era this year include
"The Black Prince", which recreates the life of Duleep Singh, the
last king of Punjab, who was deposed and taken to Britain as a child, never to
return to his homeland.
Stephen Frears’ "Victoria and Abdul" explores the true story
of the unusual relationship between Queen Victoria, played by Judi Dench, and a
young Indian clerk, Abdul Karim.
"Viceroy's House" portrays the disastrous aftermath of
partition when an untold number of people some estimates say up two million
died in savage violence as Hindus and Muslims turned on one another.
Director Chadha, whose grandparents fled what is now Pakistan at
partition,said the story was "intensely personal".
"My family rarely talked about partition because it was so raw and
painful but my grandmother, who lived with us, was traumatised by what
happened. So to make a film like this in India is a big deal for me," she sent
by email.
Chadha said the story of partition was deeply relevant today, as the
world struggles to cope with a new refugee crisis and a rise in nationalism.
"The day I was filming the major scenes in a refugee camp we
recreated with 1,000 extras was the same day the young Syrian refugee boy washed
ashore in Greece," she said.
"This story sends a warning that in this current time of the
politics of division and hate... there will be tragic consequences."
- 'Visual memory' -
The movie, which stars Hugh Bonneville of "Downton Abbey" as
Mountbatten, has had mixed reviews, with some critics accusing Chadha of being
too soft on Britain.
Indian film critic Raja Sen in his review called it "an
embarrassment, with or without its childish attempts at pro-empire
revisionism".
Gupta said "Viceroy's House" was likely to appeal more to an
audience outside India that did not have a direct stake in the tragedies of
partition.
"Historical films help to explain things to the diaspora around the
world, as well as third and fourth generation immigrants who have only heard
stories, which are also looking for a visual memory of those days," he
said.
Two Hindi language films about the era have already been released this
year, though neither was a box office hit.
"Raag Desh" deals with the armed rebel group set up under
British rule by the Indian nationalist Subhash Chandra Bose, who broke ranks
with independence champion Mahatma Gandhi over his non-violent approach.
"Begum Jaan" explored the impact of partition through the
fictional story of a brothel that fell right on the new border.
In the week that India and Pakistan mark 70 years of independence,
Chadha said such movies served as a reminder of the horrors of that era.
"I want people to be talking about
partition, whatever their perspective, so we can ensure tragedies like this
don't happen again," she said.
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