Cinema :Batwara 1947 Review: Good Intentions, Stilted Execution

Sunny Deol plays Sikander Mirza, a businessman forced to flee Meerut for Lahore, where he encounters Ratan Ki Ma (Shabana Azmi), the original owner of his allotted mansion.

Despite strong performances from Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta and Shabana Azmi, the film's execution and dated dramatic elements detract from its well-meaning message.

 

Asghar Wajahat's classic play Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya, O Jamyai Nai (1989) has been staged hundreds of times, and has undeniably cinematic elements. Still, it is a tragedy that a film like Batwara 1947 needs to be made, not just to tell a great story, but to loudly proclaim the 'no religion is bad, humans are' message.

The film, produced by Aamir Khan, may be well-meaning and timed right to counter jingoism waved about carelessly in films and OTT series of late. But it also comes across as condescending in the way it strains to show that all Muslims are not evil.

And if Director-Co-Scriptwriter Rajkumar Santoshi casts Sunny Deol in the film, the drama of relationships and tiny moments of warmth and compassion starts looking like a part of the Gadar franchise.

The soft-spoken small businessman becomes a violent fighter, who flings men into the air and yells his dialogue about the distortion of Islam by opportunists.

On the eve of August 15, 1947, when Sikander Mirza (Deol) has just finished his Jai Hind rounds of Meerut, he is informed of anti-Muslim riots in the city. When advised to move to the newly formed Pakistan, he says he'd rather be dead. But when his home is burned down and his family threatened, he is forced to go to Lahore.

His wife Hamida (Preity Zinta) and daughter Tanvir (Khushi Hajare) accompany him, while his son Javed (Karan Deol) is left behind in the melee. They spend months in a terrible refugee camp, till, thanks to a pacifist poet, Habib (Ali Fazal), he gets allotted a mansion.

When the Mirzas move into the haveli, they find an old woman living on the upper floor.

Ratan ki Ma or Durgavati (Shabana Azmi) is the owner of the house, and left behind by her family. She refuses to leave till her son returns to fetch her, and all attempts to persuade her to go to 'Hindustan' fail.

Narrative Flaws and Execution : In the play, the character of Mai is woven into the fabric of her mohalla, helping people with home remedies and amusing them with stories. In the film, Sikander and Hamida's transformation from wanting her evicted to putting their own lives at stake for her, seems abrupt.

The villainous pehelwan and aspiring politician Yakub (Abhimanyu Singh), who boasts of having killed innumerable kaafirs during Partition, now eyes the lavish haveli in the belief that there is gold buried inside.

To Sikander's annoyance, Javed, who has come across the border carrying scars of violence in India, joins Yakub's gang of nasty followers. The Mirzas deflect Yakub's relentless attacks, because Sikander is capable of fighting, as well as converting a hall full of men baying for his blood with his humanist speech.

Overall Impression : Santoshi reduces the story to a collection of slogans, though Sunny Deol should be given credit for handling the lowkey moments as well as the bombastic scenes with aplomb.

He has to face India's finest, Shabana Azmi, whose light is buried under the weepy cliché of the old Bollywood Maa.

Preity Zinta is excellent as the supportive wife who rouses her husband's conscience.

The film is set mostly in and around one mohalla in Lahore, which worked for a stage play but on screen, it looks oddly stilted, as if the cataclysm of Partition is happening on another continent.

The dramatic moments underlined by old-style background songs make the film look even more dated. Coming so soon after Main Vaapas Aaunga, also a Partition era tale with a message of compassion, the flaws in Batwara 1947 are even more grating.