If you have not watched the movie “Garam Hawa” I will say that you don’t read this post any further because it may spoil the movie for you. I would highly recommend this to any one to understand the situation that Muslims of India were going through post-partition. This movie is based on a short story by Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai.
Story, direction, acting, dialogues everything is excellent in this movie. It has been many years since I watched it and now I am unable to get any DVD of this movie.
Towards the end of the movie when the whole family decides that they had it enough and can not take the discrimination and living in fear and it is time to move to Pakistan. On their way to the railway station they see a group of young men holding a demonstration for getting employment. The son steps down and moves towards them to join them and the father looks on his son approvingly. Giving this message to Indian Muslims if you want to feel at home then you have to join the struggles for a decent life.
Recently Syed Shahabuddin raised similar sentiments in his monthly magazines “Muslim India.”
The Muslims have to participate in the struggle of the common man for a better life and not confine themselves to their own deprivations and grievances. In brief, their political strategy has to be inclusive, for full participation in the quest for justice for all deprived sections of the people.
—- Muslim India, June 2007 editorial.
A natural question at this point is that then why do we need a blogging site like IMB? For simple reason is that joining the struggle and becoming part of the main stream doesn’t mean that we lose our identity. This is the beauty and strength of India that it draws from all different religion, culture and philosophical sources so that all communities feel a part of it and the result of this “manthan�? is our India.
Yes, we all have many different hats that we wear – religious, national, cultural, professional etc. The key is to decide which hat to wear when it comes to tackle the problems facing us. Does not mean we wear only one hat all the time, or throw away the hats we are not currently wearing.
-Amit
Good post.
I watched this movie when I was very young. I guess I might be 10 or 12 years. It was screen on Doordarshan.
I was very much touched by the very concept of movie.
I would like to watch the movie again. I donot know where to get this.
Indian muslim do not need to feel deprived. They should come out and assert themselve. It is their country their motherland.
gr8 movie. good post.
thanks everyone for your comments.
Amit you have correctly pointed out that all of us have multiple identities and this will continue to grow in a more globalized and plural world, this presents new challanges and new opportunities as well.
Manish, you are absolutely right, it is the feeling that is important. I believe that Muslims should not feel deprived or disenfranchised, we want to tell them that yes we do have a voice and yes other Indians are ready to listen to us. As Indian citizen we can use democratic process to ask for services or protest on things that we don’t like.
Thanks for listening.
p.s. yes i am having trouble finding a copy of this movie. If anyone has any idea where I can get it please post the info. here.
Yes Garam Hawa was a very good movie. I saw it when I was about 18 and it generated a huge interest in me to find out more about how it was for Muslims during the partition days.
The message is very apt, and it is so surprising that even after 60 years of independence, the message is still valid for the Muslims of India.
To see this as merely a movie about the plight of Muslims in India is to trivialize it and narrow its message. I don’t think such a view does justice to the movie, or to Kaifi Azmi’s empathetic and masterful scriptwriting or to M.S.Sathyu’s sensitive handling of a difficult subject like this or indeed to Ismat Chugtai’s original work (that was substantially altered by Kaifi Azmi).
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Does anyone remember if the rally/demonstration that the son joins at the end of the movie was specified as Marxist/Communist/Socialist? (banners, flags…)
In general you should not run away from your identity. Every community has good and bad elements. I am proud to be an Indian and love the humanity. That is what we have been taught by our Prophet(pbuh).