Portrayal Of Indian Communal Riots In Movies

Since the early dawn of time, India has been a witness to various unrests among different communities that reside in the country. One of the first riots that created a nationwide havoc was initiated due to the Indo-Pak partition of 1947. The partition left Muslims as the marginalised section in a country majorly dominated by the Hindus and hence led to uprisings and revolts. One of the foremost movies that captured the essence and the plight of partition (Theme 1) was the film Garam Hava (1974). Ziya Us Salaam from The Hindu describes the movie as a representation of the predicament of the Muslims who decided to stay back in the land of their forefathers after the partition. It portrays the psyche of a community that cannot come to terms with the harsh realities of social boycott and disharmony.

Salim Mirza’s life is characterised by a bird without wings as the lenders don’t trust him with money, fearing he may flee to Pakistan spontaneously and even the government robs him of his ancestral property. “The film is abrasive, it bruises, it jars, it cuts. It deserves attention. ” The assassination of Indira Gandhi on 31st October 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards led to a nationwide protest against Sikhs in India. The Punjabi film Dharam Yudh Morcha (2016) India had an important role to play in the Sri Lankan civil war that occurred spanning a period between the late 1980s and early 1990s which left a profound impact India’s political history and eventually leading to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Madras Café (2013) After a demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, there were protests by Muslims in opposition of the act in the city of Mumbai. The movie Bombay (1995) by Mani Ratnam depicts the story of a Hindu boy and a Muslim woman who fall in love and their subsequent tries to gain acceptance for their relationship from the families in the backdrop of the Mumbai communal riots. It is depicted through the innocent eyes of the twins who chiefly stand for India and Pakistan and are separated amidst the violence but united at the end of the film insinuating harmony. The movie is “a melting pot of culture and boiling communal tension. ” Fiza (2000) is another thought provoking film based on the same riots in which a family consisting of a widowed mother and a young sister lose their sole patriarch figure in the form of Amaan. The Hindu describes the movie as a young girl’s tryst in finding her brother and in turn finding out that her brother has metamorphosed into a terrorist supposedly fighting for the rights of the Muslims after being traumatized by his friend’s brutal murder in the name of violence.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir has always been associated with conflicts between the various Kashmiri pandits and the Islamist people who want Kashmir to belong to Pakistan. Haider (2014) is a portrayal of the ‘Kashmir Intifada’ of 1995 in which Vishal Bhardwaj uses the aid of the Shakespearean play of Hamlet. Haider’s father is caught in a cobweb between performing his duties as a doctor by helping the leader of a pro-separatist group and risking his life. Sweta Kaushal from The Hindustan labels the movie as a portrayal of eternal human follies of treachery and adultery which are showcased on the canvas of cinema. Linked to the Babri demolition are the Gujarat riots of 2002 that occurred due the burning of a train in Godhra causing the death of 58 Hindu pilgrims. Based on a true story, the movie Parzania (2007) is seen through the eyes of Allan, an American who has arrived in India to search for internal concord which he finds in the teachings of Gandhi. Raja Sen from Rediff expresses that “Godhra leads to bloodthirsty mobs rampaging indiscriminately for an unreasonable revenge, the fanatical fire fuelled by a selfish government. ” A Parsi family is caught in between the madness when they lose their son Parzan and finds refuge in Allan’s ransacked house.

The movie is a directorial masterstroke and Allan’s expletive laced dialogue helps in delivering an impactful performance. Kai Po Che (2013) describes the deep friendship of three friends which is stained by religious politics and communal abhorrence. Anupama Chopra describes it as a much more comforting and palatable version of the riots. According to The Hindu, the movie has a gripping and unpredictable narrative which is brewing with the tension and volatility a country torn between capitalists, politicians and dreamers.