Train to Pakistan (film)
Encyclopedia
Train to Pakistan is a 1998 Hindi film adapted from Khushwant Singh
's 1956 historical novel by the same name
set in the Partition of India
of 1947 and directed by Pamela Rooks
. The film stars Nirmal Pandey
, Rajit Kapur
, Mohan Agashe
, Smriti Mishra
, and Divya Dutta
.
and Pakistan
, close to the railway line near where it crosses the Sutlej River. The film develops around the love affair of small-time dacoit Jagga (Nirmal Pandey), with a local Muslim girl, Nooran (Smriti Mishra
). Mano Majra incidentally was the original title of the book upon its release in 1956. The villagers are a mix of Sikh
and Muslim
s, who live in harmony. The Sikhs own most of the land, and the Muslims work as labourers. During the summer of 1947, when the Partition of India
was taking place, the entire country was a hotbed for extremism and intolerance. The Muslims in India moved towards the newly formed Pakistan, and the Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan migrated to refugee camps in India. One day, a train
arrives from Pakistan, which carries bodies of all the travellers who have been butchered while they departed from Pakistan. That is when this quiet village is changed forever.
Pamela Rooks first read the novel at 17, preparing for the title role of Nooran which was set to play in prospective Ismail Merchant
film, which never took off, but the novel stayed with her, because growing up she had stories of the Partition from her parents. Initially the publishers of the book, Ravi Dayal, was hesitant give the rights of work, to a new filmmaker, this was Rooks only second feature, till Ravi Gupta, Managing Director of NFDC stepped in and a go ahead was given. Previously as her first feature, Rooks had adapted her own novel Miss Beatty's Children, into a 1993 film by the same name, which won her the National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director
. For her adaptation Rooks chose a different narrative from the original novel, and developed the film as an extension from the original. Thus the film begins with Hukum Chand, the district commissioner, reminiscing about partition period. Though she could visually translated some of the line from Khushwant Singh's narrative directly on to the screen.
The shooting began nearly fifty years after the actual partition of India in 1947. Though many villages of Punjab resembled, the Punjab of fifty years prior, Muslim pockets were missing now, hence a couple of villages on the fringes of Punjab were used to give a combined look of theMano Majra, a village near the Indo-Pak border, where the novel was set. Pamela used her background in documentary film making to shoot certain parts of the film live, in scenes like that of religious ceremony at a temple, the feel couldn't have been recreated through retakes were shot live. The shooting was finally completed by July 1997, when the film went into post-production work in Mumbai
, ahead of its August 15, television premiere on STAR Plus.
channel on August 15, 1997, India's Independence day, but it ran into trouble with Indian Censor Board, thus its theatrical release was also cancelled twice, and with director not agreeing to the cuts demanded by the board, the film went to a tribunal, which caused further delays. Eventually it was passed in December 1997 with a few cuts, mostly audio. Its television released happened on Star Plus
in 1998, after its theatrical release. The film version had only one visual and few audio cuts. Subsequently, the film was released in the United States, Sri Lanka and on Channel Four in the UK, and also shown in several international film festivals, including, Zanzibar International Film Festival, 1998, World Film Festival National Films from South Festival Denmark, 1998, Beirut International Film Festival, 1998, Fiminale International Film Festival, Konl Germany, 1998, Soria Mora Film Festival, Oslo, 1998, and Indian Film Week in Hong Kong, 2000. Besides critical acclaim, it was also nominated for Best Film at the 1999 Cinequest Film Festival
.
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh is a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, is among the most widely-read columns in the country....
's 1956 historical novel by the same name
Train to Pakistan
Train To Pakistan is a historical novel by Khushwant Singh, published in 1956. It recounts the Partition of India in August 1947.Instead of depicting the Partition in terms of only the political events surrounding it, Singh digs into a deep local focus, providing a human dimension which brings to...
set in the Partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
of 1947 and directed by Pamela Rooks
Pamela Rooks
Pamela Rooks was an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for the film, Train to Pakistan set in Partition of India and based on Khushwant Singh’s novel, it was screened at several international film festivals...
. The film stars Nirmal Pandey
Nirmal Pandey
Nirmal Pandey was an Indian Bollywood actor, who was known for his role Vikram Mallah in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen , for portrayal of a transvestite in Daayraa for which he won a Best Actor Valenti award in France, Train To Pakistan and Godmother .He was supposed to watch his latest film...
, Rajit Kapur
Rajit Kapur
Rajit Kapur is an Indian actor. He is particularly known for his award-winning portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1996 film, The Making of the Mahatma. One of his most popular stints is his portrayal of Byomkesh Bakshi in a television series of the same name based on the character created by...
, Mohan Agashe
Mohan Agashe
Mohan Agashe is an Indian theatre and film actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996.-Biography:...
, Smriti Mishra
Smriti Mishra
Smriti Mishra is an Indian film actor, most known for her roles in Shyam Benegal's Sardari Begum , Pamela Rooks Train to Pakistan and Vijay Singh's Jaya Ganga.-Filmography:* Sardari Begum * Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin...
, and Divya Dutta
Divya Dutta
Divya Dutta is an Indian actress from Ludhiana, Punjab, India who appears in Hindi and Punjabi films.- Career :She did her schooling from Sacred Heart Convent, Ludhiana...
.
Plot
The film is set in Mano Majra is a silent village in the border of IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, close to the railway line near where it crosses the Sutlej River. The film develops around the love affair of small-time dacoit Jagga (Nirmal Pandey), with a local Muslim girl, Nooran (Smriti Mishra
Smriti Mishra
Smriti Mishra is an Indian film actor, most known for her roles in Shyam Benegal's Sardari Begum , Pamela Rooks Train to Pakistan and Vijay Singh's Jaya Ganga.-Filmography:* Sardari Begum * Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin...
). Mano Majra incidentally was the original title of the book upon its release in 1956. The villagers are a mix of Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, who live in harmony. The Sikhs own most of the land, and the Muslims work as labourers. During the summer of 1947, when the Partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
was taking place, the entire country was a hotbed for extremism and intolerance. The Muslims in India moved towards the newly formed Pakistan, and the Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan migrated to refugee camps in India. One day, a train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
arrives from Pakistan, which carries bodies of all the travellers who have been butchered while they departed from Pakistan. That is when this quiet village is changed forever.
Cast
- Mohan AgasheMohan AgasheMohan Agashe is an Indian theatre and film actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996.-Biography:...
as Hukum Chand - Nirmal PandeyNirmal PandeyNirmal Pandey was an Indian Bollywood actor, who was known for his role Vikram Mallah in Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen , for portrayal of a transvestite in Daayraa for which he won a Best Actor Valenti award in France, Train To Pakistan and Godmother .He was supposed to watch his latest film...
as Jaggat Singh, Jagaa - Rajit Kapoor as Iqbal
- Smriti MishraSmriti MishraSmriti Mishra is an Indian film actor, most known for her roles in Shyam Benegal's Sardari Begum , Pamela Rooks Train to Pakistan and Vijay Singh's Jaya Ganga.-Filmography:* Sardari Begum * Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin...
as Nooran - Divya DuttaDivya DuttaDivya Dutta is an Indian actress from Ludhiana, Punjab, India who appears in Hindi and Punjabi films.- Career :She did her schooling from Sacred Heart Convent, Ludhiana...
- Mangal DhillonMangal DhillonMangal Dhillon in an Indian actor and film producer. He was born in the village Wander Jatana near Kotkapura in the Faridkot district, Punjab.-Early life and education:...
- Paritosh Sand
- M.S. Sathyu
Development
The film was one of most anticipated adaptations of its time, especially being writer Kushwant Singh's most acclaimed work. According to whom several people in past has attempted to make the film, including Shashi Kapoor and Shabana Azmi, who even developed a screenplay, but owning to sensitivity of the subject, abandoned the project.Pamela Rooks first read the novel at 17, preparing for the title role of Nooran which was set to play in prospective Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
film, which never took off, but the novel stayed with her, because growing up she had stories of the Partition from her parents. Initially the publishers of the book, Ravi Dayal, was hesitant give the rights of work, to a new filmmaker, this was Rooks only second feature, till Ravi Gupta, Managing Director of NFDC stepped in and a go ahead was given. Previously as her first feature, Rooks had adapted her own novel Miss Beatty's Children, into a 1993 film by the same name, which won her the National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director
Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director
The Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director is a National Film Award - Golden Lotus Award, given to a feature film director's first film.The National Film Award - Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director winners:...
. For her adaptation Rooks chose a different narrative from the original novel, and developed the film as an extension from the original. Thus the film begins with Hukum Chand, the district commissioner, reminiscing about partition period. Though she could visually translated some of the line from Khushwant Singh's narrative directly on to the screen.
Production
The was produced by Channel Four Films and National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), and production company was Kaleidoscope EntertainmentKaleidoscope Entertainment
Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian film and television production company. Films produced by them include Bandit Queen, Fire, Electric Moon, Saathiya, Maqbool, American Daylight, and The Rising...
The shooting began nearly fifty years after the actual partition of India in 1947. Though many villages of Punjab resembled, the Punjab of fifty years prior, Muslim pockets were missing now, hence a couple of villages on the fringes of Punjab were used to give a combined look of theMano Majra, a village near the Indo-Pak border, where the novel was set. Pamela used her background in documentary film making to shoot certain parts of the film live, in scenes like that of religious ceremony at a temple, the feel couldn't have been recreated through retakes were shot live. The shooting was finally completed by July 1997, when the film went into post-production work in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, ahead of its August 15, television premiere on STAR Plus.
Release and critical reception
Initially the film was to have its premiere on STAR PlusSTAR Plus
STAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels...
channel on August 15, 1997, India's Independence day, but it ran into trouble with Indian Censor Board, thus its theatrical release was also cancelled twice, and with director not agreeing to the cuts demanded by the board, the film went to a tribunal, which caused further delays. Eventually it was passed in December 1997 with a few cuts, mostly audio. Its television released happened on Star Plus
STAR Plus
STAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels...
in 1998, after its theatrical release. The film version had only one visual and few audio cuts. Subsequently, the film was released in the United States, Sri Lanka and on Channel Four in the UK, and also shown in several international film festivals, including, Zanzibar International Film Festival, 1998, World Film Festival National Films from South Festival Denmark, 1998, Beirut International Film Festival, 1998, Fiminale International Film Festival, Konl Germany, 1998, Soria Mora Film Festival, Oslo, 1998, and Indian Film Week in Hong Kong, 2000. Besides critical acclaim, it was also nominated for Best Film at the 1999 Cinequest Film Festival
Cinequest Film Festival
The Cinequest Film Festival is an annual independent film festival held in San Jose, California. The festival highlights the work of new film makers....
.