It was written by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi, based on an unpublished short story by noted Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai.[1] The film score was given by the classical musician Ustad Bahadur Khan, with lyrics by Kaifi Azmi. It also featured a qawwali composed and performed by Aziz Ahmed Khan Warsi and his Warsi Brothers troupe.
Set in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, the film deals with the plight of a North IndianMuslim businessman and his family, in the period after the 1947 Partition of India. Made with a shoestring budget, the entire film was shot on location in Agra. In the grim months after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, the film's protagonist and patriarch of the family, Salim Mirza, deals with the dilemma of whether to move to Pakistan, like many of his relatives, or stay back. The film details the slow disintegration of his family, and is one of the most poignant films made on India's partition.[3][4] It remains one of the few serious films dealing with the post-Partition plight of Muslims in India.[5][6]
The Mirzas are a Muslim family living in a large ancestral house and running a shoe manufacturing business in the city of Agra in the United Provinces of northern India (now the state of Uttar Pradesh). The story begins in the immediate aftermath of India's independence and the partition of India in 1947. The family is headed by two brothers; Salim (Balraj Sahni), who heads the family business, and his elder brother Halim, who is mainly engaged in politics and is a major leader in the provincial branch of the All India Muslim League, which led the demand for the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. Salim has two sons, the elder Baqar, who helps him in the business, and Sikander (Farooq Shaikh), who is a young student. Halim's son Kazim is engaged to Salim's daughter, Amina. Although he had publicly promised to stay in India for the sake of its Muslims, Halim later decides to quietly emigrate to Pakistan with his wife and son, believing that there was no future for Muslims in India. Salim resists the notion of moving, believing that peace and harmony would return soon, besides which, he has to care for their ageing mother, who refuses to leave the house of her forefathers. This puts Kazim and Amina's marriage plans on hold, although Kazim promises to return soon to marry her. Halim's stealthy migration affects Salim's standing in the community. In the aftermath of partition, the sudden migration of many Muslims from Agra left banks and other lenders deeply reluctant to lend money to Muslim businessmen like Salim Mirza, who had previously been held in high esteem, over fears that they would leave the country without repaying the loan. Unable to raise capital to finance production, Salim Mirza's business suffers. Salim Mirza's brother-in-law, formerly a League supporter, now joins the ruling Indian National Congress in an attempt to get ahead in independent India, while his son Shamshad unsuccessfully woos Amina, who is still devoted to Kazim and hopeful of his return.
Halim's migration to Pakistan makes the family home an "evacuee property" as the house is in Halim's name and Halim did not transfer it to Salim Mirza. The Indian government mandates the take over of the house, forcing Salim Mirza's family to move out of their ancestral home, which is very hard on Mirza's aged mother. Salim's wife blames him for not raising this issue with his brother Halim before he left for Pakistan. Mirza resists his wife's hints that they also move to Pakistan and his elder son's calls for modernizing the family business. Mirza finds it difficult to rent a house, facing discrimination owing to his religion and fears that a Muslim family would skip out on rent if they decided to leave for Pakistan. He finally succeeds in finding a smaller house to rent, but his business is failing and despite his son's exhorting, refuses to change with the times, believing that Allah would protect them. Salim Mirza's passiveness and disconnection from the outside world leaves his wife and son frustrated. The Mirza family house is bought by a close business associate, Ajmani, (A.K. Hangal) who respects Mirza and tries to help him. Despite growing troubles, the family is briefly buoyed by Sikander's graduation from college.
Amina and her family have almost given up on her marrying Kazim after Halim breaks his promise to return soon from Pakistan. Kazim sneaks across the border and returns on his own, and reveals that his father had become opposed to his marrying Amina, preferring that he marry the daughter of a Pakistani politician. Having received a scholarship from the Government of Pakistan to study in Canada, Kazim desires to marry Amina before he leaves, but before the marriage can take place, he is arrested by police and repatriated to Pakistan for travelling without a passport and not registering at the police station, as is required of all citizens of Pakistan. Amina is heart-broken, and finally accepts Shamshad's courtship. Sikander undergoes a long string of unsuccessful job interviews, where the interviewers repeatedly suggest that he would have better luck in Pakistan. Sikander and his group of friends become disillusioned and start an agitation against unemployment and discrimination, but Salim prohibits Sikander from taking part. Despite his political connections, Salim Mirza's brother-in-law ends up in debt over shady business practices and decides to flee to Pakistan. Amina again faces the prospect of losing her lover, but Shamshad promises to return and not leave her like Kazim. Salim Mirza's reluctance to modernise and cultivate ties with the newly formed shoemakers union results in his business not receiving patronage and consequently failing. Disillusioned, his son Baqar decides to migrate to Pakistan with his son and wife. Salim's aged mother suffers a stroke, and through his friend, Salim is able to bring his mother to her beloved house for a final visit, where she dies. While Salim is travelling in a horse-drawn carriage, the carriage driver, a Muslim, gets into an accident and a squabble with other locals. The situation deteriorates into a riot, and Salim is hit by a stone and suffers injuries. With his business and elder son gone, Salim begins to work as a humble shoemaker to make a living. Shamshad's mother returns from Pakistan for a visit, leading Amina and her mother to think that Shamshad would also come soon and their marriage would take place. However, Shamshad's mother merely takes advantage of Salim Mirza's connections to release some of her husband's money, and reveals that Shamshad's marriage has been arranged with the daughter of a well-connected Pakistani family. Shattered with this second betrayal, Amina commits suicide, which devastates the whole family.
Amidst these problems, Salim Mirza is investigated by the police on charges of espionage over his sending of plans of their former property to his brother in Karachi, Pakistan. Although acquitted by the court, Mirza is shunned in public and faces a humiliating whisper campaign. Mirza's long aversion to leaving India finally breaks down and he decides in anger to leave for Pakistan. Sikander opposes the idea, arguing that they should not run away from India, but fight against the odds for the betterment of the whole nation, but Salim is called a spy for Pakistan and decides to leave anyway. However, as the family is travelling towards the railway station, they encounter a large crowd of protesters marching against unemployment and discrimination, which Sikander had planned to join. Sikander's friends call out to him, and Salim encourages him to join the protesters. He instructs the carriage driver to take his wife back to their house, and the film ends as Salim Mirza himself joins the protest, ending his isolation from the new reality.
Adaptation
The film was an adaptation of Ismat Chughtai's story by noted Urdu poet and lyricist, Kaifi Azmi. While the original story centred on a station master, stuck in the throes of Partition, Kaifi Azmi brought in his own experiences as a union leader for the workers of a shoe manufacturing factory to the film. He not just changed the profession of the film’s protagonist, but also placed him right in the middle of film’s emotional cauldron, as he watches his livelihood (shoe manufacturing) and family disintegrating rapidly, immediately making the trauma of the Partition personal, compared to the original story, where the protagonist is a mere observer, watching his friends and family migrate. This fulfilled the main object of the film, to show the human consequences, not social and economic consequences of a large political decision, like the Partition of India, to which none of its suffers, the people, were party, as in the words of film director, M.S. Sathyu, "What I really wanted to expose in Garm Hava was the games these politicians play...How many of us in India really wanted the partition. Look at the suffering it caused."[1]
The screenplay was written jointly by Kaifi Azmi, and Sathyu’s wife, Shama Zaidi,[7] with Kaifi Azmi, adding the dialogues to the film.[7]
The movie ends with a poem/shairi by Kaifi Azmi:
"Jo door se toofan ka kartein hai nazara, unke liye toofan vahan bhi hai yahan bhi... Daaere me jo mil jaoge ban jaoge daaera, yeh waqt ka ailaan vahan bhi hai yahan bhi"
Cast
Badar Begum as Mother of Salim Mirza, Halim Mirza and Akhtar Begum.
Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni died before this film's release).[1][7]
The film was based on an unpublished short story by writer-screenwriter Ismat Chughtai and later adapted by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi.[8] Chugtai narrated the story to Sathyu and his wife Zaidi, deriving from the struggles of her own relatives during the Partition before some of them migrated for Pakistan. While developing the screenplay, poet-lyricist Azmi added his own experiences of Agra and the local leather industry. Later, he also wrote in the dialogues.[9]
The film was shot on location in the city of Agra, with scenes of Fatehpur Sikri as well. Due to repeated local protests owing to its controversial theme, a fake second unit with unloaded cameras were sent to various locations to divert attention from the film's actual locations. As the film's commercial producers had early on backed out fearing public and governmental backlash, and the "Film Finance Corporation" (FFC), now National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), stepped in later with a funding of ₹ 250,000. Sathyu borrowed the remaining ₹ 750,000 of the budget from friends.[10][7] The film was co-produced and shot by Ishan Arya, who after making ad films made his feature film debut, using an Arriflex camera, lent by Homi Sethna, Sathyu's friend. As Sathyu couldn't afford recording equipment, the film was shot silent, and the location sounds and voices were dubbed in post-production. Shama Zaidi also doubled up as the costume and production designer.[7]
Sathyu had long been associated with the leftist Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), thus most roles in the film were played by stage actors from IPTA troupes in Delhi, Mumbai and Agra. The role of family patriarch, Salim Mirza was played by Balraj Sahni, also known to Sathyu through IPTA, and for whom this was to be his last important film role, and according to many his finest performance.[11] The role of his wife was played by Shaukat Azmi, wife of film's writer Kaifi Azmi, and also associated with IPTA. Farooq Shaikh, a law student in Mumbai, till then had done small roles in IPTA plays, made his film debut with the role of Sikandar.[7] The role of Balraj Sahni's mother was first offered to noted singer Begum Akhtar, which she refused,[12] later Badar Begum played the role. The locale of the Mirza mansion was an old haveli of R. S. Lal Mathur in Peepal Mandi, who helped the whole unit throughout the shooting. Mathur helped Sathyu find Badar Begum in a city brothel. Badar Begum was then in her 70s and almost blind due to cataracts. However, when she was sixteen years old, she ran away to Bombay to work in Hindi films, but soon ran out of money and only managed to get work as an extra in a Wadia Movietone film. She used the money to return to Agra, and eventually ended up in the red-light area of the city and ran a brothel in the area. Her voice was later dubbed in by actress Dina Pathak.[9][7] The film's lead, Balraj Sahni however, died the day after he finished dubbing for the film.[13] The soundtrack included a qawwali "Maula Salim Chishti", by Aziz Ahmed Khan Warsi, of Warsi Brothers.[14]
Themes and allusions
The title alludes to the scorching winds of communalism, political bigotry and intolerance, that blew away humanity and conscience from across North-India in the years after the partition of India in 1947, and especially after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, to the which the film opens. In its prologue, poet Kaifi Azmi narrates a couplet summing up the theme, "Geeta ki koi sunta na Koran ki sunta, hairan sa eemaan vahan bhi tha yahan bhi" (Nobody listens to Gita or Quran, shocked conscience was here as well as there.)[8] Just like his ageing mother is reluctant to leave the ancestral haveli where she came as a young bride, her son Salim Mirza, the protagonist is also holding on to his faith in new India. Despite the fact that his shoe manufacturing business is suffering in the new communally charged environment, and the family had to sell off their haveli to move into a rented house. Yet, he struggles to keep his faith in secularism and idealism alive, along with his optimistic son.[8]
Release and reception
Prior to its release, the film was held by the Central Board of India, for eight months, fearing communal unrest, but the film's director persisted and he showed it to government officials, leaders and journalists. Finally, the film was released to both critical and commercial success.[1][7]
The film first opened at two theatres; Sagar and Sangeeth in Bangalore. Positive response at these theatres paved way for a subsequent nationwide release.[15] The Indian premiere was held at Regal Cinema in Colaba, Mumbai in April 1974. However, prior to this Bal Thackeray, head of Shiv Sena had threatened to burn down the cinema, if the premier was allowed, calling it 'pro-Muslim' and 'anti-India' film. On the day of the premiere, Thackeray was persuaded to attend a special screening of the film in the afternoon, and allowed the film to be screened. Subsequently, the film had a limited pan-India release.[13][16] Ironically, in the 1974 National Film Awards, it was awarded the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.[1]
In 2009, a privately funded restoration work of the film started at Cameo Studios in Pune.[18] Subsequently, the restoration budget climbed to over ₹ 10million, and restoration work was done by Filmlab, Mumbai (Mr. Ujwal Nirgudkar) and the sound quality enhancement by Deluxe Laboratories in Los Angeles, US.[7] The restoration process, which included restoration of original soundtrack took over three years to complete and the print was re-released on 14 November 2014 across 70 screens in eight metro cities in India.[7][14][19]
Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu is a film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial Garm Hava (1973), which was based on the partition of India. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975.
Kaifi Azmi was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participated in many memorable Mushaira gatherings of the twentieth century. He was also a communist who wanted to see India one day become a socialist state. His wife was theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi.
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind or Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh was a progressive literary movement in pre-partition British India. Some branches of this writers' group existed around the world besides in India, Kashmir and Pakistan
Balraj Sahni was an Indian film and stage actor, who is best known for Dharti Ke Lal (1946), Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Chhoti Bahen (1959), Kabuliwala (1961), Waqt (1965) and Garam Hawa (1973). He was the brother of Bhisham Sahni, noted Hindi writer, playwright, and actor.
Shama Zaidi is an Indian screenplay writer, costume designer, art director, theatre person, art critic, and documentary film maker. She is married to director M. S. Sathyu. Shama Zaidi Was Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at ICA - International Cultural Artifact Film Festival in 2021.
The Filmfare Best Screenplay Award is given by the Filmfare magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films.
The Filmfare Award for Best Story is given by Filmfare as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a writer who wrote a film's story.
The Partition of India and the associated bloody riots inspired many creative minds in the republics of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to create literary/cinematic depictions of this event. While some creations depicted the massacres during the refugee migration, others concentrated on the aftermath of the partition in terms of difficulties faced by the refugees in both side of the border. Even now, more than 60 years after the partition, works of fiction and films are made that relate to the events of partition. W.H. Auden in his poem "Partition" showed the dilemmas of Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, responsible for deciding which parts of India went where.
Haqeeqat is a 1964 Indian Hindi-language war-drama film written, directed and produced by Chetan Anand. The film stars Dharmendra, Balraj Sahni, Priya Rajvansh, Sudhir, Sanjay Khan and Vijay Anand in major roles. The music of the film is composed by Madan Mohan and the lyrics of the songs are by Kaifi Azmi. The film is based on the events of the 1962 Sino-Indian War about a small platoon of soldiers in Ladakh pitched against a much larger adversary. The film was constructed around the battle of Rezang La in Ladakh and showcases a fictionalised version of the last stand of Ahir Company, 13 Kumaon led by Major Shaitan Singh. However the film is not only a representation of war, but a dramatic retelling of the impact war has on the common soldier. Chetan Anand dedicated the film to Jawaharlal Nehru and the soldiers in Ladakh. The film is widely considered one of India's greatest black and white war-films.
Rajendranath Zutshi, is an Indian film and television actor.
Hanste Zakhm is a 1973 Indian Hindi film produced and directed by Chetan Anand. The film stars Navin Nischol, Priya Rajvansh, Balraj Sahni, Jeevan in pivotal roles. The film has music composed by Madan Mohan and lyrics written by Kaifi Azmi. This movie features the unforgettable evergreen songs by Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar under music direction of Madan Mohan, which turned out to be chartbusters. The most famous song in this film is "Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho". The other song is a qawwali, "Yeh Mana Meri Jaan" whose tune has been remade numerous times. Madan Mohan produced one of the best works of his life for this feature film. "Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho" was adjudged the third best hindi film song ever by a jury of eminent musicians for an Outlook magazine poll. The song is still a rage among youngsters and lovebirds. This movie collected Rs.72000 at capital cinema, which was a record back then and was declared a hit at the box office.
Ramesh Talwar is an Indian film, theatre, television and film director, co-producer and actor. He is the nephew of the film writer, short story writer and playwright Sagar Sarhadi. Talwar began his career as a child artist in Love in Simla (1960), Dhool Ka Phool (1959) and Phool Aur Kaliyan (1960) which was a National Award winner – Gold medal for best children's film.
The Muslim social is a film genre in Bollywood that portrays Islamic culture in India. It flourished in the 1950s and 1960s and lasted till the early 1980s. Muslim socials are divided into two categories: "classic Muslim socials" that explore nawabi culture and focus on upper class or elite Muslim families, and "new wave Muslim socials" that portray middle class Muslim families who experience economic problems, discrimination and communal violence. Muslim socials often include ghazals, qawwalis, Urdu poetry and expressions, and musical forms commonly associated with Islamic culture. However, lately the label has also been criticized for cultural ghettoization of minority cinema. Director M.S. Sathyu who made Garam Hava (1973), called it "a skewed way to look at cinema. When there is no Hindu social or Christian social, how can there be a Muslim social".
The 22nd Filmfare Awards were held in 1975.
Begum Khurshid Mirza, also known by her screen name as Renuka Devi (1918–1989), was a Pakistani television actress and a pre-partition era film actress.
Gita Siddharth was an Indian actress and social worker. She acted in mainstream Bollywood as well as art cinema, like Parichay (1972), Garm Hava (1973), and Gaman (1978).
Naunihal is a 1967 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Raj Marbros starring Sanjeev Kumar, Balraj Sahni and Indrani Mukherjee in lead roles. The film's music was composed by Madan Mohan, with lyrics by Kaifi Azmi, including the song "Meri Aawaz Suno Pyar ka Raaz Suno" sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is picturized over the funeral procession of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Ishan Arya was an Indian cinematographer, and producer, best known as producer and cinematographer of Art cinema classic Garm Hava (1973). After working in theatre and advertising, he made his debut with Garm Hava directed by M. S. Sathyu. After that he worked largely in South Indian cinema, especially Telugu, though he work on two noted Hindi art films, Bazaar (1982) directed by Sagar Sarhadi and Anjuman (1986) directed by Muzaffar Ali. At the 23rd National Film Awards, he won the Best Cinematography Award for Telugu film, Mutyala Muggu (1975).
Naseem is a 1995 Hindi film directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza. The film starred well-known Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi, Mayuri Kango, Seema Kelkar, Surekha Sikri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Kay Kay Menon.
↑ Secularism and Popular Cinema:Shyam BenegalThe Crisis of Secularism in India: Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the ethics of communal representation, by Anuradha Dingwaney Needham, Rajeswari Sunder Rajan. Duke University Press, 2007. ISBN0-8223-3846-7. page 234-235.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
