The Frontier Gandhi

Last updated

The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace
Written by Teri C. McLuhan
Starring Om Puri
Release date
  • 2008 (2008)
Running time
88 minutes
Languages Pashtu, Dari, Urdu, Hindi, English

The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace, a documentary released in 2008, is the first full film account of Pashtun leader and nonviolent activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Badshah Khan or Bacha Khan. [1]

Contents

The documentary is the work of filmmaker and writer T.C. McLuhan, daughter of the Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who spent 21 years to bring the story to the screen [2] after an acquaintance gave her Nonviolent Soldier of Islam . [3]

The voice of Ghaffar Khan is played by Indian actor Om Puri and includes interviews with elderly activists of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement as well as major political figures in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. [4]

The film had its Middle-Eastern premier at the 3rd Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi in October, 2009, where it won the top award for documentary films. [5] The BBC quoted Afrasiab Khattak, head of the Awami National Party in North-West Frontier Province, as saying that "This film will help a lot in introducing Badshah Khan to the rest of the world." [6]

McLuhan has stated that she believes the film counters stereotypes. [7] McLuhan reported encountering resistance both in making the film and in marketing it, and stated that one reason was

we’re dealing with very powerful stereotypes, and there is a stereotype that exists for Islam that... portrays Islam as unredeeming and violent. The story of this man’s courage, and his moral and spiritual attitude and the profound absence of doubt in his life turns that stereotype by 180 degrees [and] that makes people uncomfortable. [7]

The film had its Indian premier at the 2nd Ladakh International Film Festival on 14 September 2013, where it received a standing ovation. [8] The Times of India reported that a private screening of the film had been requested by the president of India for 17 September 2013. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pashtunistan</span> Geographic region historically inhabited by the Pashtun people

Pashtunistan is a region located on the Iranian Plateau, inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, and Pashtun identity have been based. Alternative names historically used for the region include Pashtūnkhwā (پښتونخوا), Pakhtūnistān, Pathānistān, or simply the Pashtun Belt. Pashtunistan borders the geographical regions of Turkestan to the north, Kashmir to the northeast, Punjab to the east, Balochistan to the south and Iran to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Ghaffar Khan</span> Pashtun Freedom Fighter

Abdul Ghaffār Khān BR, also known as Bacha Khan or Badshah Khan was a Pashtun independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar resistance movement against British colonial rule in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Wali Khan</span> Pakistani politician (1917–2006)

Khan Abdul Wali Khan was a Pakistani democratic socialist politician who served as president of Awami National Party. Son of the prominent Pashtun nationalist leader Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Wali Khan was an activist and a writer against the British Raj like his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asfandyar Wali Khan</span> Pakistani politician (born 1949)

Asfandyar Wali Khan is a Pakistani politician from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who is the president of the Awami National Party (ANP). His father, Abdul Wali Khan, was the party's first president. He is the grandson of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, better known as Bacha Khan; Abdul Ghaffar was the founder of the non-violent political movement in NWFP, Khudai Khidmatgar during British colonial rule in India and a companion of Mahatma Gandhi. Asfandyar's Granduncle Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan was the Indian National Congress's Chief Minister of the North West Frontier Province, during the waning days of the British Raj, and also the Chief Minister of the province during the early days of independent Pakistan. Asfandyar is the present president of the Awami National Party and has served as Member of Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and senator in the Senate of Pakistan. Asfandyar Wali Khan got credit of provincial autonomy in Pakistan and the renaming of North West Frontier Province as Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa with support of coalition partner PPP during 18th amendment 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan</span> Pashtun activist against British Raj and Pakistani politician (1883–1958)

Dr. Khan Sahib, mistakenly named as Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and later, a Pakistani politician. He was the elder brother of the Pashtun activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan, both of whom opposed the partition of India. Upon independence, he pledged his allegiance to Pakistan and later served as the First Chief Minister of West Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khudai Khidmatgar</span> Pashtun non-violent movement against the British Empire

Khudai Khidmatgar was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West Frontier Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Qayyum Khan</span> 20th-century Pakistani politician

Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri was a major figure in British Indian and later Pakistan politics, in particular in the North-West Frontier Province, where served as the deputy speaker of the provincial assembly, first Chief Minister of North-West Frontier Province and served as Interior Minister of Pakistan in the central government from 1972 to 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qissa Khwani massacre</span> Event during the independence movement in British India

The Qissa Khwani massacre in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India on 23 April 1930 was one of the defining moments of the independence movement in British India. It was the first major confrontation between the British Indian Army and demonstrators in the city, belonging to Abdul Ghaffar Khan's non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar movement against the British colonial government. Estimates at the time put the death toll from the shooting at between the official count at 20, and the figure of 400 dead put forth by Pakistani and Indian sources. The gunning down of unarmed people triggered protests across British India and catapulted the newly formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement into prominence.

The Babrra Massacre was a mass shooting on 12 August 1948 in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. According to official figures, around 15 protestors were killed while around 40 were injured. However, according to the Khudai Khidmatgar sources they maintained that around 150 people were killed and 400 were injured.

Utmanzai is a town in Charsadda tehsil of Charsadda District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

The Bahram Khan family is a major political family from Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Pashtun nationalism is an ideology that claims that the Pashtuns form a distinct nation and that they should always be united to preserve their culture and homeland. In Afghanistan, those who advocate Pashtun nationalism favour the idea of a "Greater Afghanistan", which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and be ruled directly under Pashtun principles.

Different Muslim movements through history had linked pacifism with Muslim theology. However, warfare has been an integral part of Islamic history both for the defense and the spread of the faith since the time of Muhammad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qazi Ataullah Khan</span> Pashtun lawyer, writer, politician, and activist

Qazi Ataullah Khan the Minister of Education announcing the first Education Policy of NWFP province

<i>Nonviolent Soldier of Islam</i>

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam is a biography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988), an ally of Gandhi's in the Indian independence movement. Originally written by Eknath Easwaran in English, foreign editions have also been published in Arabic and several other languages. The book was originally published in the United States in 1984 as A Man to Match His Mountains: Badshah Khan, nonviolent soldier of Islam. A second edition was published in 1999 with the title Nonviolent soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, a man to match his mountains. Both editions include an afterword by Timothy Flinders. The 1999 US edition contains a new foreword by Easwaran, and an enlarged section of photographs of Khan. The book has been reviewed in magazines, newspapers, and professional journals. The book inspired the making of the 2008 film The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace.

The Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) is an international film festival that is held annually in Ladakh, India. Inaugurated in 2012, it is the first international film festival to be held in Ladakh. It is held in the Himalayan town of Leh, the largest town in Ladakh, at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, making it the highest-altitude film festival in the world. A major theme of the festival is wildlife conservation. In partnership with the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust, the festival offers the Snow Leopard Trophy for the most educational or inspiring film about an endangered species.

The Bannu Resolution, or the Pashtunistan Resolution, was a formal political statement adopted by Pashtun tribesmen who had wanted an independent Pashtun state on 21 June 1947 in Bannu in the North-West Frontier Province (NEFP) of British India. The resolution demanded the British to offer the option of independence for Pashtunistan, comprising all Pashtun territories in British India, rather than choosing between the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.

The All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, commonly known as the Jirga-e-Hind, is an organisation representing the interests of Pashtuns in India. It is chaired by Yasmin Nigar Khan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum</span> Referendum in British India

The North-West Frontier Province referendum was held in July 1947 to decide whether the North-West Frontier Province {Now Called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa} of British India would join the Dominion of India or Pakistan upon the Partition of India. The polling began on 6 July and the results were made public on 20 July. Out of the total population of 4 million in the NWFP, only 572,798 were eligible to vote, of whom only 51.00% voted in the referendum. 289,244 (99.02%) of the votes were cast in favor of Pakistan and only 2,874 (0.98%) in favor of India.

Abdul Aziz Khan Kaka (1906–1987) was a member of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement from Zaida Kallay, Swabi who defeated the Imperial Crown's Political Agent, Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan in the elections of 1936.

References

  1. Masood Haider (2008, 21 October). "A woman’s courage yields film on Bacha Khan" Dawn , internet edition, retrieved 9 March 2010.
  2. Abdul Ghaffar Khan is 'The Frontier Gandhi' LA Times retrieved October 19, 2008
  3. Eknath Easwaran Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains ( ISBN   9781888314007) (1984,1999)
  4. Peace message makes Bacha Khan world hero: documentary producer [ permanent dead link ] December 22, 2008 by Tauseef-ur-Rahman. THE NEWS. Jang group. Retrieved 22 Dec 2008
  5. "MEIFF Announces Winners of 2009 Black Pearl Awards" [ permanent dead link ], retrieved 27 Oct 2009.
  6. "Pashtun peace prophet goes global". BBC. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  7. 1 2 Anonymous (28 September 2013). "Canadian Communications Guru's Daughter Makes A Film On Frontier Gandhi". The Weekly Voice (Ontario, Canada). Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  8. IANS (15 September 2013). "'Frontier Gandhi...' gets standing ovation at Ladakh fest". Zee News . Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  9. IANS (15 September 2013). "Special screening of 'Frontier Gandhi...' for President". Times of India . Retrieved 15 September 2013.