Partition Narratives in Literature and Films.

Ashwini Rai

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i03.46079

Partition Narratives in Literature and Films.

Author(s)	Ms. Ashwini Rai
Country	India
Abstract	Partition of the Indian subcontinent is the darkest chapter in our history. India was divided into two halves and the reason of this fateful division was a consequence of many events that shaped it. Many people do agree that the general reason behind the partition was because of the Colonialist policy of Great Britain of Divide and Rule and from this was born Communal tensions between the two communities- the Hindus and the Muslims of India that had a long history in this country that made India, they had equal contribution in Making India in the literal sense. However, these two communities fought with each other to the extent that they needed to be separated, the communal tensions that surrounded them never came to a standstill that the great minds of Indian leaders who gave India its freedom came to one decision i.e to divide India and give birth to a completely new Nation – Pakistan. There is much debate among the historians and scholars surrounding the Partition question whether it was inevitable. But there is no perfect answer to this question since there are many versions of the truth and that everyone sees a particular situation subjectively. India got it’s freedom from British domination on 15th August 1947. When our First Prime Minister of India was delivering a historic speech received by millions of people at the Red Fort in the background the picturesque image of the Indians was quite abnormal in the sense that India was burning in the rage of Communal violence. Indians and Muslims killed each other like they haven’t lived peacefully with each other before, they turned into enemies. They were the makers of India yet they turned into breaking each other in the most humiliating ways as possible. Jawaharlal Nehru’s tryst with destiny speech echoed into the hearts of millions but that heart was partitioned. One belonged in India and the other in Pakistan. This tragedy got it’s momentum the moment united India ceased to exist. The stories of Partition , the narratives of this episode has been quite well written in books and depicted in Cinema. The efforts to remember this part of the history in the form of books as well as in the movies is not to glorify it but rather to keep reminding about the horrifying incidents that took shape and rather draw a lesson from it that there is no point of Hatred that in return breeds Violence. Also the literature and cinema that has it’s theme of Partition breaks the stereotypical view that Hindus are the enemies of the Muslims and vice versa . It tries the break the cycle of Communalism and communalist ideology. There are many movies made and books written regarding Partition . Even though there are variations in Narratives of this event but the content is same , the content of Tragedy. People say that history teaches a lesson and this particular event teaches us many but the question is are we willing to learn from it and prevent history repeating itself. As great literature and Cinema acts as a soft power in influencing people’s minds there are indeed many of it written and made giving homage to Partition written in many regional languages. A fair portrayal of Partition in the form of movies and even in books should be well researched , the nuances of Partition should be justified by showing the hard hitting realities of the same. One can view Partition from their own perspective however soft powers such as Cinema and Literature gives everyone an opportunity to sympathize on the experiences of the partition although not literally. Through these this historic event is given importance and some kind of critical viewpoint is developed among the people to treat Partition in a different way and treat this event as it is not destigmatizing all the consequences that came out of this event. There ae several movies made and books written. One mention of book on Partition is Kushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan which later was adapted into a movie by the same name.Pinjar movie is based on Amrita Pritam’s novel. Another remarkable novel is Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie. These works are a testimony to remember Partition in it’s true form. One should read them and always acknowledge their effort for the same. This paper aims to look into the Partition History with an un biased lense, it shall look into the event with the perspective of literature as well as Cinema. The narratives established by these soft powers acts as a great source in understanding our Partition history. Cinema potrays even grave errors of certain events so here it justifies the history of Partition and the horrors attached to it. Literature also helps in justifying the same. Since both Cinema and literature is research oriented there can be no changing of the historic facts but can be presented with more infusion of emotions hence glorifying every aspects of the event. This study aims to take a look into the lives of common people during the 1947 partition and problems they faced psychologically, socially and economically through the narratives of Cinema and Literature.
Keywords	Partition, Freedom, Communalism, Trauma, Cinema , Literature.
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2025
Published On	2025-06-11
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i03.46079
Short DOI	https://doi.org/g9qp5h

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Partition Narratives in Literature and Films.

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