Partition+of+India+1947



Bhavneet Kaur Simranjit Kaur Bal India and Pakistan Partition

Media is very powerful because it is universal, complex, illustrative, attractive and inspirational. Using media one can interact with absolutely every person not only in the community but around the planet. Unlike books it can create messages not only with words, but with videos, images and sounds. Facts and figures are much easier to remember through media. It a lso increases ones attention and motivation to explore more. However media can also be very harmful in society. Facts are mixed with opinions and that’s how information becomes bias. Not all information that is shown in the media is accurate, but people still believe it and pass it on to others. Media is the source for updates with politics, cinema, current event as well as history. History is essential to individuals and society, as the past causes the present, and so the future. The Partition of India in 1947 is one of the largest episodes of the uprooting of people in modern history, as about twelve million refugees poured across the borders to regions completely foreign to them. The Partition has remained the cause of much tension on Indian subcontinent today.

On August 15th 1947, India received its independence from the British rule. Although this was something to celebrate, it followed an absurd tyrannical path, ending in two distinct countries, India and Pakistan. This partition was traced by heavy upheaval in both sides, leading to massive bloodshed and extreme turmoil. The partition was a climax of persistent and organized violence in the name of Hindus and Muslims for several generations before 1947. The agitation caused by freedom fighters and martyrs in colonial British escalated the violence and heightened the up rest and thus, led to partition.

The partition left both India and Pakistan devastated, as the genocidal event claimed lives of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Many were raped and looted and families separated behind the invisible line of the border. There was a train full of nothing but dead bodies of Hindus and Sikhs that arrived in India from Pakistan, and similarly of Muslim bodies arriving to Pakistan.

Many years have passed, yet the two nations are still trying to heal the wounds; many are still in search of an identity and a history left behind beyond an impenetrable boundary. The two countries have been to war twice since the partition. India has witnessed large-scale violence sparkled by underlying tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities. Hindu-Muslim tensions in India have varied. In recent times, the most violent events took place during the Gujarat riots in 2002, where an estimated one thousand Muslims were killed. Muslim communities in India have suffered a widespread communal violence.

Today we are aware of such context of history because of media, such as newspapers, textbooks, journals and films. Such media is important to the people of the world because it is informative about the horrible violence that happened during the partition. Through the facts that media shows, we can sympathize with the number of people dead and displaced; therefore would support in preventing history to repeat itself. However, various misconceptions about Hindu-Muslim tension have also been portrayed in the media that has created conflict. As media has the power to influence a large audience, misrepresentations lead to dangerous outcomes as it evokes more religious tension. Media becomes bad when it is one-sided and biased. Such examples can be seen on news channels and Bollywood films. Many news channels in India are very hostile towards Pakistan and show stories that would evoke people against the country. It also works the other way around, as Pakistan would find something to pick on against India.

Film is a beneficial source that speaks history to the audience. People pay more attention to films, as it is a source of entertainment, especially the younger generation, who find films and the Internet more entertaining than reading a textbook on history. Audience learns the history, which is a good thing, but they also confuse themselves by mixing the facts with the opinions, as Internet sources and films can be very biased. Many Bollywood films have been made that show excellent historical context. The narration of the 1947 Partition is visualized through various stories within the context of families and provides a human dimension to the political process. But sometime these films create misconceptions as they are biased towards Muslims and Pakistan. Movies such as Gadar, Pinjar and Earth revolve around the topic.

The movie Pinjar by Chandra Prakash Dwiveda tells the story of a Hindu girl, Puro, who lives a lovely life with a promising family, before all of it is taken away when a Muslim man, Rashid, kidnaps her. Her life faces a trauma when she is separated from her loving family because of this Muslim man. Although his family for revenge provokes Rashid, they don’t actually show the history that Puro’s granduncle kidnapped Rashid’s grandaunt. This lessens the potential of sympathy towards Rashid, while enhances sympathy towards Puro and her family, who are Hindu. Rashid is drawn to Puro with a clean heart, but his Muslim family is portrayed kind of cruel. The film also shows the effects of the partition. Ramchand, who Puro was betrothed to, get caught into the riots, along with his family and his sister Lajjo, as they are leaving Pakistan to go to the other side of the border. The Partition is only showed one-sided, and the Muslims are shown as the ones killing the Hindus and raping women. Many Muslims kidnapped Hindu women, one of which was Lajjo, and kept them as slaves in the houses they looted from the Hindus. So the misconception shown in the movie is about Muslims being the bad ones. They never showed India’s side, which did the same, killed Muslims and raped Muslim women. People may know such facts through other sources of history, but this particular movie sympathizes towards the Hindus rather than Muslims. Other misconceptions about women are also shown in the movie—that women in India cannot stand up for themselves. This is not true, as there have been many powerful women figures in the history of India that has tremendous influence over people.

Earth 1947 is another movie about the partition of India and Pakistan. It begins in Lahore before the partition. At this time Lahore is cosmopolitan city which is depicted by working class friends, all from different religions. Mehta’s film is portrayed through the eyes of an eight year old, crippled child, Lenny, who belongs to a wealthy Parsi family. She has six servants in her house all from different religions. When one day her parents invite a British inspector and Mr. Singh, a Sikh friend of the family, many arguments erupt about the ruling of India, if the British leave. Lenny’s parents relationships with various business associates start to worsen and the everyday jokes and games between friends of religious backgrounds turned into bickering and harsh remarks over religion. Ayah Shanta, Lenny’s baby sitter, is a Hindu but she falls in love with the Muslim masseur Hasan. There are reports of rape, murder, rioting mobs, wrecking homes, shops, temples and mosques. The Ice Candy man, Dil Navaz, is another young man that loves Shanta, he is also a Muslim, yet she loves Hasan. When Dil Navaz goes to pick up his sisters from the train station one day he sees that the train is filled with dead people. And among them are his two sisters. He begins to gain more and more hatred toward the Hindus and Sikhs, yet in the beginning if the movie he tells everyone to take each other’s sides no matter what happens. Many devastating events take place and Lenny views the bloody riots and killings with her own eyes. After Dil Navaz is rejected by Shanta, he enrages with jealousy and winds up in the mob atmosphere. At the end of the film, many Muslim men come running to Lenny’s house in search of Hindus and Sikhs. They find out that two of the Hindus have converted and leave them, but Lenny’s mother refuses to tell them that Shanta is in the house. Dil Navaz arrives with his Muslim followers and convinces Lenny to tell him that Shanta is in the house. From that point on Shanta is dragged out of the house and is never seen by Lenny again. This movie again is one sided just like Pinjar. It was bias against the Muslims. Most of the scenes were of the Muslims attacking the Hindus. Even the climax of the film was when a Muslim mob, took Shanta, the Hindu girl forcefully, and no one could do anything about it. This film makes the audience think that it was mostly the fault of the Muslims for doing the atrocious act. But that is not true because both Hindus and Muslims were equally at fault. The media did a great job showing the issue and the type of environment at that time, but it was still mostly one sided.

Media plays a very significant role in our lives. However it is not always accurate. Pinjar and Earth 1947 are both examples of media in which the issue is portrayed, but it is still bias against the Muslims. Media is both very beneficial and harmful.

Works Cited "India Divided." //India Divided//. Chris Slaby, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. .

"Military." //India-Pakistan Partition 1947//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .

"Partition of India Was Inevitable and Also Necessary." //The Official Site of TU Mehta//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. .

"Pinjar (film)." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .

"Earth." //IMDb.com//. N.p.. Web. 29 Nov 2012. .