Depiction of belongingness, betrayals and identity crisis during the partition: Garm Hawa

The majority of “Partition films” feature scenes of intense violence because the filmmakers couldn’t bear to look away from the horrifying tales of neighbours murdering one another or trains carrying corpses gliding across the newly built borders. Unflinching portrayals of this nature can also be useful (although they run the risk of being trivialised). The violence in Garm Hava, however, is more subtly expressed; it is about the unraveling of the several strands holding a family together and about being uprooted from the only life you have ever known.

The 1973 Hindi film Garm Hava (Garam Hawa) (English: Scorched Winds) was directed by M.S. Sathyu. The screenplay was written by Kaifi Azmi and is based on an Ismat Chughtai short story in Urdu. The struggle of a Muslim family after division in their own nation is the subject of the movie. It is still regarded as one of the most outstanding films about India’s partition.

The Story and Premise

The Mirzas are a prosperous Muslim business family who live in the city of Agra in the United Province of independent India. Their tale is narrated in Garm Hava. Two brothers, Salim and his older brother Halim, are in charge of the family. Halim is active in politics and the All India Muslim League while Salim looks after the family business. Salim has two sons: Sikandar, a student, and Baquar, an older son who assists in business. Kazim, the son of Halim, and Amina, the daughter of Salim, are set to wed.

Halim discreetly moves to Pakistan with his family despite saying he will remain in India to look after the welfare of Muslims. Salim Mirza is adamant about staying in the country of his ancestors. The marriage of Amina and Kazim is thus postponed. His business suffers as a result of the split, and he is compelled to leave his ancestral home, which was formerly registered in Halim Mirza’s name but is now evacuee property.

Salim’s mother suffers a stroke and passes away because she is unable to handle this shock. He continues to work as a small-time shoemaker, while Baquar migrates to Pakistan out of disillusionment. As a result of Kazim’s inability to travel back to India, Amina agrees to Salim’s brother-in-law Shamshaad’s proposition. Shamshaad does migrate, though, and his marriage is finalised in Pakistan. Amina, who is grieving for the second time, kills herself, devastating her family.

In the midst of all of these issues, Salim Mirza is charged with being a Pakistani spy. Despite the fact that the court does not find him guilty, the public shuns him and those who formerly knew him well. Finally, much against Sikandar’s wishes, he makes the decision to depart from India and travel to Pakistan. The family comes across a sizable gathering of protestors leading a parade against prejudice and unemployment as they head towards the train station. Salim urges Sikandar to join the protest march and instructs the tangawala to turn the carriage around and head back in the direction of his house. Salim Mirza is seen participating in the demonstration as the credits roll.

The Idea of Nation Post Partition

According to Dr B.R. Ambedkar:

“Nationality is a social feeling. It is a feeling of a corporate sentiment of oneness that makes those who are charged with it feel that they are kith and kin. This national feeling is a double-edged feeling. It is at once a feeling of fellowship for one’s own kith and kin and an anti-fellowship feeling for those who are not one’s own kith and kin. It is a feeling of “consciousness of kind” which on the one hand binds together those who have it, so strongly that it over-rides all differences arising out of economic conflicts or social gradations and, on the other, severs them from those who are not of their kind. It is a longing not to belong to any other group. This is the essence of what is called a nationality and national feeling.”

Both the majority of Hindus and Muslims in the film believed that a Muslim was a true Pakistani. This “consciousness of kind” was, however, not acquired maliciously, but rather by instinct. The film does a fantastic job of capturing this. One of Sikander Salim Mirza’s Hindu friends responds when he complains in front of his pals that the interviewer rejected him because of his poor Hindi by stating, “You are all right, you can always hop across the frontier.” While his Sikh friend concurs with him, stating, “This is the right thing to do. The issue is with us. Who are we? What are our options?” Sikander tells his buddies that “Hindus don’t go anywhere for work.”

Whose India?

Many Hindu acquaintance put an end to the discussion by saying, “Hindus do, but why should we go, we must get work here, in this country.” His argument was predicated on the idea that Hindus belong in India. Simply expressed, the Hindu community members in this scene believed that their Muslim friend lacked the will to entirely be an Indian. This level of awareness was not unfounded because the film also showed Halim Mirza giving a speech in which he predicted that even if all Muslims left India, only one would remain there, and that Muslim would be him. However, Mirza later left India on the grounds that “there is no place for Muslims.”

Even though it clearly shows that some Muslims did not feel at home in India, it also supports the idea that Muslims may always flee to Pakistan if things do not go well for them there. This represented a “national feeling” deficiency between the two communities.

The Trust Deficiency

In the movie, assumption was caused by a fear and trust deficiency, which was arguably not irrational rather than a shared ideology. Salim Mirza wasn’t rejected a loan primarily because of his religion; rather, banks and lenders were concerned that he may default and leave for Pakistan like other borrowers before him.

For instance, the Punjab National Bank turned down Salim Mirza’s request for a loan since numerous shoemakers had gone to Pakistan after receiving loans, causing the bank to lose a lot of money. After discovering that Halim Mirza had departed for Pakistan, Seth Punamchand declines to assist Salim Mirza because of concern that Salim Mirza will steal his money and flee to Pakistan. When Salim Mirza’s landlord agrees to rent him his house, he requests a year’s worth of rent up front because his former renter, who owed him seven months’ worth of rent, fled to Pakistan without ever making good on his obligation to pay.

While the film depicts the hardship and alienation Salim Mirza and his family experienced as a result of their decision to remain in India, it is difficult to determine whether this lack of “feeling of a corporate sentiment of oneness that makes those who are charged with it feel that they are kith and kin” was caused by the Hindu community’s adherence to the two-nation theory or whether it was an inevitable result of the actions taken by members of his own community in the film. It is due to the complexity of the human intellect, the interconnections between people, and the background of the partition era.

Beyond the Narration

Garm Hava is challenging to see, not because it’s tedious or poorly done, but rather because it forces one to live with the regret and sense of guilt that so much went wrong and we did little to stop it. A clear premise for the movie is established in the opening credits, which begin with images from the freedom movement before moving on to pictures of the leaders of the Indian National Congress and Muslims League, moving on to images of the partition and its violent aftermath, and finally stopping at the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Kaifi Azmi pens down the socio- political condition:

A Ray of Hope

तक्सिन हुआ मुल्क तो दिल हो गए टुकड़े;

हर सीने में तूफ़ान, वहाँ भी था यहाँ भी।

हर घर में चिता जलती थी, शोले लहराते थे;

हर शहर में शमशान, वहां भी था यहां भी।

गीता की कोई न सुनता, न कोई कुरान की सुनता;

हैरां सा ईमान, वहां भी था यहां भी।

Sad Salim Mirza sends his family members away one by one as they flee to Pakistan, but he still holds on to the hope that Gandhi’s sacrifice will not be in vain and that the riots and racial unrest would come to an end. It hurts to see his will crumble under the pressure of the times. We witness his reflection in Amina as the father and daughter transform into two quiet islands of suffering as he loses his house and loved ones. Salim manages to continue living even after Amina loses her affection. The viewer may feel his agony and helplessness as things got worse since he is suffering despite his innocence.

The Moving Account

During its filming, Garm Hava managed to stir up a lot of controversy. Our nation loves to take offence, therefore this film was allegedly accused of inciting racial tensions, and demonstrations prevented it from being shot. The movie eventually went on to win the National Award for best national integration film. The tricks that these politicians play, as M.S. Sathyu himself stated, were what I really sought to reveal in Garm Hava. How many Indians actually supported the partition? Consider the suffering it brought about.

Sathyu was able to tell a moving account in his attempt to tell the tale of the Muslims who choose to remain in India. The Agra of 1947 has been faithfully recreated, with great attention to detail. Garm Hava was a personal achievement for Balraj Sahni; his portrayal of the troubled but resolute Muslim man who won’t let go is regarded as the height of his acting, exceeding even Do Bigha Zamin. He died the day after finishing the dubbing for Garm Hava, and incidentally, the last lines he recorded for a movie were: “इंसान कब तक अकेला जी सकता है?”

The film ends with these lines by Kaifi Azmi:

 जो दरवाजे से तूफान का करता है नजारा, उनके लिए तूफान वहां भी है यहां भी|

दारे में जो मिल जाओगे बन जाओगे दारा, ये वक्त का एलान वहां भी है यहां भी|