Yahoo Movies 'Nothing more sacred than secularism': Message of 'Garm Hava' is so valid today
Director: M.S. Sathyu
Producers: M. S. Sathyu/Abu Siwani/Ishan Arya
Story: Ismat Chughtai
Screenplay: Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi
Dialogue & lyrics: Kaifi Azmi
Music: Ustad Bahadur Khan
Cast: Balraj Sahni, Geeta Kak, Farooq Shaikh, Shaukat Azmi, A.K. Hangal, Jalal Aga
An adaptation of Ismat Chughtai’s fictional story by poet/lyricist, Kaifi Azmi, Garm Hava (1973) appears like a page from history. It portrays the apocalypse that came after a long fought Independence, staining its glory with blood and bigotry, hate and hegemony. When the womb of a nation was torn into two – India and Pakistan.
Against that backdrop is the Muslim protagonist Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni), fighting a lonely battle to hold on to his homeland India rather than join the exodus across the border. If he’s let down by the pliability of his own, he’s reassured by the support of ‘others’, by the belief in a Gandhian past and Nehruvian future. Salim Mirza, represents thousands of Indian Muslims, who found themselves in a political crossfire and chose India over the lure of Pakistan.
The film hints at several uncomfortable truths – how the Partition in 1947 was not only about physical displacement but also about economic devastation. How it was not only about social alienation but also about personal isolation. And how politicians and leaders took off from where the British left in continuing with ‘divide and rule’.
There’s a dialogue in the film, which aptly sums the opportunism, “Azaadi ki malai kha gaye kutte!” As M.S. Sathyu reportedly said, “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!”
The film is a time machine, which is as much of the past, as of the present and the future. Re-released in 2014, it replays the mistakes of history and reiterates what they should best remain – history!
STORY
The film unfurls with images of the freedom movement, leaders, the violent Partition and the killing of Mahatma Gandhi… It’s followed by a poem by Kaifi Azmi recited by him… describing the dust and death in the aftermath of the Partition…
Taksin hua mulk toh dil ho gaye tukde (The country is divided and so are hearts)
Har seene mein toofan, wahan bhi tha yahan bhi (A storm rages in every heart, there as well as here),
Har ghar mein chita jalti thi, lehraate the sholay (A pyre was lit in every home, the flames rising higher)
Har shaher mein shamshan wahan bhi tha yahan bhi, (Every city, has turned into a graveyard, there and here)
Geeta ki koi na sunta, na koi Koran ki sunta (No one paid heed to the Gita or the Koran)
Hairan sa imaan, wahan bhi tha yahan bhi (Faith lay shaken, there and here).
Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni) runs a shoe business in Agra, which is in jeopardy post the Partition. His elder son Baquar (Abu Siwani) assists him, while the younger Sikandar (Farooq Shaikh), is about to graduate. Salim’s daughter Amina (Geeta Kak) is to be married to his brother Halim Mirza’s (Dinanath Zutshi) son Kazim (Jamal Hashmi).
Though Halim, a Muslim League member, declares in his speech that he’ll never leave India for the sake of the Muslims, the dissembler sneaks out to Pakistan with his family. As a fallout, Amina and Kazim’s marriage fails to happen.
Salim’s forced to vacate his ancestral house, which was in Halim Mirza’s name. Salim’s mother (played by Badar Begum) is unable to bear the shock of being evicted from her ancestral home.
Salim carries his Muslim identity like a cross. He has to constantly prove his allegiance to the country. Banks refuse to give him credit and equally difficult is obtaining an accommodation. Disillusioned, son Baquar migrates to Pakistan while Salim, his factory burnt down in a riot, becomes a shoemaker himself.
A desperate Amina accepts the marriage proposal of Shamshad (Jalal Agha), son of Salim’s brother-in-law Fakhruddin (Yunus Parvez), a Muslim League defector. But soon, fraudster Fakhruddin and Shamshad also migrate to Pakistan. Betrayed twice, Amina commits suicide.
Salim then faces espionage charges for sharing correspondence with his relatives in Pakistan. Though acquitted, his reputation takes a hit.
Disenchanted, Salim too decides to go to Pakistan with a reluctant Sikandar, who believes India is home. On their way to the station, the sight of a protest rally demanding employment, rekindles hope in Salim. He realizes that if all Indians come together to fight the good fight together, change is possible. The end credits roll with the lines:
Jo door se toofan ka karte hai nazara
(Those who view the storm from afar)
Unke liye toofan wahan bhi hai yahan bhi,
(Find themselves in a storm, there and here)
Dhaare me jo mil jaoge ban jaoge dhaara
(But if you merge with the flowing stream, you too will become one)
Yeh waqt ka ailaan wahan bhi hai yahan bhi
(This is the call of Time, there and here).
…Hinting that neither of the countries was free of challenge and that you must discover your identity by joining the ‘stream’… and going mainstream.
PERFORMANCES
Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza impersonates the angst of the marginalized Muslim, craving for assimilation. Someone, who didn’t care for the greener grass on the other side. Sahni revisited Konstantin Stanislavski – in that he drew from the vault of his own emotions and exorcised them on screen.
He drew from the sense of alienation he felt as a ‘refugee’ in India, having left Pakistan after Independence. Sahni shared a close association with Gandhi and even lived with him at the Sevagram ashram.
The suicide of his screen daughter (Geeta Kak) resonated Sahni’s grief of losing his own daughter, Shabnam, who committed suicide after a failed marriage. Sahni passed away a day after he finished dubbing for Garm Hava and a year after the demise of his daughter. The famous last line, “Insaan kab tak akela jee sakta hai!” in the film was contributed by Sahni.
Ajmani Sahib (A.K.Hangal), a Sindhi refugee from Pakistan (the actor was one in real-life too) remains Salim’s represents the secular face of the country. A Hindu, who stands for sanity amidst the insanity of hate. Integrity as a person, integrity as a professional is his hallmark.
Badar Begum, the actor who played Salim’s mother and the children’s Daddu, was taken from a brothel in Agra. Badar once featured in Wadia Movietone films as a junior artiste. With cataract, almost turning her blind, and age depleting her, she was perfect for the role of the weary matriarch.
Daddu’s resistance to leave the ancestral haveli, where she first came as a child bride, portrayed her emotional attachment to the place. During her last moments she insists on going back to the haveli. Salim takes her there in a palki - just as she had first entered the haveli as a bride. Her life flashes before her and she eases away in the sanctum sanctorum.
Shaukat Azmi’s Jameela, Salim’s wife is a supportive presence in his life but not without voicing her disparagement at his doggedness to stay in India. In tonality and tenor Shaukat brought out the rancour and resilience in her character.
Gita Kak’s character lends poetry to the film – albeit a poignant one. Deeply romantic, she gets carried away in love each time. The Partition affects her devastatingly as she’s left handling the shards of shattered dreams… twice.
The Taj Mahal in Agra and the Saleem Chisti Dargah in Fatehpur Sikri are also characters in a emblematic way. Both the marble monument and the ivory shrine in the brick-red precincts of the Mughal palace, stand witness to the turbulence around.
The ‘jaali’ (pierced screens) carvings, intrinsic to Indo-Islamic architecture in both the structures, is a metaphor of the confluence of two cultures. Just as it’s about viewing the future from the window of the past, of welcoming in light in the claustrophobia of the times.
The qawwali Maula Saleem Chisti, composed by Ustad Bahar Khan, sung by Aziz Ahmed Khan Warsi and Warsi Brothers troupe, first voices Amina’s dreams and later despair.
As the lines, “Ghunghat ki laaj rakhna, iss sar pe taaj rakhna…” play in the background, Amina in blood red bridal attire, rips her wrist... Written by Kaifi Azmi, a self-professed atheist, the Sufi requiem reflects his spiritual sensibilities. Kaifi’s verse is rendered till date by qawwals in Hazrat Chisti’s courtyard.
TRIVIA
The film was made with a shoe-string budget of Rs 10 lakh. Its restoration cost 10 times the budget.
It was shot in the city of Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Due to protests owing to its controversial theme, dummy units were sent to various locations to divert attention from the actual ones. Mirza mansion was actually an old haveli belonging to R. S. Lal Mathur in Pipal Mandi, Agra, who was supportive of the unit through the filming.
As the film’s original producers backed out fearing governmental backlash, the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), now NFDC, gave a fund of Rs 250,000. Sathyu borrowed the remaining Rs 750,000 from friends.
It was co-produced and shot by Ishan Arya, using an Arriflex camera. As the recording equipment was expensive, the voices were dubbed during post-production.
Garm Hava was held by the Central Board of India, for eight months, fearing communal unrest. Sathyu screened it for government officials, leaders and journalists. “In Bombay (now Mumbai), Bal Thackeray was won over by Sathyu’s persistence and persuasiveness, and by the film,” writes theprint.in.
Finally, the film was released in 1974 to both critical and commercial success.
IFTDA wishes veteran Filmmaker M. S. Sathyu a very Happy Birthday. 🎂 His debut film 'Garam Hava'(1973) , was screened in the competitive section at Cannes and was also the Indian entry at the Oscars. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975. pic.twitter.com/EuXlhq47Hc
— Iftda India (@DirectorsIFTDA) July 6, 2020
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Academy Awards (1974): Indian entry for Best Foreign Language Film
Cannes Film Festival (1974): Nominated for Golden Palm
Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration (1974)
FILMFARE AWARDS
Filmfare Best Dialogue Award- Kaifi Azmi
Filmfare Best Screenplay Award- Shama Zaidi, Kaifi Azmi
Filmfare Best Story Award- Ismat Chughtai, Kaifi Azmi
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