PARTITION OF INDIAN CINEMA

The Partition of nations also led to the formation of distinct film industries. Hence, the Indian film industry lost and gained some brilliant artists who chose to settle on different sides of the border. Let’s find out what happened when the cinematic world underwent Partition.

From Left to Right: Lata Mangeshkar, Noor Jehan and Asha Bhosle; Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Millions of hearts broke when the decision of banning Pakistani artists from Bollywood came out in 2016. It meant not watching Fawad Khan on big screens of Indian theatres anymore or going to the music concerts of Atif Aslam in India. The relationship between the two neighboring countries became sour and the entertainment industry had to pay the price. This was not the first time that the Indian Film Industry went through the emotional turmoil. The same thing happened during 1947 too.

When Cyril Radcliffe was working on the demarcation line for the Partition of British India, he might not know that those lines were dividing some great talents too. The Hindi film industry, well established in Bombay, was quite popular due to its secular nature. Stalwarts like Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum and others had come to Bombay from different parts of present-day Pakistan and established their names in the industry. However, when the Partition was announced, the migration of talents also took place. The two most popular actresses of that time- Swarnalata and Noor Jehan, choose to migrate to the other side of the border with their respective husbands: producer-director-actor Nazir and producer-director-actor Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. Besides, many legendary artists, music directors and poets; originally from Lahore and other parts of present-day Pakistan; chose to go back and stay there. One of the most common discussions among film scholars is about the migration of actress and singer Noor Jehan to Pakistan. She became extremely popular among masses with movies like Khandaan, Village Girl, Ghadi and Jugnu. The decision actually helped Lata Mangeshkar to become popular in India. Even though Noor Jehan is known as the 'Mallika-e-Tarannum' in Pakistan, her singing got restricted to Urdu ghazals and Punjabi songs.

People at that time thought that the borders were temporary. Many filmmakers and studio owners refused to migrate during Partition. Those who went hoped to return after some time. Few of them also started wondering whether their decision of migrating was right. Saadat Hasan Manto, a famous author and screenwriter, was one of such people. It is believed that two major events contributed for his decision to move to Pakistan in 1948. The first one is the conversation with his best friend- actor Shyam, who felt like killing Manto while listening to the stories of atrocity committed by the Muslims against Hindus and Sikhs during Partition. Secondly, Bombay Talkies- the workplace of Manto receiving threats for employing too many Muslims in the senior posts.

Despite the rising intolerance, many well-to-do Muslim artists in the industry decided to stay in India but were worried about the acceptance from the Hindu audience. Therefore, most of them adopted Hindu names on screen. Besides, movies like Mughal-e-Azam faced many problems. It is said that a few scenes of the film shot before Partition had to be scrapped.

On one hand, India lost many talents to another side of the border, but on the other, it also gained many legendary film personalities like BR Chopra, Yash Chopra, Ramanand Sagar, Sahir Ludhianvi, Pran, Om Prakash and others. These artists choose to settle on this side of the border. The contributions of these personalities led the Hindi film industry to great heights.

Looking at the ban on Pakistani artists always makes people like us wonder what would have been the condition of Indian cinema if the Partition had never happened. Even though the artists are banned from Indian Film Industry, the songs from Coke Studio Pakistan still rule our hearts. One thing is for sure, you can stop an artist from crossing the border, but you can’t stop their art from seeping into our hearts!