Aamir Khan Productions’ Batwara 1947 (A) is the story of an old Hindu lady who refuses to be evicted from her home in Lahore after the Partition and continues to live with a Muslim family which has come from Hindustan.
Sikandar Mirza (Sunny Deol) and his wife, Hamida (Preity Zinta), are shocked to see that an old Hindu woman (Shabana Azmi) is refusing to leave her home when they are allotted that house on reaching Lahore in Pakistan from Hindustan during the Partition. At first, they use every trick in the book to ensure that she leaves the house but slowly, they become sympathetic towards her. In spite of mounting pressure from some selfish Muslims in Lahore, Sikandar Mirza stands his ground and refuses to throw the Hindu lady out of her own house which is now their house. How he shows his humanitarian side in the face of much adversity forms the crux of the drama.
The film is based on Asghar Wajahat’s stage-play Jis Lahore Nai Vekhiya, O Jamya E Nai. Rajkumar Santoshi and Asghar Wajahat’s story is interesting but given that the backdrop is the Partition of India, the story of an old Hindu woman, who refuses to leave her home in Lahore (Pakistan) and go to Hindustan, seems too ‘trivial’. Had the backdrop not been so huge (the Partition was just too big), the story per se would’ve appealed much more because of the human drama.
Rajkumar Santoshi’s screenplay is good but only in parts. The portion in which Sikandar Mirza and his wife plot and plan against Maai (the old Hindu woman) so that she leaves her home (which has now been allotted to the Mirzas) fails to impress; rather, it puts off the audience because the hero and his wife are shown to be mean and heartless. Since the character of Sikandar Mirza is played by Sunny Deol, it will be difficult for the audience, especially the actor’s fans, to see him play such a mean and selfish character. His referring to the old Hindu lady as buddhiya, repeatedly uttered in a dismissive manner, hurts the sentiments of the viewers because one doesn’t expect a hero to be so foul-mouthed and so disrespectful of an elderly lady. Words like buddhiya and dialogues like Mirza’s wife telling their little daughter, “Buddhiya ko daadi bula taaki woh khush ho jaaye kyun ki apne ko toh buddhiya ko ghar se nikaalna hai” leave a bad taste in the mouths of the viewers and lower the characters of Mirza and his wife in the eyes of the viewers. No doubt, Mirza has a change of heart afterwards, but his character goes down when he refers to the old lady in disrespectful language and actually plans to oust her from her own house. Since Mirza himself was reluctant to leave Hindustan and come to Pakistan merely because he is a Muslim, how difficult could it be for him to understand the sentiments of the old Hindu woman when she says that she would not dream of leaving her home in Lahore and going to Hindustan simply because she has lived here (in Lahore) all her life?! Additionally, she is waiting for her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild to return to their home in Lahore, unaware that they were killed in the Hindu-Muslim riots which had broken out following the Partition. There’s a scene in which the old lady’s manager informs Mirza that the old lady’s family members had been burnt alive in the riots but that nobody in the neighbourhood had the heart to break the sad news to the old lady. This scene makes the viewers wonder what prevented the evil Yakub (Abhimanyu Singh) from breaking this terrible news to the old lady. For, there were very good chances that the lady would die of shock on hearing the sad news, something which would’ve served Yakub’s purpose because he was eyeing the lady’s huge haveli and wealth. It is understandable that the good neighbours were reluctant to inform the lady about the killings of her family members, but Yakub surely couldn’t have been so considerate as to not tell her the bad news.
Another drawback of the screenplay is that important points are sought to be explained through more dialogues and less explicit scenes. An instance in point is the scene of the killings in Hindustan of Sikandar Mirza’s friend and his (friend’s) family right in front of Mirza’s son, Javed (Karan Deol). The scene ought to have been shown in great detail for the audience to understand Javed’s angst but it is only fleetingly shown. Sikandar Mirza and his wife appear to be selfish in the pre-interval portion because they seem to have a change of heart towards the old Hindu lady only after she tends to Mirza’s wife when she has fever. Really? Is our hero supposed to be so quid-pro-quo-minded that he couldn’t have had a change of heart without a selfish reason? Also, although Mirza’s son, Javed, is left behind in Hindustan while thousands of Muslims, including Mirza, his wife and daughter, were boarding a train to Lahore, his mother, Hamida, is shown to be quite calm and composed at several points thereafter when she should’ve been distraught and devastated because of her missing son and absence of any news about him. Likewise for the old lady: at times, she is shown to be in a good mood. Of course, people learn to live with loss of near and dear ones, but in both the cases here, it is not known whether the ones missing are dead or just not traceable. This, coupled with the fact that the incidents of the family members missing were very recent and also given the fact that one is talking about the Partition when thousands were killed mercilessly, makes it appear weird that Mirza’s wife on the one hand and the old Hindu lady on the other should even appear normal while their near ones are missing! Another drawback of the drama is the reprehensible behavior of Sikandar Mirza and wife Hamida in the face of a calamity which has befallen them. It is human psychology for people to be at their best behaviour when calamity strikes because they don’t want anybody’s curse or negativity but rather want that they should have people’s good wishes which may come in handy to tide over the difficulties in their life. Given this, it appears rather strange that despite the whereabouts of Sikandar Mirza’s grown-up son, Javed, not being known, Sikandar Mirza and Hamida should be speaking in terms of throwing Maai out of her own home. Javed living in the house of his father’s enemy, Yakub, also looks a bit weird.
At the core, the story and drama are about one old Hindu lady who refuses to be evicted from her home in Lahore (Pakistan). Firstly, this seems too ‘trivial’ a story because it is set against the huge backdrop of the Partition, and secondly, it is doubtful if the younger generation in large numbers would be interested in watching the story of an old woman who, it must be repeated, is the actual heroine of the drama.
On the plus side, some scenes in the drama are very effective. For instance, the scene of the funeral procession in the end is extraordinary. It could make the weak-hearted cry! The scene in which Muslims living in Hindustan are trying to board the train to Pakistan is terrific. Similarly, the scene in which Sikandar Mirza loses his temper when he is not allotted a house in Lahore despite his daughter being very unwell in the camp is superb. But there should’ve been many more heartwarming and emotional moments.
Rajkumar Santoshi and Asghar Wajahat’s dialogues are very good and forceful at places but there should’ve been more of clap-worthy dialogues.
Sunny Deol does an excellent job as Sikandar Mirza but frankly, the role should’ve been given to a new actor without any image because the character has villainish traits in the first half. Having said that, it must be mentioned that Sunny has acted well in emotional, dramatic and melodramatic scenes and is, of course, terrific in action scenes. That there are only a few action scenes in the film will not go down too well with Sunny Deol’s fans. It needs to be underlined here that Sunny’s character may not go down well with his fans due to the reasons mentioned above but definitely not because he is playing a Muslim character. Shabana Azmi is superb as the old Hindu lady. She lives the character of the woman longing for her son and his family to return to their home. Preity Zinta looks charming and acts naturally as Mirza’s wife. Abhimany Singh plays Yakub convincingly but he doesn’t seem to be a formidable match for Sunny Deol’s character because he does not have a very menacing role and terrifying scenes. Ali Fazal plays the shayar properly. Karan Deol gets limited scope and is fair. He shines in the scene in which he tells the villains about his father’s daredevilry. That scene and dialogue will evoke thunderous applause in the cinema halls. Khushi Hajare is good as Sikandar Mirza’s daughter. Kanika Kapur is natural as Nishat. Ira Sandhir (as Tabassum), Khalid Siddiqui (as Ratan), Sunil Saraswat (as Raja), Farid Ahmed (as Siraj), Chandan Dilawar (as Mushtaq), Happy Sharma (as Anwar), Himayat Ali (as Aleem), Pankaj Raina (as Zafar), Rajesh Kamboj (as Hidayat Hussain), Hans Dev Sharma (as Kabban), Lateef Binny (as Taqi), Vishnu Sharma (as the maulvi), Rukhsaar Rehman (as Savitri), Madhur Arora and Ravi Sharma (both as the refugees’ clerks), Sandeep Chatterjee (as Bashir Khan) and the rest provide fair support.
Rajkumar Santoshi’s direction is polished and stylish. Even though the script leaves a lot to be desired, Santoshi’s narration is impactful. A.R. Rahman’s music is ordinary. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics are weighty. A.R. Rahman’s background music is good but should’ve been more forceful. Santosh Sivan’s cinematography is remarkable. Ravi Verma’s action and stunt scenes afford a lot of thrill and excitement. Production designing (by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray) is fair. Shyam Salgaonkar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Batwara 1947 will be liked by a section of the audience, mainly the 35-plus viewers, but it will not find much favour with the youth and with Sunny Deol’s fans. Its business at the box-office, will therefore, be below the mark.
Released on 14-8-’26 at Inox (daily 8 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity: very good. Opening: below average. …….Also released all over. Opening was far less than expected at most of the places.