KAARVAN (SHADOWS IN THE DARK)

India, 1999, 105 minutes, Colour.
Kitu Gidwani.
Directed by Pankaj Butalia.

Screened as part of Critics' Week at the 1999 Venice Film Festival, this is a also a drama about partition but which ranges more widely, moving into the 50s and 60s. Its director, Pankaj Butalia, is a university professor, a philosopher, who has moved into movie-making.

He begins with the violence and disruption in 1947, with a Muslim home being
divided to house Hindu refugees. The tension is palpable. Later, other refugees are billeted including a young girl who grows up to fall in love with the Muslim son. Again, sexual issues not usual in Indian cinema are raised as the boy is attracted to both the woman and to his homosexual friend. Years later, the woman returns to find out what happened after she was ousted from the community by the Muslim father. The film is not as polished cinematically as Earth, but is vigorous and challenging.