SHADOWS IN THE DARK (KARVAAN)

India, 1999, 104 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Pankaj Butalia

Shadows in the Dark is directed by a former Professor of Economics who wanted to tell hidden stories about Indian life in the time of partition as well as in the '90s. There is a prologue and the early part of the film set just after partition between India and Pakistan in 1947. The film moves into the '50s but then goes into the '90s when one of the central protagonists revisits the scenes of her childhood and remembers.

The film shows the antagonism between Hindus and Muslims, Muslims who did not go to Pakistan and Hindus who did not go to India, as well as the harsh treatment of the Muslims in India by the Hindu authorities. The film also focuses on sexual issues, even raising questions of homosexuality and bisexuality, a theme not often explored in Indian cinema up to this period.

The film is well acted, well crafted - though on a small budget. It can be compared with Deepat Mehta's 1998 film Earth, focusing also on partition but seen through the eyes of a Parsee family who observe the clash between Hindus and Muslims and then fall victim to the violence. Earth is a superior film about this era, but Shadows in the Dark contributes to understanding and shows a maturity of Indian cinema looking back over 50 years, a serious film different from the 900 Bollywood features made per year.

1. A portrait of India on the '40s and '50s as well as in the '90s? Partition, India and Pakistan, Hindus and Muslims? The world of India in the 20th century?

2. Authentic atmosphere, the settings and decor for past and present? Musical score?

3. The title, indication of themes?

4. The prologue and the woman packing, searching for what she had lost? The Hindu mother of the film? The '30s movie on the screen, the Indian song, the women walking across the screen? A symbol for what was about to be shown?

5. 1947, Muslims remaining in India, not going to Pakistan, not wanting to move, feeling their roots and their home in the Indian city? The background to the riots and deaths? Muslim deaths? The Hindu authorities and their imposing Hindu refugees from Pakistan on Muslims? Tense reactions? Callous government attitudes, especially towards personal grief?

6. The central character in Pakistan, Lajma? In the school, packing, deciding to go back to India, the difficulties with the visa, her getting through? Revisiting the scenes of her childhood, her voice-over comments? Remembering, the old locations and the change? Encountering Gautam and his mother? Sharing the memories, the questions, the puzzles? The significance of the visit to the asylum, the ghost of her mother? Her decision to return to Pakistan, meeting the woman on the railway station and their sharing the journey? The effect of revisiting the past?

7. The house and the Muslim owners, having to give up half their house to the Hindu arrivals? The tension? Lajma arriving with her mother in the early '50s? The hostility on both sides? Gautam, Jamal and Lajma all growing up together? Lajma moving away after her mother was put in the asylum? The prosperity of the Hindu family, the father and his not wanting his name to be besmirched? The death of the mother and Lajma taking the fire and setting the pyre alight? Her saying that she had been helpless to help her mother? Her being ousted by the family?

8. The life of the Hindu family, refugees, the birth of the child, beginning to prosper, the tension with the Muslims, the death in the Muslim family and the general antipathy between both sides?

9. Memories of Jamal and Gautam? The infatuation, the homosexuality? Gautam and his going to Jamal, their dressing in women's clothing, suspicions of the others in the town? Jamal, the attraction to Gautam, cross-dressing? The attraction towards Lajma, the sexual relationship with her? His torment and confusion?

10. Jamal and Lajma, her listening to his confusion, her being hurt, the gossip around the city, her leaving?

11. Gautam and his mother, their reminiscing, not knowing what happened to Jamal?

12. India and Pakistan, the partition and division within India, the traditions of both religions? The consequences, religious, cultural, status, morality - especially sexual morality? As India moves into the 21st century?