RAMCHAND PAKISTANI
Pakistan, 2008, 103 minutes, Colour.
Syed Fazal Hussein, Navaid Jabbar, Rasheed Farooqui, Nandita Das.
Directed by Mehreen Jabbar.
Ramchand Pakistani was filmed on the border between Pakistan and India. Its characters, unusual for a Pakistani film, are Hindu. They are of the lower caste, poor, eking out a living in the fields and in the towns.
The film is full of local colour. It opens in 2002 with tensions between India and Pakistan. A wilful little boy crosses the border out of curiosity and is taken by the military. His father goes in search for him and he too is arrested, tortured as a spy and the two are sentenced to jail. Overall they spend more than four years in jail. Meanwhile the mother has to pay off the debts of the husband working for an owner in the fields for three years.
The film is very well acted, especially by the younger boy as Ramchand. The older boy carries on this performance very successfully.
The film is strong about children’s rights, especially treatment by police and in jail for such a long period. The film is also strong on arbitrary imprisonment and treatment of prisoners. However, as the time goes on, the inmates become more sympathetic and the guards get used to their prisoners and are a touch more friendly. There is also a rather hard-headed woman policeman who tutors the young boy.
While the film takes an anti-Indian stance, it is designed for both Pakistani and Indian audiences – presenting dire situations but in a softer way, acceptable for a very wide audience.
1.Universal message about equality, classes, imprisonment, treatment of prisoners, treatment of children?
2.The border setting? The desert, the fields, the town? The police outpost? The prison sequences? The nature of the prison, the cell, the yard? The contrast with the town, the shops, the homes? The countryside and people on the move? The musical score and atmosphere?
3.The time span: 2002, tensions between India and Pakistan? 2006 and the change of attitude, exchange of prisoners? Possibilities of mutual understanding and peace? Or not? Ordinary people and their attitudes, bitterness, bigotry? The issue of caste and the lowest castes? The importance of the focus on Hindu characters? The contrast with Muslim characters? India and Pakistan and Hinduism and Islam?
4.The establishment of the family, Dalits? The lowest caste, Untouchable? The attitude of the people in the town? The attitude of the soldiers, of the woman policeman and her suspicions and disdain of Ramchand?
5.The family, the father and his teaching, working in the fields? The mother, uneducated yet loving? Their spoiling their son? His brattish behaviour, his attitude towards his father, the pen, not going to school? His demands to his mother? His wandering off, going across the border? His being taken by the police? His bewilderment, wanting his parents?
6.The father, his going in search of his son, crossing the border, being taken? Suspicions of being a spy, the interrogations, held upside down, the torture? The boy seeing this? The assumption that he was a spy? His imprisonment, their not being registered and so not on any list for exchange?
7.The mother, her grief, searching for her son, the family and their reactions? The sympathetic vendor, caring for the mother, finding the boy’s whistle? Her avoiding him, the gradual change, sympathy? The criticisms of her family? Her hiding, not going away with the family? Her husband’s debt, the loan, the demands on repayment, her finally selling the bull, working in the fields for so many years to pay the debt? Her final declaration?
8.The Indian soldiers, Hussein in charge, sympathetic or not? The various officers, Deepak and Lalu? The woman, her being assigned to tutor Ramchand? Their behaviour towards the Indian and towards the Pakistanis?
9.Life in the prison, crowded, the cell, sleeping on the mats? The variety of prisoners and their personalities – the mad man eating paper? The fat man and his growing sympathy? The old man and his death? The professor and his being a predator, his luring Ramchand, Ramchand’s refusal, his father attacking him? The variety of people and their backgrounds? Life in the prison, interactions, in the yard?
10.Ramchand, his age, in prison, his coping? His being trained by the woman, cleaning, protecting her and Deepak and their meetings? Learning English, drawing? The bond between the two despite her severity in manner and her disdain of the lower caste? The years passing, his admiration for her? Getting the videos? Her decision to leave, going to marry Deepak? The farewell, the embrace, the promise to write letters? The effect of this woman on Ramchand? A mother substitute?
11.Shankar, simple man, a good man, searching for his son, interrogated, in prison, his caring for him, wanting the best? His exasperation, blaming his son for all that had happened? The years passing? His son’s sympathy for him, riding the bike?
12.The false news about their being released, the hopes, return to prison, the mistake? The years passing? The final list, Shankar not on the list, Ramchand’s reaction? His being prepared to leave? His voyage home in the bus, going to find his mother, the reunion?
13.The comment on prisoners, treatment of prisoners? Prejudice?
14.Life in the village, the families, the work, support? The difficulties?
15.The final information, the family reunited? A traumatic experience for a young boy? The years of break for the family and their life? The film’s comment about Indian -Pakistani relationships?
