Govind Nihalani: Our past has a direct relationship with our present and future

Filmmaker, lyricist, writer and poet, Gulzar, and filmmaker Govind Nihalani came together for a session at the ongoing Times Lit Fest and narrated their memories of the Partition of India. Gulzar has penned poems in which he has narrated his personal experience of the tragedy as well as the trauma that was faced by people on both sides of the border. Meanwhile, Govind made the popular television series 'Tamas', based on the Hindi novel by Bhisham Sahni, which highlighted the state of Hindu and Sikh families who emigrated to India.
Recalling the partition, Gulzar reminisced, “We were living in Sabzi Mandi area in Delhi and I must have been 10 or 11. I witnessed the riots which took place and saw people being beheaded. Those images stayed with me even after 25 years after the incident. I used to wake up in the middle of the night because I was haunted by nightmares. I didn’t know that I would become a writer in life but when I did, my writing helped me purge the memories of partition. Even today when I hear about riots, it brings back disturbing memories. I was born in Pakistan and was raised in India. Aadab is as close to me as Namashkar.”
Govind Nihalani admitted that when he decided to become a filmmaker, he wanted to make a film with partition as the subject. However, he admitted that he couldn’t visualise the tragedy. He shared, “My first memory of fear is attached to partition. My first sight of blood and sense of panic was because of the partition. But 30 years ago, when I wanted to make a film on partition, I could not visualise ki hua kya. When I picked up the book 'Tamas' written by Bhisham Sahni, it made the partition real for me. Since it was witnessed by the writer,the visuals of partition came to me from the book.”
Talking about what egged him on to make a film about that period in history, he added, “What made us survive the trauma of partition was the humanity of the victims. What triumphed was humanity. Our past has a direct relationship with our present and future. Through my film, I wanted to say that let the same thing not happen again. The desire to prevent partition from happening again inspired me to make a film on it. I was able to make 'Tamas' because of the literature and lyrics of the period as the had an impact on me.”
Revealing that even Gulzar was keen on making a film about the subject, he said, “I wanted to make my first film on partition. In fact, I had also started writing the script. Composer and producer, Hemant Kumar wanted to produce it. But reliving the partition through the film could create problems. Hemant Kumar then consulted the Censor Board and was advised not make the film. They admitted that they couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be any problems in releasing the film.We didn’t make the film but I still had the desire. But when I saw 'Tamas', I realised that, here was a film which addressed the partition like never before. It’s one of the finest films on partition. I didn’t need to make it any more. Hats off to Govind Nihalani’s filmmaking. Another film, 'Garm Hawa' spoke about the effects of partition. These two films have depicted the trauma and effects of partition in the most evocative manner. Even though I didn’t make a film on it, my scripts have references to the partition in some small way.”