When I told Sathyu I hadn’t heard of Garm Hawa

I mentioned to a friend whose party I was late to that “I saw this film called Garm Hawa today.” by way of an excuse for my tardiness. He said, “That’s like saying you watched a sport called cricket! Garm Hawa is the definitive post-partition film.” It’s worth mentioning here that my friend is almost two decades older than me, and Garm Hawa is a 1973 film that’s back in theatres in all its restored glory this Friday (November 14). What is not worth mentioning here is that I told the director of the film, MS Sathyu, that I’d never heard of his film but quite enjoyed it. He took it surprisingly well, especially in light of the fact that it was India’s official entry to the Oscars, nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, won a National Award and three Filmfare Awards. Somebody, please help me dislodge this foot from my mouth. If you’re the sort of voyeur who wants to know how the conversation went down, here it is.

When I was told I had to watch Garm Hawa I just assumed it was a film like Garam Masala, I honestly hadn’t heard of your film. And then I did my research and felt foolish.

(polite laughter followed by silence)

How difficult was it to restore the print?

Well there are over 2 lakh frames and every frame has been digitally restored. The sound was sent to Los Angeles to be converted into Dolby Digital Surround. We wanted to show this film to the generation of today. It makes a very relevant statement. And now that communal forces have come into power I think this is the right time to show the film.

Did you face any opposition while releasing it now?

Not now, but back when I’d made it it took me 11 months to get a Censor certificate. Then we started showing the film all over the country and all over the world. The film premiered first in Paris, then it was recommended for the Cannes festival. At the Cannes festival the Oscar people had come and they invited the film for the Oscars. It’s not like today when people push their films.

As far as post-partition films go, this one was very unique. Vengeance was not the central theme as it usually is.

We were just making a film on the after effects of partition on one single family, which could be universal. This is the story of one family, we didn’t even show what happened during the partition. We wanted to show the sort of suffering people go through by focusing on one family.

This is a very well-crafted film, right from the brave silent interludes to the cinematography to the brilliant cast.

I would credit a lot of it to the cast, many of them were from the theatre. Most of them were leftists and politically motivated. There was no need for motivation from my side, they were with the film and they performed brilliantly. It definitely helped that I had a politically aware cast and technicians. There was no money in working in Garm Hawa. They worked without any monetary gain.

What was your driving motivation?

The chance to make a film. I was very young and I had got a loan from the Film Finance Corporation and I made the film. There was no other motivation, but whatever I made I had to be honest to the subject and as politically correct as possible. I wanted to show that Muslims are not a minority, they are part of the mainstream of this country.

I read that the ending of the film was criticised as being“anti-India”.

See, you can always favour an underdog. There’s nothing wrong in favouring an underdog. And people said “You showed a red flag”. I did, but that was part of the revolution.

SPOILER ALERT: I loved Amina in your film and I was really disappointed when she took the predictable suicide route and felt it was a cliché.  Have you received this criticism before?

No, it was a natural conclusion.

I agree it was natural and maybe even logical, but disappointing.

Well she’s jilted by two of her beaus. The second one she also had sex with. For a girl from a conservative family, it’s a very big thing to be let down so she had no other way out but to commit suicide. You can always very well say “Oh she shouldn’t have committed suicide, she should have lived and fought her way” it’s not possible. Many people can’t do it.

You shot at the Taj Mahal. Was it any less difficult back then? It’s a logistical nightmare now.

The film was set in Agra and people there visit the Taj all the time. In fact all the engagements happen in the Agra garden even now. So we had to shoot there, though it was difficult. We stealthily managed. No-one knew we were shooting there, it was a Sunday and we managed somehow. We did two rehearsals on a Saturday like visitors and the next day we shot inside the tomb. We paid a small amount to the watchmen there, Rs.5 for each of them, maybe Rs.35 in all.

How was it working with your wife, Shama Zaidi? She co-wrote the screenplay with Kaifi Azmi.

There was no problem at all. She wrote the first draft and then Kaifi Azmi, who was very close to us, also worked on it. We were all happy with the script and the outcome.

So no anecdotes about tiffs over creative differences?

Sorry to disappoint you, there was no such thing. (laughs)

Just a boring happy couple working together on a film?

There’s nothing boring about happiness. We weren’t husband and wife, we were professionals. (smiles)

I think this is a good time to ask a concluding question before I can say anything worse. What would you like your film to be remembered for?

I want people to be reminded about the turmoil, pain and suffering that came out after Independence and the partition of the country. It was one of the greatest tragedies in the world, and I want the younger generation to at least come to know about it.