Gurinder Chadha is best known for directing movies like ‘Bend It Like Beckham’, ‘Bride’ and ‘Prejudice’. Now Gurinder is coming up with her upcoming movie titled “Partition: 1947”. About her next movie, Gurinder said that showing a partition story in a movie was a difficult task as she had to find the right balance.
Gurinder said, “It is an emotional issue for a lot of people. I had to be very careful. But I did my research thoroughly and consulted a lot of people, met many historians and people who have studied this subject (of Partition).”
Gurinder has made a personal film from her perspective and understanding of the Partition. She said, “In the end, I took everything on board and made a very personal film from my perspective and from what I believe happened in those six months leading up to the Partition in 1947.”
The movie “Partition: 194″‘ is based on British documents discussed in Narendra Singh Sarila’s book ‘The Shadow of the Great Game’, which was recommended to her by Prince Charles. She said, “I met Narendra ji and spent 18 months with him, discussing the subject. We had several meetings and I asked him a lot of things.” The story of her upcoming movie features political personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Lord Mountbatten and others, and Gurinder said she had to be very careful about showing them on celluloid, she said, “I had to be careful about how I would treat Jinnah, Nehru, and Gandhi and also (Winston) Churchill. It was quite a big task.”
Gurinder wanted to look at the subject of partition, which impacts so many lives including her family too, She said, “I wanted to know why my grandmother, my uncle, and aunt had to suffer. My mother, who grew up in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), says everyone lived very happily, everybody distributed sweets when it was Eid or Diwali and celebrated festivals together. There was respect for all. But overnight something happened and things changed.”
Does the cinema can help the relationship between India and Pakistan?, Gurinder said, “I think it is a much bigger issue. And I have made a small step in making the film. It is about how I feel about Partition…I think what we hear most of the time is the enmity but there are also many stories of people getting along well.”
“Partition: 1947” is all set to release on August 18.