The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Sensitive subject handled with insight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 04, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Sensitive subject handled with insight

Reality byte: A scene from ‘Ramchand Pakistani’

Film: Ramchand Pakistani

Director: Mehreen Jabbar

Cast: Nandita Das, Rashid Farooqui, Syed Fazal Hussain

In this age of instant gratification, we tend to forget that cinema is also for the marginalised and neglected lot in society. It is films like ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ that shift the focus to them. Here director Mehreen Jabbar takes up the plight of people languishing in jails for having inadvertently crossed the international border.

Inspired by a true story, she tracks the life of a young Pakistani Hindu Dalit boy, who accidentally crosses into India at the time of a war-like tension between the two countries.

His father follows him and both are arrested by the security forces. Initially they are branded as infiltrators, but soon the police realise they are innocent. However, there is no system in place to send them back.

No, the film doesn’t try to make a political comment. It just follows the life of an adolescent in a prison and with it tells a hundred inconvenient truths. The subject has ample scope for preaching and drama, but Mehreen has sheaved the melodrama off the screenplay to the barest minimum, presenting life as it is. There is remarkable sensitivity in etching the characters. In a parallel track,

Mehreen follows the life of a wife and mother learning to cope with the trauma of separation from her family. Nandita Das is quite at ease as the mother Champa.

The star of the show is the little boy Syed Fazal Hussain. Ramchand is not just a cute boy you love to hold.

The character requires a range of emotions and Fazal is up to the task. Rashid Farooqui as the father Shanker is convincing. The scene where he controls his tears when Ramchand parts with him stays with you long after the credits roll.

At times the film has the feel of a documentary, but then it is a director’s prerogative. Just watch it for the sheer sensitivity of the plot.

ANUJ KUMAR

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News Update

Stories in this Section