As the cry to ban artists and art from Pakistan reaches a crescendo, it becomes extremely convenient to overlook the reality that the shared culture that connects our identities predates our nations by centuries. It becomes easy to call for expulsion of artists when you don’t realise that it will involve expunging of a part of our own art.
I was compelled to revisit a film that would qualify as ‘Pakistani’ for those calling for the ban but is an Indian folklore. Waris Shah: Ishq Da Waaris , which completes 10 years in October, is based on the life of the Sufi musician of Chishti order who lived and composed in towns of the Punjab like Jandiala Sher Khan and Malka Hans, regions that are now part of Pakistan. He lived in the the mid-18th century, the post-Aurangzeb period of Mughal rule when music was forbidden. His life is inspiring not just because he composed Heer , but also because he brought art and music to the masses and the rulers.
Rebellion, when stripped of malevolence and tinged with music, attains a perfection that can only be called divine. Waris Shah was a musician who not just rebelled against an establishment that considered music blasphemy but also, through his Heer, contributed to its democratisation.
Heer is among the many tragic love stories set in Punjab. Waris Shah wrote it not in a state of artistic seclusion but while living among the common people of the Malka Hans town. In the process, he not only completed the masterpiece sanctioned by his ‘ustad’, Baba Makhdum, but also awakened the aesthete within the town folk. Heer is for him not just a love story; its verses are a conduit for establishing connection with the divine. And by reciting verses as he completes his work, he helps the townsmen develop greater appreciation for nature and spirituality.
Does an unfulfilled love with Baagpari give him the stimulus to complete his work? His ustad points out before he begins writing that his poetry lacks a depth that only pain can bring. In this regard, lines by Mirza Ghalib—a poet who lived half-a-century later but whose sensibilities resembled that of Waris—find resonance: Dard ka had se guzarna hai davaa ho jaana (pain when taken to the limits becomes a medicine). Waris Shah doesn’t seek approval of his love for Baagpari. Had he decided to do that, his life story would have resembled that of Heer and Ranjha from Heer and he would have died looking for fulfillment, ending up a martyr and not a mendicant. Waris, however, uses the pain arising out of his love and separation as a tonic to complete his work. In the process, he becomes the inspiration for many love stories than just being a part of one himself.
Waris Shah the movie does not have the opulence of a Mughal-e-Azam or a Bajirao Mastani . The camerawork, the sets, the costumes do not quite manage to create a saga on screen. The chemistry between the lead pair—Gurdas Maan and Juhi Chawla— does not quite give impression of love that would result in pain or poetry.
What makes the movie watchable is its music. One song that stands out is ‘Allah-hu Tumba Kehnda’. As Waris effortlessly waxes eloquent on using music as a tool to attain oneness with the divine, the soldier out to prosecute him for ‘heresy’—by spreading music—undergoes a change of heart.
Another song that inspires is ‘Qatra Milaa Samandar Se’ where Waris’s ustad, having been sentenced to death, sings his way to execution. “A mendicant becomes complete when he dies for his cause, just like a droplet, when it dissolves into an ocean, achieves its completion,” he says. These tracks introduce us to the transcendence that dedication to Sufi music can bring.
Waris was among the many medieval Sufi musicians who brought mausiki (music and melody) to the lives of hitherto-ignorant villagers and townsmen. He was not a Tansen—a musician for the elite; he was a Baiju Bawra—a singer of the masses. In fact, it is not difficult to imagine him singing a song like ‘O Duniya Ke Rakhwale’ in his own argot.
Trivia:
a) Among the other biopics Waris Shah’s life inspired is a 1964 Pakistani film starring Inayat Hussain Bhatti
b) Waris Shah: Ishq Da Waaris was directed by Manoj Punj, who had earlier made another biopic with Gurdas Mann, Shaheed-e-Mohabbat: Boota Singh, the love story of a Sikh soldier in the British Army
c) Heer is among the most famous love legends set in Punjab, two others being Sohni-Mahiwal and Mirza-Sahibaan. All the three have been brought alive on screen on multiple occasions, in both the countries.
