A heart rending tale of a Muslim family that is reduced to a pariah in its own country in the aftermath of the Partition, director M.S. Sathyu conveyed in his first film what many struggle to say in tomes and trilogies. After suffering neglect for a long time, the film has been restored and is back in select theatres this week with enhanced sound and picture quality and with it wafts back the cinematic values that we have long forgotten if not buried. Remember it came in the same year as “Ankur” and “Duvidha”, films that marked a separate alley from the rootless mainstream fantasies.
When Hindi cinema was taking an ostrich-like approach towards the Partition, Sathyu looked at the devil in the eye and came up with a measured take on the subject, which walks the tightrope between melodrama and didactics. There is no sign of effort in the way sympathy is built up for Salim Mirza, the shoe manufacturer, whose brother leaves for Pakistan. Salim feels he has made the right choice by choosing a secular option but the reality is jagged. Gradually, he is made to feel that he is an outsider living on borrowed time. The banks refuse to give loans, the neighbours eye his mansion and his daughter’s marriage crumbles.
Shot on location in Agra, Sathyu, who was a known art director by then, made optimum use of measly resources at his disposal. There are rough edges but he uses the rawness to jab at our conscience.
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He is helped by a stellar cast led by Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza and potent dialogues by Kaifi Azmi. One could actually feel his gradual wilting and stooping as his values come unstuck in a society increasingly getting polarised. He keeps on shrugging hostility by saying that Mahatma’s sacrifice will not go in vain, that these days will pass but with every other scene the confidence in his voice ebbs, creating a lump in the throat.
Cast against type, A. K. Hangal stands out as the Sindhi businessman who is not what he appears to be. In the socio-political message, many tend to forget the poignant frames that cinematographer Ishan Arya came up with. Particularly, the surreal sequence, where Shabnam (Gita Siddharth) and Shamshad (Jalal Agha) consummate their relationship with Taj Mahal in the backdrop.
Farooq Shaikh as the idealist son of Salim is the flickering hope that keeps us reminding that all is not lost, that the new generation will pick up the loose threads and knit an inclusive society. The wave that gave birth to “Garam Hava” is no longer in high tide and the concerns remain the same. One can still find the Mirzas crouching in a corner in Trilokpuri.
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GARM HAVA
Genre : Drama
Director : M.S. Sathyu
Cast : Balraj Sahni, Farooq Shaikh, A.K. Hangal, Gita Siddharth, Jalal Agha
Bottomline : A classic that continues to be as relevant if not more