1947: A Retelling

Gurinder Chadha (GC): As far as possible, I want to make films that are different. But the problem is, every time you make a successful film, everyone wants you to make films like that over and over again. I guess it makes commercial sense to do that but I have always been trying to do different things.

I have wanted to make a big, epic, period film from a very long time, like on a subject like this, but I didn't have the courage to do that before I became a mother. After I became a mother, I think it became very important to me to tell my personal story and find some closure. Since my family is originally from Jhelum Rawal Pindi and I have grown up in London, I have never had access to my homeland because it is now in Pakistan and it is hard to get a visa to visit Pakistan.

So it was important for me to tell this story, also uniquely from my perspective as a British–Indian, as a woman and as a mother. But, within that, when I started my research, I was blown away by the information that we managed to find and that opened the other doors for more research. Everything we have been told about Partition is not true, and my film shows exactly why Partition happened.

GC: I am the amalgamation, it's very simple… I am Indian, British, Punjabi and my forefathers are from that side. The Punjabi I speak is very patwari Punjabi, which they speak in Pakistan. So there is connective tissue between the whole. So I made a film that I feel is very fair and that looks at the facts and the key players at the time, and their agenda.

GC: Huma was introduced to me by a tape audition along with some other actores, and her tape really jumped out. I was very impressed with her reading. I liked the way she has portrayed the character. Even her acting is superb and she has done such fantastic scenes. She was very feisty and full of anger but, at the same time, empathetic. I also like her features and I thought she looked very '1947'. I thought she could fit nicely into a period film.

Huma Qureshi (HQ): I had watched Gurinder's film Bhaji On The Beach while I was in college and I really loved it. I read about her and began following her films since then. I had no idea I would get a chance to work with her so early in my career. I thank her and Seher Latif, the casting director.

One day, he called me and said Gurinder was making this film and that she was looking for an actor. He suggested that I read the script and we should send her an audition tape. When I read the script, I knew it was going to be a very important film of my career. Not only was it a beautifully written script, I also loved the subject matter. I thought it was such timely film to be made because it speaks about what troubles our world and our society today. It takes a very brave filmmaker to make a film like that, especially a woman.

Women don't really get to make a lot of films, and when they do, also it's always on certain topics which doesn't seems to be their domain. So I thought it was a very brave film for her to attempt. I always choose scripts that I feel are different in the sense that they try to say something that other people are not trying to say. I think that is my destiny as an actor and I will continue to do that.

GC: My first film was in 1989. My journey was tough and I always had to fight for any film that I wanted to make, even today. I have made a lot of money for a lot of people. But the thing is, it is always tough to get your perspective out there. I don't really care whether my films are small or big. I have a global audience and I have to reach my global audience.

GC: The main difficulty was we did not have much of a budget. I was very happy that Reliance came on board and particularly Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, who really loved the script. They showed us great support for our film.

I think getting the script together was tough because I had to be mindful of the facts but I also didn't want to offend anyone. I was making a film that was not only on a controversial subject but also very sensitive for many people. So I had to make sure I did my research accurately. We have producers like Bend It Films, BBC Film, Reliance Entertainment and more, different sets of people who have different ideas and opinions, so we struggled with that when we came to the editing table. It's not about the Indian view or the British view, it's about both, and I become the conjugate between which a sensitive story like this is told.

HQ: Well, with every role you discover new things about yourself. This is a period film and I had to do the preparation in terms of language, dressing and hair style. My character is from 1947 but she is educated and works as a translator, so she had to understand both worlds really well. To speak in English and being a woman from a particular time period means there is shyness, a certain body language and some limitations. I had to bring all these things into the character I was playing.

I had to understand how women used to deal with the environment. This film is about Partition, about identity, about how because of geopolitics and Western interests, you ended up diving people. There was so much unnecessary loss of human life. But, in the larger picture, it becomes collateral damage. I feel very strongly about this. So when I read the script, not just my character, it resonated with me. Since cinema as a medium touches so many people, this film will raise a lot of questions.

HQ: It is great fun working with different people and life processes. It's great that everyone comes with their own training and experience. I too have a background in theatre and it is very refreshing. So it's so nice to meet actors from different countries and work on something together.

Gurinder and Huma Qureshi: Yes, it's not easy. For instance, Huma and Manish have different styles. Manish is from the US and is very intense as an actor, whereas, you, Huma, are from India and have an internalised way of acting. He always wants to take another shot so that he can do better. So you have things like that but good actors are good actors, no matter where they come from. For me, a good actor is someone who really becomes the character that they are portraying. So you can't see them any more; you can only relate to that character.

GC: Well, I am very happy making this film. We have actually put a subject into the spotlight that… In England, a lot of children didn't even know that Britain had an empire or that Britain was even in India. I have had people coming up to me, saying they had no idea about India's Partition or what exactly happened. We have also taken a subject that most people don't want to talk about. I am sure my mother and my ancestors will be proud of me because of this film.

BOI: The film has already released in the UK. What kind of response are you getting from the audience?

GC: Very good. People in Australia are very interested in British–India and want to watch this film. I see a lot of people appreciating this film because the last British film made on this subject was Gandhi, which released 35 years ago. A lot of people were quite pissed about what happened and some were also pleased to see how the British behaved during the Raj.

GC: Well, I don't know. India is changing and it's not the same country where I released Bend It Like Beckham or Bride And Prejudice. PVR was so small then and it was due to Bend It Like Beckham that PVR created a multiplex. Now people are much more serious about cinema and they are making intellectual subjects. So I think people will be interested in my film and people are also watching it around the world. In England, Australia, the US, it's all the same. Winston Churchill had said, "History will be kind to me because I will write it." Sadly, that is not true because history is not kind enough.

HQ: It is very difficult to say what will work and what won't. But I do know if you make a film with conviction, people will see the honesty in it, and people will connect with that. As Gurinder said, it is a very unique film and it's not a film by a British filmmaker or an Indian filmmaker, its Indo filmmaker. I think that unique perspective offers a very balanced point of view of what really happened.