Peepli Live and Earth
Indian partition and Indian democracy today: Two films' perspective
In the film Earth, directed by Deepa Mehtra, the politics of the Indian partition are transposed onto a narrative of romance. The film is located in an area of the land which eventually fell on the Muslim side of the divide between India and Pakistan. The film shows the world through the eyes of a little Muslim girl named Lenny Sethna. Lenny's Hindu nanny Shanta falls in love with a Muslim named Hasan. This is tantamount to a forbidden affection on par with the tale of Romeo and Juliet, given the politics of the time. On one hand, the film suggests, independence was necessary for India. However, in shaking off the colonial yoke, with the formation of two new nations in the form of India and Pakistan, many formerly friendly families were split apart.
Hindus who had lived in what was now Pakistani Muslim territory had to make their way across the border into what was to them a strange land, and Muslims living in India like Hasan had to flee. Shanta knows that she should find a Hindu like herself, and life would be easier. She is courted by Dil, or 'Ice Candy Man' as he is known. But Shanta does not love Dil and her passion lies with Hasan. Hasan is handsome, a masseur by trade, and can make exquisite oils to woo Shanta's affection.
The film Earth shows that human beings have larger hearts and points-of-views of the world than the narrow points-of-views of politics. In a mob, human beings can...
This is starkly depicted in a horrific image where a Muslim man is torn apart during a riot, which is counterpoised with an image of Lenny having her doll tenderly stitched back together. The domesticity and love embodied in Lenny's love for her nanny and Shanta's ability to love Hasan is not tolerated in a world that can only see ethnic conflicts in black and white. Hindus are equally barbaric -- at one point a train is shown pulling up to a station filled with bags that contain the massacred bodies of Muslim victims.
The film depicts a world that is multifaceted and complex, beyond the horrific violence that is waged between ethnic groups. Lenny is a Parsee, a member of a non-ideological Muslim sect who took a neutral stance during the partition which the girl's father compares to that of Switzerland's during World War II. There are also Sikhs in the film whose system of religious devotion combines elements of both Islam and Hinduism. At the beginning of the film, despite the presence of the British, there is a fundamental 'truce' and ability to coexist between the major religious populations. All of this changes once division of land occurs and politics take over. 'Ice Candy Man,' for example, is a very gentle man at the beginning of the film. (One of the reasons that Shanta rejects him is that she finds Hasan far more passionate). However, as the atrocities begin to mount, after Dil's…
