Documentary on lesser-known facts of partition showcased

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, January 17

The British never actually visited the border before demarking it between India and Pakistan during the partition, which has been at the core of decades of tension between the two nations.
Many more of such less-known facts have been discovered in the documentary ‘The Sky Below’ which digs up some silent facets of 1947 partition between India and Pakistan. It was screened at the Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities by artist Sarah Singh.
The one-hour film was shot over two years and revolves around the sentimentalism of migrants of both countries, their never-ending longingness to visit their birth-place, the struggle they went through from recognising themselves as aliens to respectable citizens and the current tensed political scenario prevailing between the two countries.
“I have tried to highlight less-known subjects such as the Sindhi Hindus, what happened to the thousands of women who lost their families during partition and the communities coming out to help each other,” explained Sarah. The courageous and moving film evokes both painful memories and raises powerful issues, which continue to trouble the sub-continent.
“I faced a lot of challenges while shooting the film. I was not allowed to visit the border but found my own way to it. I took it as an opportunity and a blessing,” said Sarah, director and producer of the film.
“It was my first experience of being a journalist as I travelled a lot and interviewed several people, some of whom got hostile and gave provocative statements,” she said.
“I wanted to release the movie in Peshawar as I interviewed a lot of people there but I couldn’t,” she said.
Lyrically shot on both sides of the Indo-Pak border, with strong local ethos, the film was appreciated by those who care about the legacy of the partition as well as those trying to understand the complexities of fighting wars in those lands.