Re: Dastaan - A drama on Partition (Hum tv)
you can bet all of us have. btw hats off to you for translating such a strong piece of literature so well to the screen. God knows many capable writers and directors all over the world have stumbled where you have succeeded.
Referencing again to the nau daulatia pann of our society, in all honesty I think it goes back to the time of the partition. I am sorry to be not towing the official “happily ever after for the Muslims” line since i’m not the sort of person to take a rose tinted view of the partition. I’d say that it was the creation of a new country with very few educated or capable people (considering how Muslims lagged behind in every sphere of life in British India) that afforded such upstarts the opportunity to take to positions and money they never deserved in the first place or never would have dreamed of in a United India. As Kishwar Naheed puts it in her autobiography most of these people had left the legacies of their ancestors far behind (literally in another country) and were therefore a lot more reckless(besharam) in their actions as only someone unhindered by respect for the family name and honour can be. Pity such mindset has not been changed even 6 decades down the line and God knows may take generations more to. No wonder then that our society continues to be dominated by this nouveau rich brigade.
btw to get another viewpoint on what the Muslims of India went through during partition, i would urge everyone to watch Garam Hawa based on a short story by Ismat Chughtai. It is available on youtube and is fundamental to a holistic understanding of the partition and why it continues to be relevant even today.