Gadar Bombay’s gift to Lahore

When crises erupt, satellite television raises the pitch of Indian nationalism and gives it mass appeal. Bombay cinema hurries to catch up with ever-more fervid films, productions that have lately begun a no-holds-barred demonisation of Pakistan. Films from Lahore try to reciprocate, of course, but they hardly have the reach of Hindi films. The changing demography of the audience (see "Hindi films: The rise of the consumable hero", p.8) must be playing a role in this increasingly belligerent treatment of geopolitical themes. In long-ago productions, the handsome hero would disappear over the horizon in his Canberra bomber, presumably to fight Pakistan, never to return (or perhaps to return when his beloved had already married his buddy). Back then, Pakistan was a remote enemy that, if ever brought into the script, served as but a prop to sustain the love story. With every new episode that tries to rip the Subcontinent apart—Pokhran/ Chagai, Kargil or IC-814— Bombay productions become more shrill. And, they get ever closer to Pakistan, across the line-of-control in Kashmir, amidst terrorist-infested redoubts.

Gadar storms Pakistan's Punjab itself. Starting as a love story that takes off during the Partition, with Sikh boy Tara Singh's love for Muslim girl Sakina, the last third of the film all-of-a-sudden infiltrates Pakistani territory. Sunny Deol sneaks into Lahore to rescue his Amisha Patel, who has been kidnapped by her politician father, a former Amritsar businessman who has gone on to become the ambitious mayor of Lahore. While earlier in the film there are occasional attempts (a la Bombay) to balance the Hindu/Sikh magnanimity with Muslim friendship and support, once the script enters Pakistan (across an incongruous border lake), no need is felt for any gesture on behalf of the Pakistani Muslim.