Lajma, in present day Pakistan decides to revisit her ancestral home back India after many years (where his uncle and aunt lived). But returning evokes a deluge of memories, and the film then unfolds in a series of flashbacks. We see how Lajma's uncle escaped Pakistan during partition to Delhi and was forced to live alongside a resentful Muslim family under siege, and Lajma and her mother moved in with him a few years later. While part of the film focuses on these two families, a significant portion of the film is dedicated to Gautam, her uncle's son and her cousin. We see how young man Gautam finds himself very attracted to the Muslim neighbor’s son, Jamal, an alluring, reckless young man. Their nascent, but very consensual, taboo affair is nipped in the bud when Gautam discovers that Jamal has started an affair with none other than Lajma. Jamal likes them both and constantly questions his purpose and what he wants from his life. All this, and Lajma’s continuing demonstrations of independence from her oppressive uncle and a society smothering her inner desires for love and work, get her expelled from the house, leading her to make a new life for herself. The film ends with Gautam and Lajma, now in their old age talking with memories of the past.
I was quite surprised to see how carefully and respectfully the relationship between Jamal and Gautam is shown. We see how Gautam keeps checking out Jamal and finally take the courage to meet him. They both hang out often and soon enough Gautam confides that he likes him very much. Jamal never stops Gautam when sexual advances are made and it is clear that they are both enjoying it. But once Jamal meets Lajma, he begins to see her as well and it seems this rebellious man truly loves them both or neither. Not many hindi films have shown a budding romance between two men back in the day like this. A lot of film is told through flashbacks with few actors changing as age growth is shown which may confuse some people but regardless I found both the topics of partition, focus on what women went through and forbidden love quite intriguing. Independent films like this are often lost in plethora of films that India produces and I really wonder how many people might have even heard or seen this film outside festival circuits. Actor like Naseerudding Shah and Kitu Gidwani add to the known faces, and new actors playing Gautam and Jamal are someone I have never seen before but likely only new actors would have had the courage to take up something like this. There are lot of subtle sub topics that film tries to bring to focus but as India was moving to 21st century (at the time when this film was released), a film about the consequences, religious, cultural, status, morality (especially sexual morality) is shown quite nicely in this film. (6/10)
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