The India-Pakistan partition has been an interesting subject for filmmakers. Over the years, several films were made on the subject and they were mostly successful commercially and critically. Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel's Gadar was one of them. Now, two decades later, its sequel is on the way.
Ahead of Gadar 2's release, let's revisit some of the most popular and iconic films based on the partition and struggle of the people affected by it. From Garam Hava to 1947 Earth, these have been special to Indian cinema.
Garam Hava
Garam Hava was directed by MS Sathyu and written by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi. Starring Balraj Sahni, Gita Siddharth and Farooq Shaikh in the lead roles, it was about a Muslim family that decides to stay back in India after the partition.
1947 Earth
Directed by Deepa Mehta, 1947 Earth starred Nandita Das, Aamir Khan and Rahul Khanna. While being a film about partition, it also touched upon a love triangle. It was told from a young girl's point of view.
Pinjar
Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpayee's Pinjar won several accolades for dealing with a delicate subject with the utmost sensitivity. Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, it is one of the greatest films ever made on the topic.
Midnight’s Children
Deepa Mehta delivered yet another masterpiece on the India-Pakistan partition. Starring Satya Bhabha in the lead role, it was based on Salman Rushdie’s award-winning novel Midnight’s Children.
Tamas
Tamas by Govind Nihalani was a television film based on the Hindi novel of the same name by Bhisham Sahni. It starred Om Puri, Deepa Sahi, Bhisham Sahni and Surekha Sikri. Tamas was first shown on Doordarshan as a mini-series and later as a one-off four-hour-long feature film.