Director Rajkumar Santoshi’s Batwara 1947 recently released in theatres. Starring Sunny Deol, Shabana Azmi and Preity G Zinta in pivotal roles, the film is adapted from Asghar Wajahat’s classic play Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya. Theatre veteran Preeta Mathur, under her banner Ank Theatre Group, is known for staging the play since over 20 years. It is directed by her late husband and iconic film and theatre personality Dinesh Thakur. In the play, Mathur has been playing the character of the old woman, which is essayed by Azmi in Batwara 1947.
In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, Mathur shared her take on the film based on the play they have been staging since over two decades. “It’s a nice film,” she said. “I liked it. Basically, the play revolves around the old woman. The conflict between the old woman and the family is shown more easily in the play. The film has a bigger canvas and there is Sunny Deol. The scenes between Sunny Deol and Shabana Azmi were very nice. But the way the bond between the daughter-mother duo and the old lady develops, happens better in the play.”
A major difference Mathur felt between the movie and the play was the character of Mirza. “Mirza in our play is from a very nice family in Lucknow and he is an ordinary man. But in the movie, Sunny Deol (who plays Mirza) is shown as a character who beats up 20-30 people alone, as if he is hitting matchsticks. He is shown as a ‘He Man’, which is difficult to digest. In the play, all are ordinary people.”
She added, “Also, the film is more about the old woman and Mirza. The play is more about the old woman and the family. The play also mentions how the old woman helps the neighbours and others. They could have shown this in the film as well but they haven’t gone there. And they have shown Ram’s angle related to her missing son.”
The biggest area of concern Mathur felt was the scene where Azmi’s character is dragged out of her house, which isn’t a part of the original play. “It also doesn’t give a good impression of Lahore as it shows its people dragging an old woman out of her house this way. I found that awkward. Although Pehalwan (Abhimanyu Singh) is a villain, but we found his ways awkward.”
Mathur also felt that the character of old woman in the play is stronger than the one shown in the film. “Although this woman is old and looks weak, she has an inner strength. At the start, she tells them, ‘Get out, this is my house. How can you just walk in?’ That strength isn’t seen much in that character in the film. Shabana Azmi has played it differently. She is shown as an emotional soft woman. We have also shown her as emotional. We have also shown her sense of humour. But we have also shown her strength through which she can fight for her own rights,” she said.
Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya also goes into why Pakistan was created in the first place. “The film totally avoids it,” said Mathur. “It seemed they wanted to be politically correct. In the play, we have also added slides in the end showing that riots have continued to happen (even after the partition). We have said that if you don’t learn lessons from the history, it will keep getting repeated. The film could have also done that through the character of the poet (Ali Fazal). He could have touched upon political things. Hence, the character of the poet becomes a bit weak. In the play, that character (played by Aman Gupta) speaks a lot about politics and religion.”
The play also has a character of a Maulvi, who preaches secularism and practical thinking. That isn’t the case with the film. “Maybe, they felt it might create problems if they show the Maulvi saying that Hindus are as important as Muslims and we should look after them, like how we have shown in the play. But in the movie, the Maulvi is there but he isn’t saying anything. Instead, Sunny Deol is seen preaching what Islam is,” she said.
However, despite these issues, Preeta Mathur generally liked the film. “On the whole, I feel the film is nice. It’s engaging. It also tells you a different story. I enjoyed it. I was emotionally moved also. It might not get the same status as the play as the characterization is better in it. But the film is still very engaging and a good watch,” she said while signing off.
The post EXCLUSIVE: Preeta Mathur of Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhya fame describes Batwara 1947 as a nice and engaging watch; but raises concerns over Shabana Azmi’s character dragged out: “This doesn’t give a good impression of Lahore” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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