© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Screen. All rights reserved
Partition and the uses of history in Waqt/Time
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Abstract |
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One of the first ‘lost-and-found’ stories produced in Bollywood, Waqt/Time (Yash Chopra, 1965) follows a young family from their separation after a major earthquake to their final reunion as adults in 1965 Bombay. The earthquake operates as a Partition metaphor and allows Waqt to participate in a nostalgic melancholy for pre-Partition India. Waqt also shores up an ebbing hope in the new modern independent India, particularly important given the tension between India and Pakistan and the recent death of Nehru, a central figure representing national unity and modernisation. Finally, Waqt provides its viewers with a vision of what that modern India might look like, showing us spaces, fashions and relationships that offer models of how to live as Indian and modern.
After examining the film's architectural imagery in the pre-and post-earthquake moments in order to establish the Partition metaphor, the article situates the film's image of modern India and its historical retelling of the Partition by comparing it to the earlier Shree 420/Mr 420 (Raj Kapoor, 1955). The contrast between these two films elucidates Waqt's exploration of India's recent history, an exploration deployed to alleviate the uncertainties of a post-Nehruvian future.