If one looks at India's national trajectory through the lens of the Hindi film industry, in hundred years of its existence, there will be one major gap: India's troubled relationship with Pakistan was conveniently ignored by the industry for decades.
The Hindi film industry, usually a proactive observer of social issues, chose to keep mum about the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, and, interestingly, made no references to Pakistan in any of the films in the initial years of India's independence. “Partition was a personal embarrassment for various people in the industry,†said Professor Nirmal Kumar, co-author of “Filming the Line of Control.†“Therefore, one never saw any films that refer red to Pakistan, even diagonally, in the initial years of India's formation.â€
Over the next few decades, though, the need for patriotic films arose as the newly formed nation was looking for a reason to remain united. Pakistan became a convenient excuse. As India's national identity began to strengthen in the 1960s, jingoistic films began to emerge.
Manoj Kumar's 1967 classic, “Upkar,†for instance, had covert references to Pakistan, but never named the country outright. The protagonist in the film is suggestively called Bharat (Hindi for India), who takes a moral high ground when his younger brother asks for the family property to be divided between them.
The younger brother (Pakistan is metaphorically called the younger brother of India) is the evil one, who exploits the older one's tolerance. “Such family metaphors were used by the industry until much, much later,†said Namrata Joshi, associate editor of Outlook mag azine.
Professor Kumar said it wasn't until 1973, in Chetan Anand's “Hindustan Ki Kasam,†which was based on the 1971 war between the two countries, that a movie made unambiguous references to Pakistan. “But Pakistan still remained an unnamed malevolent power on Indian screens,†he said.
A decade earlier, Mr. Anand had directed a groundbreaking war film, “Haqeeqat,†based on the Sino-Indian war of 1962, where the Chinese were shown as being brutal and insensitive. “With China, you could be blatant,†Professor Kumar said. “Pakistan is perceived as a brother that used to be. You can't be blatant where emotions are involved.â€
Subtle but antagonistic positioning against Pakistan continued in Bollywood until the 1980s, when India was characterized by internal turmoil. Early in the decade, the Khalistan secessionist movement picked up pace in Punjab, and Pakistan's alleged clandestine support for such a movement became a common subject in Indi an media.
The decade progressed with tensions increasing in Kashmir and reaching its peak, with Pakistan's involvement in supporting the secessionist movement becoming common knowledge.
“Added to it was the fact that the Hindi film industry had a new set of filmmakers who did not directly connect with Partition,†Professor Kumar said. This gave a further impetus for filmmakers to make films where Pakistan was clearly the villain.
“In such a scenario, Raj Kapoor's ‘Henna' was an exception,†said Shubhra Gupta, columnist at The Indian Express. “Henna,†a 1991 release, was a love story between an Indian man and a Pakistani woman, which did well despite the markedly anti-Pakistan mood in India.
The 1990s saw a sudden spurt in Hindi films talking about the tensions with Pakistan. “The problem was that Indian filmmakers chose to see Pakistan in only military terms. No one tried to portray or even find out what Pakistani society looked like,â € Professor Kumar said. “They began to equate Pakistan to its ‘evil' military.â€
Films like “Border,†based on the 1971 war with Pakistan, were released, where patriotism took on a new definition. “You loved India only if you hated Pakistan,†said Ms. Joshi of Outlook.
A typical modern-day Hindi film on the tension between the two countries would have morally upright Indians and sinful Pakistanis. “However, they always distinguished Indian Muslims and Pakistani Muslims. The former were always the good guys,†said the journalist and film critic Aseem Chhabra.
The cross-border tensions on screens portrayed a rather subtle gender politics as well. “I don't remember a film where the girl is from India and the boy from Pakistan,†said Ms. Joshi. “India had to have an upper hand sexually as well.â€
The Hindi film industry witnessed some high-octane nationalism in the early 2000s with films like “Gadar†and “Maa Tujhe Salaam†having blatant Pakistan-bashing scenes. Pakistan was the evil enemy, much like what the former Soviet Union was to the United States during the Cold War.
Ms. Joshi said that it was an embarrassing phase in Hindi cinema but that the audience accepted these films and made them huge successes as the mood of the nation was clearly anti-Pakistan after the 1999 Kargil conflict. And the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament by the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In 2004, a series of confidence-building measures began between the two countries, which included the demilitarizing of the Siachen Glacier and the demarcation of the international boundary in the Sir Creek area. Against such a backdrop, films like “Main Hoon Na,†which centered on a peace plan between India and Pakistan, did very well in both countries.
Now, for the first time in 100 years of its existence, the Hindi film industry's outlook toward Indian-Pakistani tensions might be significantly chang ing. Ms. Joshi said that post-9/11, when the popular Western media was portraying Muslims in a negative light, Bollywood was sensitive to their problems with films like “My Name Is Khan.†“This brought India and Pakistan together,†she added.
The way the Hindi film industry has looked at Pakistan has always been dependent on the mood of the nation and government policies. “But now, filmmakers keep in mind the mood of the market as well,†Professor Kumar said, “because Pakistan is emerging as a huge market for Bollywood films.†As Pakistani diaspora increases in number, this market would further expand.
Another big development is the rebirth of the Pakistani film industry. After the “Islamization†phase of the Pakistani society, when the film industry perished, only now are there are small attempts to revive Pakistani-made movies. “This enables India to see the developments in the Pakistani society as opposed to seeing just the military aspec t of it,†Professor Kumar said. “This gives the human angle of the ‘enemy.' â€
A small-budget but significant release in recent times was “Harud,†an Indian film that doesn't mince words while talking about the militancy in Kashmir. A decade ago, a commercial release for such a film would have been unthinkable.
Despite these changes in sentiment, films featuring cross-border espionage like “Agent Vinod†and Salman Khan's “Ek Tha Tiger,†which released Wednesday, still face problems with the censors on both sides of the borders.
“With Indo-Pak films, as with Indo-Pak relations, it is always one step forward and two steps back,†said Professor Kumar.
