August: A Month of Patriotism

Welcome Readers!

August is a month of patriotism. As we all know that on 15th August, 1947, India became free form British Raj. Indians celebrate this day as Independence Day. After 72 years of freedom, India has changed a lot. The country has found new horizons in most of the fields and developed in its advanced terms. Many industries were born, grew and died, but the evergreen film industry hasn't found any drawback or setback in it's history. Indian film industry has found new ways and mediums in production, distribution and releasing of the films. Literature has no boundaries. We can maintain here, that literature and films are two pillars of India's social and cultural reflection. Here are two short films which makes us think our ideas about the word 'Freedom' again.

1. Indian Short Films

(1) In defense of Freedom : A film by Nandita Das
Actor : Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Character : Saadat Hasan Manto

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What to write and what not to write ? We should write on everything which is in front of us. In this short film, Manto talks about writing a fair and transparent visual of any current scenario or situation. Manto says that writing about prostitution or the people connected with it, isn't wrong. they are also the part of our society. In a class many intelligent people are sitting, few of them don't like this thought, so they walk out from the room. Many accusations have made against such writers who depict or portray things as it is. This short film makes us think about the freedom of thought and freedom of expression.

हकीकत से इनकार करना क्या हमें बेहतर इंसान बनाएगा ?

"जो हमारे सामने मौजूद है वह हर चीज़ के बारे में लिखा जाना चाहिए।"


(2) This Bloody Line
Writer and Director: Ram Madhvani

This short film makes us feel that this line between two countries, is nothing else but the partition of one heart into two. Earlier before partition, when there was no such country like Pakistan, people were living very happy life, there was no such thing like religious blindness. Peace and brotherhood was here. But in 1947, Sir Cyril John Radcliffe drew a line that divided a country forever. Many people became homeless overnight and around one million people were massacred. W. H. Auden writes a poem about this Radcliffe line namely, "Partition".

In this short film, Radcliffe asks the Chancellor that, "I've never been to India, why me ?"
Chancellor: Do it in the service of your country. At the End of the video, Cyril remembers Mahatma Gandhi and recalls that once he warned that this line was going to create a lot of violence. He repents at the decision of drawing THE BLOODY LINE.

"It was one country, one heart cut into two.

The line divides us."

TILL TODAY THIS LINE MAKES US BLEED

2. देश एक राग है। 

In this video, the idea of using the word nation and country is well described. In which context the word 'nation' is used rather than 'country' is elaborated by poem of Bhagwat Rawat. Nation is a formal word and we don't find any patriotic feeling while uttering it. While 'country' makes good impact on one's heart and makes a person feel patriotic.

Nation which we call in Hindi - राष्ट्र, and Country we call it in Hindi - देश.

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देश एक राग है,
सुवासित सुभाषित सा फैलता हुआ धीरे धीरे,
स्नेहिल तरंगों की तरह,
बाहर से भीतर तक, भीतर से बाहर तक।
स्वयं अपनी सीमाएं लांघता,
सुगन्धित मंद मंद पवन की तरह,
सारी दुनिया को शीतल करता धीरे धीरे,
सारी दुनिया का हिस्सा हो जाता...

मैं भारत देश का नागरिक हूँ।  मैं भारत राष्ट्र का...

Theories and arguments are many, but I love to use the word Desh instead of Rashtra.

Thank You.