Naseeruddin Shah portrays 1947 partition’s legacy in back-to-back dramas
In the Punjabi-language feature “Rehmat,” Naseeruddin Shah plays Rashid Ali, a man born in an Indian Punjabi village who returns to his ancestral home after decades in England, confronting the enduring effects of Partition.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah takes on the lasting legacy of the 1947 India-Pakistan Partition in Gurvinder Singh's Punjabi-language film "Rehmat," which has been selected for the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival.
Fresh off his role in Imtiaz Ali's Partition drama "Main Vaapas Aaunga," Naseeruddin plays Rashid Ali, a man who returns to his ancestral home in Punjab after decades in England, confronting the enduring effects of the 1947 division of the Indian subcontinent.
In the Punjabi-language feature "Rehmat," Naseeruddin Shah plays Rashid Ali, a man born in an Indian Punjabi village who returns to his ancestral home after decades in England, confronting the enduring effects of Partition.
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Audiences also see Naseeruddin as an ailing 95-year-old reliving memories of the woman he loved as a young man in undivided India.
"Rehmat" has been selected for the international competition section of the prestigious Locarno Film Festival.
The film's ensemble cast includes Diya Kamboj, Suvinder Vicky, Mita Vasisht, Harwinder Aujla and Jaswant Zafar.
Gurvinder Singh's fifth feature since his 2011 debut, "Rehmat" is based on short stories by writer Ajeet Caur.
Set in present-day Punjab, the narrative weaves together themes of displacement, uprootedness and inherited grief.
"Ajeet Caur has written about many themes, uprootedness being one of them. She belongs to my grandparents' generation, who migrated from Lahore and other parts of West Punjab to Delhi," Singh said in an interview. "That was the sort of affinity I had with her stories," Director Gurvinder Singh said.
For Singh, who did not experience Partition firsthand, making "Rehmat" brought a sense of closure to the legacy of the 1947 saga.
Naseeruddin shared a similar sentiment, noting that he committed to the project before even seeing the script.
"I'd seen and been deeply moved by Gurvinder's films," Naseeruddin said.
He said, "His cinematic sensibility and his take on the turmoil in his home state made profound statements. I just thought I'd like to be part of such films."
Though he did not experience the events of 1947, Naseeruddin shared a similar trauma during the anti-Sikh violence in Delhi in 1984. For him, "Rehmat" offered a long-awaited sense of healing.
