The tumultuous events surrounding the sub-continent's partition in 1947 into India and Pakistan are re-imagined in Ken McMullen's complex and visually striking film. A lunatic asylum in the city of Lahore becomes a mirror image of events in the outside political world, with the same actors playing both inmates and rulers. Adapted by Tariq Ali and McMullen from famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's short story 'Toba Tek Singh', Partition speaks for the countless millions that the usual British Raj films sweep out of sight. Released to mark the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, this is the film's first-ever release on DVD.
Writing
Manto's story adapted by Tariq Ali — prose that scalds
Acting
Same cast switching lunatic/ruler — deliciously destabilizing
Direction
McMullen's theatrical eye makes history feel like fever
Director
Ken McMullen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Saadat Hasan Manto's original story is considered the definitive Urdu literary response to partition — he wrote it in 1955 while being prosecuted for obscenity, because Pakistan found his honesty about violence more threatening than his sexuality.
The 2006 DVD release marked 60 years since partition but the film itself was made in 1987 — McMullen waited nearly two decades for distribution brave enough to handle it.
GB
