When the British ended over 300 years of rule in India, India was split in two to create a country for the Moslems - Pakistan. Huge populations of people moved either to Pakistan or away from that land and to India. During the migration, people's frustrations often boiled over and took shape as religious violence. Partition takes place during that period.
Our hero is a simple, single Sikh farmer, Gian, played by Jimi Mistry, most recently seen as Nabil in Blood Diamond. He's stoic, honorable and loyal. While in the forest, he chances upon a young woman in hiding, Naseem. She was part of a caravan of Moslems who were ambushed and slaughtered by a group of Sikhs. He tries to hide her in his compound, but soon the villagers find out and they become desperate to spill her blood, in revenge for the train load of massacred Sikhs that just arrived.
Jimi Mistry was excellent and very convincing as a humble and morally strong Sikh. His character was a professional soldier, but as a farmer, he was not about to succumb to blinding religious rage and recklessly kill others for revenge. Looking into his contemplative eyes, one could see a quiet intelligence, but as we later learned, he was also trying to hide deep personal emotional wounds from the war. There was a certain depth to his performance that makes me hope we see more of him in film.
Kristin Kreuk may be half Dutch, half Indonesian Chinese, but like fellow Canadian actress Lisa Ray, who is half Indian and half Polish and who starred in the Oscar nominated film Water (as well as the bomb Bollywood/ Hollywood), Kreuk didn't seem miscast to me at all. There are fair skinned Indians and during the film, I never wondered for a second just how much, if any, Indian blood Kreuk had in her. I have never seen her in anything else, despite the popularity of shows like Edgemont and Smallville.
Had they cast Nicole Kidman, then I might say that she doesn't look Indian and that was a distraction. In some scenes, her complexion did make her stand out, but for me it wasn't a negative. I can see how someone could make an issue of her being miscast based on her oriental features but that just wasn't an issue for me.
Article comments
1 - Prashant
You do realize that british rule in India ended not 300 years ago but just 60 years ago. in 1947 not in 1747. That my friend was the american independence though that still was 1764 or something. Just a thought on the validity of your article and how interesting this movie must have been for you, for you to get that wrong.
2 - Dr Dreadful
Prashant, you misread it. Go back and read the opening sentence again.
3 - SFC SKI
The opening sentence is very clear. Thanks for the review, I doubt I'd have heard about this film otherwise. The Partition is a little known or understood event for most Americans, and we should become more familiar with it before we consider a similar partition plan for any other country.
4 - kick it
Even worse than a know it all is the nay-sayer who doesn't even have his or her thoughts processed before spouting off at the mouth. Maybe it would be a good rule of thumb to go back and read again before making a critique.
5 - Spartan
Ouch