Case for lost Identities

In many ways,Qissa… been a personal journey for Singh,who was born in Dar-es-Salaam,Tanzania,and spent his childhood between Africa and Mumbai where he moved with his parents as a boy. But that relocation was short-lived as he was forced to leave India,with his parents,since his father did not possess a valid Indian passport. “Leaving Africa and India helped me understand displacement. The despair that came with it was personal. My grandfather’s stories of living in Punjab branded me from childhood. And I always wanted to trace our family roots in Punjab,” says Singh,who travelled to the villages along the Wagah border while scouting for filming locations. He wanted to recreate the old world charm of India,and the villages along the border offered perfect fodder. “The faces of people,their mannerisms,and the way they tie their turbans,reminded me of my grandfather. I saw houses there made from nanakshahi bricks ,just like during the ’40s. The Punjab of today bears an uncanny resemblance to the Punjab from Partition,” he says.

Co-produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India,and production houses in Netherlands,France and Germany,Qissa… stars actors such as Irrfan (as protagonist Amber Singh),Tillotama Shome,Rasika Dugal and Tisca Chopra. Made on a budget of Rs 3 crore,it was filmed during the end of 2011-12. Amber Singh’s story,says Singh,represents the emotions,anxieties and insecurities such as family honour,empathy and loss,which many displaced people experienced during Partition. In the film,Amber wants a boy to carry forward the name of his family. But he has two daughters whom he raises as boys. “I often found that people who have been dispossessed,found horrible ways to affirm themselves in a new identity. Their sense of vengeance turned inwards,towards their own families. Amber Singh goes to any extent to carry forward his family name,” says Singh,a graduate of Film and Television Institute of India,Pune,who teaches filmmaking in Geneva. The film will be distributed by NFDC in India. His next project,he says,will be a film based on a character from Africa.

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