Snapshots from road to Freedom

The political shares space with the cultural — and there are portraits of stalwarts such as shehnai legend Bismillah Khan, posters of films such as Mother India (1957), and Nemai Ghosh’s photograph from the sets of Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khilari (1977).

Mrinalini Venkateswaran, March to Freedom: Reflections on India's Independence, Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khilari, Bismillah Khan, Explained, Indian Express Explained, Opinion, Current Affairs

March to Freedom: Reflections on India's Independence By (Ed) Mrinalini Venkateswaran; DAG; 273 pages

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March to Freedom extends the current debate over dominant historical narratives to popular nationalist imagery and its omissions. More than 150 artworks and artefacts have been used to visually recount the years leading up to India’s Independence. They have been presented thematically rather than chronologically, which helps to put these works in context. The authors have delved into specific aspects — from forgotten protests against the British to the shaping of popular perception.

An attempt has been made to engage viewers through questions. In the chapter, ‘Battles for Freedom’, which underlines the significance of scattered wars through India, Jadavpur University professor Maroona Murmu asks, “How far back should we go in our search for the definitive ‘first’ battle for freedom? In ‘The Traffic of Trade’ that situates the colonial history of India and South Asia within the global history of trade, professor of world history at University of Cambridge, Sujit Sivasundaram, weighs in on whether India’s history is linked to the story of other peoples who worked near water.

Well-known artists share pages with the lesser-known and the unknown.

The recognised works include English painter Henry Singleton’s dramatised depiction of Tipu Sultan of Mysore falling to the British, artist Satish Gujral’s Share of Memories that portrays the turmoil of Partition, and Chittaprosad’s Hindustan, Pakistan, Princestan, that depicts Winston Churchill’s plan for the balkanisation of India.

Juxtaposed against British portrayals of the 1857 uprising are prints, by local artists, of the leaders of the revolt. There is an illustration of the 1855 Santhal rebellion that an unknown artist did for The Illustrated London News in 1856, showing men with bows and arrows fighting against gun-wielding British soldiers.

Historian Asique Ahmed Iqbal has written about the princely states, accompanied by posters from the 1930s, along with short pieces of text.

The political shares space with the cultural — and there are portraits of stalwarts such as shehnai legend Bismillah Khan, posters of films such as Mother India (1957), and Nemai Ghosh’s photograph from the sets of Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khilari (1977).