The Age of Darkness

“Ever since I joined films,I wanted to work on the subject of Partition. The search for materials and stories on it made me read Jhootha Sach by noted Hindi author Yashpal. It is a big and beautifully written book. However,I was intimidated by it,” he says.

Tamas aroused a vastly different emotion in him. “Bhishamji had written Tamas nearly 30 years after the Partition. It was not an immediate emotional reaction to it. Through the stories of his characters,he showed how the tragedies of Partition were caused by very complex issues and agendas. How,when a community is manipulated in the name of religion,such tragedies take place. A small section of fanatics exists in every religion. They influence the common man’s views with their loud propaganda and muscle power,apart from muzzling the moderate voices,” says Nihalani.

When Nihalani chanced upon Sahni’s work,he had already made his directorial debut,Aakrosh (1980). In Tamas,he found the subject for his second feature film. This triggered his search for a producer. When he got the opportunity to meet the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the International Film Festival of India in 1981,he sought her help for his dream project. “If there is a serious film on Partition,will the government support it?” he had asked. Gandhi’s response was cautious. “It all depends on the political situation at the time of the film’s making,” she said. That was the first indication he had of the many stumbling blocks in the making and showing of Tamas.

Lack of funds for a feature film made Nihalani choose the mini-series format on Doordarshan — eight one-hour episodes. “The subject was serious and I believed the regular half-an-hour episode would not do justice to the gravity of the story,” he says.

He had the go-ahead for the format,but no one was ready to invest in it. During an ad shoot,he met Lalit Bijlani — producer of Shyam Benegal’s Ankur,Nishant and Bhumika (for which Nihalani handled the camera) — who showed interest in the subject. In three weeks,the script was ready and shooting started in 1986.

Trouble brewed once the production was over and the date for its telecast — January 3,1988 — was finalised. Three days before it went on air,a court issued a order against its telecast. It feared that the telecast could lead to law and order problems,and objected that it seemed to suggest the Partition violence started because of the Hindus. The court’s direction came following the publication of an interview of Nihalani by Sudheendra Kulkarni in The Sunday Observer. The director filed a review petition and a bench comprising Justice Bakhtawar Lentin and Justice Sujata Manohar of the Bombay High Court watched the entire series at a preview theatre in Colaba on a television set — in the same way the Indian viewers were going to do in two days.

Both sides presented their case at the theatre and the verdict giving DD the go-ahead to air it was delivered on a Sunday afternoon at Justice Lentin’s Marine Lines residence. The show went on air the following day. Till it got over,Nihalani lived under police protection.

Nearly 25 years after it was first aired,Tamas was re-telecast on History channel last fortnight.

“The issues that Tamas tackled have not gone away. In fact,it has become worse. Intolerance is 100 times higher. Manipulation on the basis of caste and religion has increased,” says the director. His main concern,however,is the response of the contemporary audience. “A new generation knows about Partition through history books. Here is something which is as close to that period as it could be. I am very curious to know how this audience responds to it,” he says.