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Not enough films on women and Partition: Vidya Balan

Not enough films on women and Partition: Vidya Balan

The star of Begum Jaan talks about what makes the upcoming Partition drama different
10 Mar, 2017

In her next film Begum Jaan, Vidya Balan will be seen as a 'madam' who finds her brothel torn apart by the Pak-India Partition.

Saying that our knowledge of Partition is limited to what our textbooks tell us, Vidya shared that Begum Jaan will be an interesting story because "there are not many films on Partition and not on women especially as in what happened to them." Vidya said in an interview.

Also read: Vidya Balan just gushed about Pakistani dramas

In the film, half of the brothel is in Pakistan, while the other half lands up in India. The film depicts the women's struggle for their rights.

Poster of Begum Jaan, in which Vidya Balan stars as a brothel 'madam'
Poster of Begum Jaan, in which Vidya Balan stars as a brothel 'madam'

Vidya Balan also touched on violence in the film, saying it features a lot of “emotional and mental” violence, which was difficult for her to bring out convincingly.

“I am the madam of a brothel and the film is set in the Partition times and we are at the risk of losing our house, our space so there is lot of emotional, mental and sexual violence and not physical violence. It was difficult to do the film as I am doing it for the first time."

Vidya hopes that the film also changes people's perception about women working at brothels.

“People will think about how they think of women and prostitutes. A lot of things that I have felt strongly about have found voice in this film. I don’t know about that as it would be presumptuous of me to hope for such a big change.”

Begum Jaan comes out on April 14.

Comments

ARINDAMPRIN Mar 10, 2017 11:52am
its the remake of the Bengali film Rajkahini based on the bengal border division. You will clearly experience the supremacy of even bengali directors in making this kind of masterpiece.... and yeah the bengali regional film industry is bigger than whole pakistani one...the story remains same for Begumjaan as that was in Rajkahini , only the bengal border changes into punjab one ... and I think it will not release in pakistan... I have a fair idea about the cliche sensor board of pakistan... sorry about that but its true
Recommend 2
IMTIAZ ALI KHAN Mar 10, 2017 12:02pm
Beautiful woman with that eastern fire.
Recommend 3
Simba Mar 10, 2017 01:23pm
more films on the topic will only open up past wounds. I think there were quite a few master pieces - Tamas, Hey Ram, ...showed the brutality of human nature in the aftermath of partition. some films were even banned and highly censored
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