Senseless violence in films should be abjured says veteran film maker M. S. Sathyu

The veteran film maker M.S. Sathyu has said that a lot of films are projecting senseless violence which is avoidable. He said the youth of this generation must know the history in proper perspective and for this, there is a need to restore historical films, not only in Hindi but also in other Indian languages. Sathyu was addressing a press conference in connection with the screening of the restored version of his 1973 made film Garam Hawa at the 43rd International Film Festival of India in Goa, today. He revealed that the film Garam Hawa was shot in mono sound which has now been converted to Dolby digital format and the restoration was done frame by frame. Expressing his disappointment over lack of historical films in India, he said a lot of period films were made after the Second World War denouncing the ill-effect of war, but the trend has been dwindling gradually. Replying to a question he said he felt the urge to restore the film as he wanted the young generation to know the trauma of partition. Asked whether he was tempted to change the colour and sound of the film drastically since that was possible in digital restoration, M.S. Sathyu said it was true that the technology has undergone a sea-change since he had made the film, but kept more or less the same tinge to retain originality.

The film Garam Hawa is a portrayal of the consequences of partition for Indian Muslims, focusing on one particular family, the Mirzas. Set in Agra in 1947, it tells the story of an elderly shoe manufacturer, Salim Mirza and has family who must decide whether to continue the ancestral business or migrate to Pakistan. Forced by a series of adversities to eventually leave, the family comes across a communist rally, proclaiming the unity of all the dispossessed irrespective of caste or religion. Salim’s young son joins the rally, abandoning his plans to migrate, determined to stay on.