The Identity Politics of an “Indian Muslim” in M.S.

Sathyu’s Garam Hawa (1973)

In a recent Bollywood blockbuster, Rang De Basanti (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, 2006),

there is a brief scene that shows an uneasy confrontation between Aslam Khan (Kunal Kapoor)

and his father, Amanullah Khan (Om Puri) because he spends time with non-Muslim friends. His

father complains that Muslim community experiences discrimination and isolation in India.

Although the focus of this paper will be on a masterpiece classic of India’s parallel cinema

starring Balraj Sahani – M.S. Sathyu’s Garam Hawa (1973), I want to suggest that in post-

partition India, minorities such as Indian Muslims who decided to remain in India after the

Partition continue to reconcile their precarious post-colonial identities even during the

contemporary times. Through the discussion of Garam Hawa and other films on this subject, we

see that the Muslim question in India is yet to be resolved. This film is set in 1947 immediately

post-Partition in Agra, India and is an adaptation of Ismat Chugtai’s unpublished short story and

adapted on screen by Kaifi Azmi. In this paper, I will discuss three major characters in the film:

Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahani), and his children, Amina (Geeta Siddharth), and son, Sikander

(Farooq Sheikh) and their lives in post-partitioned India. Each of these characters struggles to

establish an agentive identity but because of their positions as minorities in the newly

independent India, they are blamed and victimized. Garam Hawa, thus, informs its audience that

the two-nation theory of India and Pakistan was not successful for everyone, especially for the

Muslims who continued to consider India their home. Although the film argued that Pakistan

was newly formed and provided better job opportunities for Muslims who migrated there, it

illustrated that Indian Muslims faced discrimination, lack of job opportunities, and a precarious

status as both Indians and Muslims. The central question I am interested in answering through

the analysis of this film is – who is an Indian Muslim? What does it mean in the post-
independence India to be a Muslim? It is also bewildering to learn that there have only been two

films that have focused specifically on this topic –Garam Hawa and Shyam Benegal’s Mammo

(1994). Why are they overlooked in the mainstream popular culture and barely acknowledged in

films such as Rang De Basanti? On a more theoretical level, I grapple with Gyanendra Pandey

and Talad Asad’s concept of the “ideological hybrids” in the Indian Muslim context.

Salim Mirza is the owner of a shoe-making factory and lives in Agra in a joint-family

household consisting of his wife, two sons, and a daughter, his older brother and his family, and

his aged mother. Since the Partition, businesses have suffered because many Muslims migrated

suddenly to Pakistan. Salim’s shoe-business factory is struggling in post-independence India. His

older brother, Halim, joins in the politics in Pakistan and migrates there. As a result, Salim’s

credibility decreases in the eyes of the Bank of Punjab and other Hindu moneylenders who

refuse to help him with a loan. Salim still does not give up and refuses to migrate to Pakistan

hoping upon hope that his luck will change and people will not discriminate against him because

he is an Indian Muslim. According to Balraj Puri (1993), the Muslims in India suffered the most

after Partition:

In 1947, the Muslims could not bank on a Third power [the British in 1857

mutiny] and lost much respect of the majority community for the role they had

played in the disintegration of the country. In terms of their self-confidence, the

Partition marked a break in the 800 years of Muslim history. In many respects, it

was a birth of a new community (Puri 2141).

Salim and his family’s struggles are arguably a result of the “new community” that was forming

in the newly independent India. Salim faces discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiments as he

searches for financial support to run his business:

 Salim: I have come to ask about my application for the loan.

Bank Manager: In the old days I had the authority to grant loans, but times have

changed.

Salim: How does that affect us? We are just the same and our transactions are the

same.

Bank Manager: That’s true but have you seen how bad your trade business has

become? Many shoemakers have fled to Pakistan. The bank has lost a lot of

money.

Salim: Why should the ones who neither run nor wish to run suffer?

Bank Manager: Mirza ji, so many have run away, that the bank does not know

whom to trust.

His family’s reputation has been precarious since the Partition. Halim, unlike his brother, was

part of the provincial All India Muslim League. Although he publicly promises to stay in India

for the sake of the Muslims there, he secretly immigrates to Pakistan because he does not believe

that Muslims had a future in India. Unlike Salim who is more optimistic about communal

harmony and their ageing mother who is attached the home of their ancestors. Because many

Muslims are migrated to Pakistan, businesses and moneylenders refuse to trust Indian Muslims

afraid that it will negatively affect them. This is the first time Salim encounters discrimination

and distrust among the other Indian religious communities in a newly forming nation. There is

still an air of distrust among all the religious communities. According to Tariq Hameed Bhatti

(2011), the Muslims who had chosen to remain in India suffered the most economically, socially,

and spiritually. He cites communal riots as empirical evidence for the “low status” of Indian

Muslims because their ancestors may have participated in the Pakistan movement that could
have caused tension between the Hindu extremists who wanted to keep “Hindustan for the

Hindus.” He suggests further:

For many Muslims, perhaps greater than that of being separated for ever from

their kith and kin who had willingly or unwillingly migrated to Pakistan, was that

they had to see hundreds of thousands of Sikh and Hindu refugees from West and

East Pakistan in a deplorable plight, driven out from their homes and wandering

about in quest of shelter and to hear the bitter words that all this was done to them

by the Muslims. The revenge was imperative to be taken by the victims (Bhatti

234).

Garam Hawa keys on the first observance that Bhatti makes – the separation from kin who have

willingly or unwillingly migrated to Pakistan. Throughout the film, two major migrations take

place and both Salim’s siblings migrate to the country in hopes for a better future and job

opportunities that are not present in India. While the film does not speak of the Hindu and Sikh

refugees, Bhatti compels us to think of the ways in which the identity – Indian Muslim – is

complex and nuanced in the post-colonial era. The film develops a remarkable and interesting

relationship between Salim and Halim. While Salim continues to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s

ideals on nationalism and communal unity between Hindus and Muslims, Halim fears that

because of his political status and visible participation in the All India Muslim League, he will

not have a future in India. When his wife asks him about her son, Kazim’s marriage with Aamna,

Salim’s daughter, he responds, “I have nation’s burden on me. The Muslim League leaders ran

away, leaving Indian Muslims without support…Even I cannot stay here; there is no place for

Muslims now. We must sell our house and factory at once and move to Pakistan. We’ll go and
restart those factories; it will be making of Pakistan and us. ” Furthermore, he makes the

following speech to the public, which I find sarcastic and amusing all at the same time:

But India is our country - Taj Mahal, Fatehpur sikhri, and the tomb of Chisti.

Those that flee from our heritage are cowards and they have no faith in their God.

If all the Muslims were supposed to leave, but one Muslim will not leave and he

will live here till he dies. That Muslim man’s name is Halim Mirza.

Here, the audiences see the challenges that many Muslims were facing in India who had been

involved in the political spaces in India. Halim makes this hypocritical claim that he will be the

last Muslim to leave India in order to protect their Muslim heritage and start a new life in

Pakistan with new businesses and contribute to Pakistan’s economy. The relationship between

Halim and Salim shows two schools of thought – Salim’s idealistic hope for a pre-partition India

in which Hindus and Muslims were united and helped each other – while Halim’s abandonment

of his responsibilities towards Indian Muslims who had chosen to stay in India despite the

Partition. By doing so, Halim’s absence causes Salim to lose business and credibility.

We see that in post-independent India, not all populations experienced the joys of the

newfound freedom. In the aftermath of the Partition, the gnawing effects of not just the loss of

life but also the socio-economic-political effects were crystallizing. Since the film takes place

right after India and Pakistan became independent nations, it shows that the Indian Muslims who

wanted to remain patriotic to Gandhian values of cultural unity and diversity and strong

communal relations with the majority Hindu populations suffered due to lack of leadership and

support. Puri proposes, “For Indian Muslims, August 15, 1947 was the gloomiest day of their

history” because the “new community” received no guidance or leadership in socio-economic

and political matters in India. The Muslim leaders, as Halim points, migrated to Pakistan in
“despair, resignation, and withdrawal.” (Puri 2141) Salim, however, does not give up on his

ideals and tries now and again to save his family fortunes such as his mansion and factory from

loss. Eventually, he is unable to fulfill the orders and has to mortgage his mansion and rent

another home. There, too, he faces rejection because people are afraid to rent homes to Muslims

due to religious reasons (non-vegetarians) or the fear that they will break the lease and migrate to

Pakistan. In places where Muslim populations are still a major “minority” population such as

Ahmadabad in Gujarat, India, there is still an uneasy communal tension between the Hindu and

Muslim communities in the city. In the film, Kai Po Che! (Abhishek Kapoor, 2013), Ishaan

(Sushant Singh Rajput) becomes involved in a fight with his best friend, Omi (Amit Sadh) after

the 2000 earthquake when Hindu fanatics in the city refuse to provide food stamps for the

Muslims. This particular moment in the film is a representation of a reality that still is apparent

today. It is interesting to realize that Salim’s struggles for a better economic life were illustrated

in Garam Hawa through his struggles continue to be depicted in the current popular cinematic

features such as Rang De Basanti and Kai Po Che!. Thus, these representations compel us to

question the identity of an Indian Muslim.

Gyanendra Pandey (1999) suggests that there is a question of loyalty for the Indian

Muslims that is important for us to consider as we tackle with the Muslim question in the Indian

socio-political-economic discourse. In Bapsi Sidwa’s Cracking India (1991), there is a moment

in the novel when the Muslim butcher points out in a discussion with his Hindu and Sikh friends

prior to the Partition:

Haven’t the Hindus connived with the Angrez (the English) to ignore the Muslim

league, and support a party that didn’t win a single seat in the Punjab? It’s just the

kind of thing we fear. They manipulate one or two Muslims against the interests
 of a larger community. And now they have manipulated Tara Singh and his

bleating herd of Sikhs. (Sidwa 100)

In the early aftermath of the post-Partition days in India, Indian Muslims were held accountable

for their loyalty towards the India despite being a minority in the country. However, here we see

that the tension that Sidwa highlights in her novel between the “Hindus” and “Muslims”

continued to be present in the post-Partition India. Muslims were continuing to migrate to

Pakistan in hopes for a better future.

I want to further discuss the concept of “ideological hybrids” that Pandey has suggested

in his article. He frames Talad Asad’s concept of “ideological hybrids” which means that

members of some culture make a claim that they “truly belong to a particular politically defined

place, but those of others (minority cultures) do not – either because of regency (immigrants) or

of archaicness (aborigines)”. In terms of the Indian political discourse, Pandey suggests that we

need to rethink the meaning of “minority” and “majority.” By reiterating Asad’s argument that

these terms result in ambiguity when they are removed from the political space of parliamentary

and electoral vocabulary, he reminds us that “culture (like religion, race, and so on is “virtually

coterminous with the social life of particular populations, including habits and beliefs conveyed

across generations (Pandey 610).” Therefore, he continues on to argue that religious minorities

such as Indian Muslims are “ideological hybrids” because of their “unspecified but fundamental

“difference” (Pandey 610). He observes that during the time of the Partition, Hindus were spoken

of as “Hindus and Sikhs” who were juxtaposed by the “Muslims.” Hence, this concept of

“ideological hybridities” as defined by Pandey and Asad compels us to think about what exactly

does it mean to have a Muslim nation-state such as Pakistan? Does it make people such as Salim

any less religiously Muslim than people who migrated there after the partition? The idea of
Pakistan or the “Land of the Pure” had little support in the areas that occupy that territory.

According to Puri, Pakistan’s “battle was fought essentially by those Muslims who lived in the

majority Hindu areas, which remain a part of India.” (Puri 2141) The Muslim league leadership

focused on the Muslims in the Hindu majority area and capitalized on their insecurity and fear to

generate enthusiasm for a separate Muslim state on either side of India in order to ensure equal

rights. However, it assumed that all Muslims would migrate from India into this newly

ideological nation-state that caters specifically to the Muslims assuming them as monolithic

Muslim entity. For the Muslims who chose to remain in India due to patriotic reasons or because

they had their ancestral home in India faced an ideological dilemma because there was a state

that supposedly catered to their rights as Muslims and their national sentiments towards India.

Salim’s internal struggle in the film was his own idealism and faith in India’s recognition of

minorities and the promise of economic success in Pakistan. However, according to recent

studies, it is largely implied that many Indian Muslim actually live in poverty. Umbreen Javaid

and Malik Nasir Ahmed (2012), for example, have written about the socio-political status of

Muslims in India post-partition. The authors conducted a study of the Indian Muslim

population’s contribution to India’s education, economy, and representation in the politics.

According to them, 52% of the Muslim population resides in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and west

Bengal, more than 22% lives in southern Indian states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,

and Karnataka (8). They argue that the “Indian Muslims as has been mentioned earlier are a

scattered community throughout India exercising low political influence over state’s or union’s

governments (8).” Since their study is recent, it shows that the question of Indian Muslim

identity that was proposed in the film still has not been resolved. With a precarious identity such
as the Indian Muslims, it also begs the question if the partition was a successful political move in

the wake of independence from the colonial powers?

I would argue the Partition was not a politically sound decision because it left many

people displaced socio-politically and economically and removed them from their homes. In the

aftermath of the partition, Garam Hawa makes us realize that Muslims who continued to

consider India as their homeland and nation were left slighted and confused because they had

shown loyalty to India. I also realize that when I say “India”, I mean the pre-partitioned British

India.

Pandey contends that the newly formed nation-state Pakistan would have struggled to

accommodate nine million Muslims within its territory as the newly formed nation-states tried to

realize and forge their identities. Furthermore, he argues that the founding fathers caused more

confusion in terms of the identity of the states. In his famous speech on August 11, 1947, Jinnah

had cried:

You may belong to any religion or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the

business of the state . . . We are all citizens and equal citizens of one state . . . You

will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims

would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal

faith of each individual but in the political sense as citizens of the state (Pandey

612)

The particular statement “Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be

Muslims” caused uproar in the Pakistani media. Commentators argued that if secularization was

the aim for Pakistan, there was no need to be partitioned from India (Pandey 613). The question
then became: Did Muslims who had once been open supporters of Pakistan have any right to stay

in India?

In Garam Hawa, the question of the loyalty of Indian Muslims is predicated upon their

socio-economic need rather than their sentiments of patriotism and nationality. It is only Salim

who continues to feel patriotism towards India and maintains amicable relations with Hindu

characters, especially Ajmani Sahab (A.K. Hangal) who is also his client. The webs of

relationships that are formed in the film inadvertently affect the women in the family. For

example, Amina’s suitors are sons of her father’s older brother and sister – Kazim and

Shamshad. While Kazim is earlier engaged to Amina, the desire for economic success and

political success drives them apart as Halim and his family migrates to Pakistan. Even though,

Kazim makes an attempt to escape from India with Amina, his efforts are of no avail because he

had illegally arrived in India and had not registered his presence in India with the police. Hence,

he is deported back and forced into an arranged marriage for his father’s political gains.

Similarly, Shamshad too promises Amina a marriage and dedication but also, leaves with his

father when his father suffers loss in business in India and escapes to Pakistan to escape criminal

charges. She later learns that he too is getting married to a woman in Pakistan. Hence, Amina

after being betrayed twice commits suicide. After her death, her mother laments their decision to

remain in India for their principles has cost them their lives. As Muslim Indians, their struggle to

survive in India was not easy. Salim and his family to a great extent felt isolated from their kin

especially those who had abandoned India for Pakistan because they feared rejection and anti-

Muslim sentiments post-partition in India. The question on Partition comes into play throughout

the movie. Was the Partition really necessary for the Muslim population? Not all Muslims

blatantly murdered and killed people of other religions in the communal riots; they also shared
bonds with the people of other religions. In the film, Ajmani Sahab and Salim share a bond that

transcends religion. When Salim is injured during a riot, Ajmani is by his side even though

Ajmani had acquired Salim’s ancestral home because he could not fulfill his orders and had to

mortgage his home. Despite these business transactions between them, both of them maintain a

relationship as if they are brothers. This relationship hints towards a hopeful revival of the

Hindu-Muslim brotherhood that was arguably present prior to the Partition.

Garam Hawa is set in Agra, which is in the North central India. After the Partition,

substantial number of Hindu and Sikh refugees settled in the Agra and Awadh area (now Uttar

Pradesh, Bihar, East Punjab, and Delhi), as a result, many Muslims were forced to migrate to

Pakistan and surrender their territory to Hindus and Sikh. Salim and his immediate family were

loyal to India and felt a sense of “home” and “belonging” towards India. One of the challenges

that the Mirza family also faced was unemployment and suspicion. After Sikander finished his

studies and acquired a Bachelor’s degree, he began job hunting. There is a lot of political unrest

because of unemployment and corruption in Agra. The film suggests that people are only getting

employment if they can bribe the companies or are familiar with the executives in the company:

Employer: Mr. Sikander Mirza, please sit down.

Sikander: Thank you sir.

Employer: So you are interested in sports?

Sikander: I was. Ever since there has been politics involved in sports, I have lost

interest in it.

Employer: Your chances are bright. You seem to be a bright young man. (Phone

rings) Mr. Mirza, I am sorry the post has been filled. GM has kept someone else.

The post was created for someone else.

 Sikander: Why did you have to pretend then to provide a job opportunity in the

newspaper then?

Employer: Mr. Mirza, take my advice, why don’t you go to Pakistan? It will be

easier to find jobs for people like you.

This is an important moment in the film and highlights the distrust among the majority

population against Muslims after the partition. For the “majority” population, Pandey argues that

the Muslims as the “blanket, undifferentiated category-had been too much involved in the

Muslim league demand for Pakistan: their sympathies were not likely to change overnight, and

their loyalty could not be counted upon (Pandey 615).” Therefore, many young Muslims felt

discrimination against them. The employer’s advice is condescending, “It will be easier to find

jobs in Pakistan for people like you.” Sikander and his other unemployed friends become

angered and start a demonstration against discrimination and unemployment in Agra. Salim

prohibits his son from participating in the rebellion. At the same time he is accused by the Indian

government for espionage because he had sent his brother in Karachi plans of his former

property. Although he is acquitted by the court, Salim experiences discrimination and is

ostracized by the public, in anger and frustration Salim decides to leave India for Pakistan once

he is released. However, as the family prepares to leave, Salim and Sikander notice a protest and

demonstration. Salim encourages his son to join the protest and changes his mind to return to

Pakistan. He also joins the protest merging into the diverse secular population. The film ends on

a positive note that Salim chooses to become an “Indian” and shows his loyalty by participating

in the movement against discrimination and unemployment in his beloved country despite the

isolation he felt in the nation.

 In closing, the Indian Muslim question still remains one that is unresolved in the post-

colonial era. Garam Hawa draws attention to the human suffering that was the result of the

partition and if the partition was really worth the disintegration of families, discrimination, and

isolation that Salim and his family experienced. Being Muslims, they have access to both

countries – India and Pakistan. The film reveals optimism that the Indian Muslims felt towards

their decision and choice to stay in India despite the challenges they faced socio-economically.

Why are there only two films that have been produced that discuss this polemic question? Why

do contemporary political films like Rang De Basanti and Kai Po Che! only briefly touch upon

the Hindu-Muslim relations in India? In this paper, I suggest that the “Indian Muslim” identity

question is still one that draws attention towards the current South Asian politics. There

continues to remain distrust among Hindus for Muslims. Muslims continue to be viewed as

misogynistic community in which Hindu women are not allowed to marry. The effects of the

1947 partition continue to be imminent till today as many Indian Muslims continue to be looked

with suspicion and discrimination. The film also questions if Pakistan was really a heaven for

Muslims where job opportunities were available and if that is the case, why is Pakistan

sometimes termed the country “a failed nation state” (Jan)? While the answers to these questions

require further research, the film argues that politicians who had agreed for the partition, which

was one of the world’s largest migration from one country to another, did not realize the

outcome of human suffering before, during, and after the partition of which the effects still linger

on to this day.
 Works Cited

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Political Studies, Vol. 18, Issue - 2, 2011: 225-242.

Garam Hawa. Dir. M.S. Sathyu. Perf. Balraj Sahni, Farooq Sheikh, A.K. Hangal. A Film

Finance Corporation Limited Sponsored Film, 1973. Film. Youtube Link.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZTvF_1AN8A>

Jan, Farah. “Pakistan: A Struggling Nation State.” Democracy and Security, 6: 237–255, 2010.

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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