Tamas

Tamas may refer to:

See also

Tamas (film)

Tamas (lit. Darkness) is a 1988 period television film written and directed by Govind Nihalani. It is based on the Hindi novel of the same name by Bhisham Sahni (1974), which won the author the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975. Set in the backdrop of riot-stricken Pakistan at the time of Partition of India in 1947, the film deals with the plight of emigrant Sikh and Hindu families to India as a consequence of the partition. It was first shown on India's national broadcaster Doordarshan as a mini-series and later as a one-off four-hour-long feature film. At the 35th National Film Awards, it won three awards including the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. In August 2013, it was shown on History TV18 as a series.

Plot

Nathu (Om Puri), a Chamar, is finishing his work in his shop when the thekedar (Pankaj Kapur) walks in and asks him to entice a pig from a nearby piggery into his shop and kill it for the Veterinary doctor who needs it for medical purposes. Nathu tries to decline saying he has never killed a pig before and doesn't have the necessary skill for it, offering instead to tan the hide if required provided the people from the piggery kill it. Thekedar insists that he wants Nathu to do it and gives him 5 rupees for it and leaves the shop saying that the work must be done by morning when the jamadar will come to take the carcass.

Artistic depictions of the partition of India

The partition of India and the associated bloody riots inspired many creative minds in India and Pakistan to create literary/cinematic depictions of this event. While some creations depicted the massacres during the refugee migration, others concentrated on the aftermath of the partition in terms of difficulties faced by the refugees in both side of the border. Even now, more than 60 years after the partition, works of fiction and films are made that relate to the events of partition.