EARTH A film by Deepa Mehta Starring: Aamir Khan, Nandita Das, and Rahul Khanna Written by Deepa Mehta Based on the book "Cracking India" by Bapsi Sidhwa In Hindi, Urdu, Parsi, and Punjabi, with English subtitles
Early on in Deepa Mehta's fourth feature film "Earth", the viewer quickly gets a sense of the dichotomy between the serious and the humorous, and the disastrous complications that the combination of the two can have when a little child is listening to a discussion about the partition of India, controlled by the British Empire, into two separate nations, India, dominated by Hindus, and Pakistan, dominated by Muslims. There is a quiet sense of foreboding within any historical film about what will happen next, and "Earth" is no exception. History cannot be changed with an event as catastrophic as the partition of India, where millions of people died in the greatest migration of people in history.
Mehta cannot ignore that, yet she makes a curious decision that provides mixed results in making her narrator a naïve young child named Lenny (Maia Sethna). Lenny's Hindu nanny Shanta (Das) takes Lenny around the streets of Lahore before partition. They become part of a group of friends, who include Hasan the Muslim masseur (Khanna), Sher Singh the Sikh (Gulshan Grover), Muslim Imam Din (Khalbushan Khalbanda), and Muslim Dil Nawaz (Khan), the Ice Candy Man. These group of friends endlessly debate religion and politics along with the effects that partition will have on that area.
During the course of the film, we find that most of this group is trying to pursue Shanta, the main suitors being Dil Nawaz and Hasan. We also see all of this through the eyes of a child who is losing her best friend to one of these men. This story is set against the backdrop of an India about to split into two pieces, both of which will be forever damned into hatred. Both suitors are initially peace loving, rational people who urge their friends to stick together despite the religious turmoil that is boiling in Lahore, the setting of the story (and the present day capital of Pakistan). We see the love between Hasan and Shanta bloom, but the story takes a sharp turn into the surreal when Dil Nawaz, played by the loveable, affable Indian superstar Aamir Khan, finds that his sisters have been slaughtered, along with hundreds of other Muslims, on a train from India to Pakistan.
It is here that the narrative turns into the serious tragedy that the story is fated to have. Certainly, Lenny plays a part in this. She crudely asks Dil Nawaz if he saw his sisters in the train dead, not realizing the power of her words. She is unable to see his transition into a cold, heartless man who is filled with hate and revenge. She is still the naïve young girl, stuck in a world which is increasingly violent. Mehta makes her greatest claim for peace through the eyes of this young girl who is fated to be shattered by the end of this story.
After partition and independence, riots and violence explodes throughout Lahore, and Mehta is unflinching in showing the sheer totality of destruction that religion and nationalism can have. The portrait of the world becomes bleak and depressing because modern day viewers know that the situation never goes back to normal: it is still bleak and depressing.
Mehta's filmmaking is sometimes shaky, and her pacing is uneven, but her greatest power is to let the actors do their own jobs. The film works mostly because of two mammoth performances. As Shanta, Das is superb, showing the love she feels for Hasan, the affection for Dil Nawaz, and the incredulousness of a bystander whose beloved city is being destroyed. The true revelation, however, is Khan, who is absolutely astonishing. He cements his reputation as one of India's greatest actors with his brutally honest performance of a young man who is kind, generous, and affable, but also a man who is forced into a life of rage and revenge. Khan is not the main character in the story, but he is an engaging, fiercely dominating screen presence, overshadowing everyone else on screen and becoming, in essence, the face of hate. Khan is both engaging, funny, romantic, vengeful, and cold all within the same movie, and his transition is nothing but genius. Mehta's greatest accomplishment is personalizing hate into the face of Khan, and the effect is devastating.
Former MTV VJ Khanna is good as Hasan, but is mostly a bystander and has mostly a static job. He does well with it, however, and makes a promising debut as an actor. The supporting performances are uniformly outstanding, highlighting a unique cast which is supremely talented in bringing this story to screen. Mehta has a superb talent for shooting her films, and this is no exception: she paints beautiful landscapes of Lahore, with gorgeous renderings of 1947. The other critical component for success is the superb score by A.R. Rahman, India's foremost music composer, who writes a gorgeous and searing score, all combining for a flawed but ultimately stunning film that sears at the soul long after the film is over. "Earth" is not a perfect film, but it is a great one, and it deserves to be seen, recognized, and mulled over for years to come. This is a terrific accomplishment.
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