"ramchand pakistani" (2008) vs "main hoon na" (2004)

A theme/issue of global concern

The issue discussed in both these films is about the people who innocuously cross borders (because of undefined or no highlighted area to part the two states from another) are later labelled as terrorists. Whether they may be innocent or not, they are jailed without trial and taken as prisoners and their families suffer. This problem has been highlighted in both the countries, two times shown in Indian films (Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Main hoon na) and one time in Pakistan (Ramchand Pakistani).

Logic:

I wanted to consider this topic, because it’s a topic of mere importance which hasn’t been resolved since partition 1947. The issue pursuing since 60+ years due to which so many of our own innocent people of the nation suffer. Even there are several cases of children who accidently cross the border and have to suffer and spend several years in prison.

Both Indian and Pakistani people suffer from this issue in both the countries. Every year hundreds of people cross border unintentionally and considered as terrorists and their release is not always easy, both the nations do release some of them after years of suffering in jail but as we all know the relationship between both the nations Pakistan-India id so complex because of the historical and the political events.

The film “ Ramchand Pakistani” is the Pakistani drama and the social problem film which is in urdu language. The film is directed by “ Mehreen Jabbar” and is written by “ Javed Jabbar”.

The film “ Main hoon na” is an Indian drama film which also have a little comedy in it directed by “ Farah Khan” and written by “ Abbas Tyrewala, Farah Khan and Rajesh Saathi”.

Treatment:

Characters in the films: Both the movies have 5 main characters.

Script Writer Theme:

Ramchand Pakistani is the reality based and a true story which highlights the social issue of arresting people who cross the borders mistakenly and depict their sufferings.

Main Hoon Na is based on a social issue but it also have a drama and a comedy factor in it.

Story narrates the script writer theme or not:

Ramchand Pakistani do narrate the script writer theme clearly as it only focuses on the main issue. And also because it is reality based movie.

In Main Hoon Na the story highlights that the releasing of innocent prisoners is important to promote peace within two countries at the same time it shows that how there are people within the same country who don’t want peace and are spreads hate and how the strong military officers handles the situation and stick to their mission and complete it on the other side shows the Son and the Father story how he he has to fulfil his father last wish and being a soldier has to perform his duties too and a romantic love story too. But the one issue that is common in both the movies is about those innocent prisoners in both the countries.

How the characters relates to the issue in the film:

In Main Hoon Na, Shah Rukh Khan played the role of Ram Parsad who is a major and helps Kabir Bedi who played the role a general in a mission “ Mission Milap” and Suneil Shetty who was against this mission and kills innocent people of Pakistan considering them as terrorists.

In Ramchand Pakistani, the mother’s role is played by Nandita Das who suffered alone with the hope of returning back of his husband and the son and the father role is played by Rashid Farooqui who crossed border in search of his missing son and the Syed Fazal Hussain as Ramchand (the child) the main character of this film. Other than that there are 3 other strong characters.

➢ The Ramchand Pakistani do resemble with the Bollywood movies. But there are no songs. There is only the flute music in the movie which makes it more attractive and represents the Pakistani culture in Thar areas. The cinematography shows the beautiful scenery of

➢ The cinematography of Main Hoon Na is amazing. Every frame is given the colorful look. Lens made the character look stunning. Dialouges are beautifuly written. The effects in the movie are fantastic.

Summary:

The theme of Ramchand Pakistan is seperation and suffering. The sub themes include, love and sacrifice. How the life of a young village boy, Ramchand took a 180 degree turn in seconds as he crossed the border between India and Pakistan. Coming to a foreign territory wasn’t his fault, but because even today, 60+ years after partition some borders near regions like Thar, in this movie etc are still undefined. As cruel it may sound, but a 7 year old innocent boy was not only separated from his mother, but kept in a foreign jail just because he had crossed an undefined, non-signified border. The 3323 km long border is not still properly signified and fenced because of different terrains. The problem is understandable, but does this provide the government right to take these people into jail without a trial?

It isn’t the tale of just this boy, but many people still suffer because of this ever existing issue. Mehreen Jbar being a Pakistani director, showed a hindu family’s suffering instead of pakistani’s because the main idea was to depict, how cruel separation can be. To suffer pain and agony, without a reason, to understand life at 7 years of age, is it really humane? To suffer pain and agony, without a reason, to understand life at just 7 years of age, is it really humane? She highlighted a reality based issue, that exists for years and though the film released in 2008, the problem still exists.

In Main Hoon Na Issue is project milaap. People living in jail for years haven’t seen their families because they have been found crossing the borders. And the prisoners are in both the nations. So India is proposing and idea to release these prisoners in an event called project milaap on 15 August. And an Indian extremist force is opposing this idea, claiming that these people are terrorists. And he even shoots these innocent people. Raghvan does this, and without trial. When he is questioned he claims that these were terrorist trespassing. But he is proved wrong, and blamed for taking innocent lives. He is driven out of the Indian army, and taking this as an insult. He starts working against his own people, to stop this project milaap to release other prisoners. When he finds out that Pakistan too is in favour to release the prisoners on their side. He is furious and now he targets Shahrukh and people close to him. Hijacks a university and threatens to kill these students. But he is defeated. And project milaap successfully takes place.

The issue is again the same. Crossing borders because they are not fenced. Killing innocent people. Keeping them in jail without trial. Though ones country’s defence and security is the top most priority but jailing innocent people? This is not the answer to this existing problem. In this movie, Farah Khan highlighted the themes of Love and sacrifice. At times evil exists within our own state of circle. Since the conflict in this movie was between human vs human. She ends the movie with unity, that both the countries were successful in releasing their sides prisoners, and shows how anxious the both countries people were to receive their families who were separated from them for years. That a person spends his God given one life in jail and being innocent separated from family, his own nation. Farah Khan depicted this thought showing opposing from her own country. That evil can also sprout in your own family, circle etc as well. She showed unity through her series of events showing a positive image of Pakistan that even though they were keeping the prisoner because of the border issue, they willingly agreed to project milaap proposed by the Indian army.