8/25/2022

FATIMAH JINNAH FAMILIAR : HONOURS WEB SERIES

 


Through the ages. Prologue for a web series on Fatima Jinnah lifts the curtains on crucial turning points. A 14-min-long prologue of Danial K Afzal's upcoming web series Fatima Jinnah : Sister | Revolutionist | Stateswoman is out.

The biopic and period drama divides Jinnah's life into three eras, with respect to major turning points, and stars Sundus Farhan, Sajal Aly, and Samiya Mumtaz in each era respectively.

The prologue presents the altercations and dilemmas faced by Jinnah through the ages, as it sheds light on the power figure she was.

1929

It takes off at the clinic of Jinnah. We see Sundas embodying Fatima Jinnah in her 30s, draped in a saree and seemingly taking on and simultaneously letting go of some responsibilities.

The politician who had obtained a dental degree from the University of Calcutta in 1923, was the first female dentist of undivided India.

At her clinic in the Bombay presidency under the British Raj, she picks up the Bombay chronicle and disappointingly looks at the cover page, which announced the sudden and tragic demise of Rattanbai Jinnah, also known as Ruttie Jinnah, the second wife of her brother and politician Mulammad Ali Jinnah.

Speaking to her subordinate, Joseph, who is heard urging her to think twice about some undisclosed matter, she inquires about a caretaker she had requested for Dina, since her mother is no longer alive.

She holds on to a notice of cessation, which informs, ''This letter hereby serves as a discontinuation notice for the practise of dentistry undertaken by Dr. Fatima Jinnah at the address mentioned forthwith.

In the meanwhile, an announcement is vaguely heard on the radio that informs about a pet who has demanded ''complete independence from the British.''

1947

The prologue time-travels us to 1947 at the Northwest Railway Junction in Lahore, where a train is set to take passengers to Pakistan has been attacked.

Uncertainty looms as the promise of an independent state is fulfilled and Fatima Jinnah, now in her 50s [played by Sajal Aly], steps onto the scene of crime. An informant is heard alarming someone on the phone, ''Call for Lord Mountbatten, a train to Lahore was compromised. I repeat, a refugee train to Lahore was attacked.''

Jinnah stood shaken inside the train cabin, surrounded by bodies. Dananeer, who plays an Indian girl Aneeta, also a subordinate to Jinnah, stands alongside her, devastated by the vision.

The train floor presents a scene of war. Jinnah moves towards a body holding a Quran, she picks it up, only to be taken aback by the sound of a crying baby.

As she moves towards the sound and discovers yet train cabin filled with bodies. The baby lies atop its dead mother, devastated and waiting to be rescued. Jinnah takes the child and is one again, interrupted by the sound of something breaking.

Joseph, who's been accompanying her this time whole time, goes to see what has happened. He discovers a girl with her eyes wide open, crumpled under the bodies of her family and fellow cabin members. 

Traumatised, she begins to scream for her life. Jinnah tears by the sound and comes to the scene but the girl does not stop. Her fear and devastation echo through the train.

Joseph joins in her screaming and begins to cry, unable to comprehend what has transpired. Jinnah stands ahead of him, numbed from the pain of having to collect the remains of the price she had to pay for an independent state.

The gore isn't glamorized and the forced migration is shown for what it was and what it led up to, a mass massacre.

The bodies represent no sacrifice. It is evident that all the passengers were caught off-guard and didn't anticipate losing their lives for the state they had yet to see. The very passengers that abandoned their ancestral homes and livelihoods for an overnight move.

Radio Hindustan Delhi announces, ''Aaj Hindustan mein, Angreez sarkaar ke 200 saal ka khaatma hua. Lord Mountbatten ne Viceroy ka khitab chordiya. Aur Mr. Jinnah Pakistan ki taraf rawaana horahay hein.''

The World Students Society thanks News Desk, The Express Tribune.

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