How sensitive retelling of Partition found place in Bollywood’s azaadi stories; Imtiaz Ali and Rajkumar Santoshi explain

Focus on personal pain, not political upheaval

Both these films have one commonality with other stories about Partition. They look at it through the lens of an individual or a family, rather than as a nation, thereby personalising pain. But while earlier, the pain was largely about the loss of home or identity, now it has transcended that. Preity Zinta, who returns to the big screen with Batwara 1947, explains, “It’s not about ki udhar kya ho raha hai, idhar kya ho raha hai (what is happening this side or that side). It’s about humare ghar mein kya ho raha hai (what is happening in my home). When world events happen, you don’t look at it that way. Woh toh history mein in retrospect aap dekh ke bolte hain ki arre aisa hua (You look back and reflect on how it happened). When you are going through a situation, your first instinct is: my family and me. That is how different people react.”