Hum kaun honge agar hum apne badon ke jaise nahi bolte unho dekheso khwaban nahi dekhte?
‘Who would we be if we do not speak like our elders, we do not share their dreams?’, the film When Pomegranate Turns Grey asks poignantly.
Pomegranate is produced by Maktoob Originals and directed by first-time filmmakers Thoufeeq K and Khurram Muraad. It tackles the complex subject which was dubbed ‘Police Action’ – the military operation in 1948 with which the princely state of Hyderabad was annexed. It is alleged that at least “27,000-40,000” Muslims lost their lives, property, and livelihood in the Deccan, the heart of India.
The poster from ‘When Pomegranate Turns Grey’.
The film presents a narrative of Khurram getting to know himself through knowing the past of his grandmother, Gulnar. As he gets acquainted with the horrors of her past, Khurram gets to know his grandmother afresh through unspoken pain and lost desires. Moving between a dreamlike setting and into the everyday realities of living with trauma, the film leaves the viewers with many questions about the status of the Muslim community in India.
As a film scholar, to understand the motivations, and the process of filmmaking I spoke to the filmmakers Thoufeeq and Khurram.
“Growing up in Basavakalyan of Bidar district in Hyderabad Karnataka, I have always heard of references of ‘Action’ whenever there was a curfew or any disturbance but it was not until I spent time with my grandmother during COVID-19, that I bothered to know more about it. As I began scratching the surface, it became evident how much of our lives were intertwined with police action,” said Khurram, discussing the beginnings of the idea of the film.
The film is not just a retelling of the past, its biggest success lies in illustrating how the shadow of trauma and memory looms in the present. “When there was police violence on the Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens protestors, my grandmother asked if ‘Action’ was happening again,” said Khurram, who has just completed his Master’s in Linguistics from University of Hyderabad.
For the survivors, the event is not in the past.
Sitamgar mahina sitambar ka aaya
Namak phir ghamo ke samandar ka aaya
The tyrant month of September is here
bringing the salts of sorrows each year
For the survivors, many of who left the Deccan forever and moved to various corners of the world, the event is akin to Hijrat, the migration of the Prophet. Hyderabadi diaspora around the world also participate in the silent memorialisation of Action.
For a viewer from the Deccan, the film rings very close, through the landscape, the idioms, and the language. “As we interviewed people who had experienced Police Action, we found that they were relying heavily on onomatopoetic sounds to describe the events. They often couldn’t find the words to articulate their experiences, resorting instead to sounds that mimicked the chaos and violence they witnessed,” said Thoufeeq. The film beautifully captures some of the oral histories of the event in their own language.
The idyllic landscape and soil become a geography of horror where the women were violated, of dead bodies which did not receive a burial, of children whose voices were muffled to permanent silence, and of rivers which were bloodied for days. The narratives of ‘Action’ were officially buried with the silencing of the Sundarlal Committee report which investigated the atrocities.
This silence continues until today. “Many people cautioned us, many asked us why we were raking up the past, what the point of this investigation into the past was. But some of them were also eager to narrate their stories,” said Khurram. Perhaps, many of them wanted to share their burden before the end of their lives. “Some asked us if there would be any compensation that would come to them. We did not have any answer. For me it was important to know my own history,” said Khurram.
The historical incident has left a deep-seated mark. “Births, deaths, marriages, all life incidents were marked by the Action,” he said.
Talking about this history is courageous given how the Hindu Right have politicised and vilified it. “We were visiting Gulnar dadi’s house which was now being lived in by a Hindu family. Initially they allowed us in, but suddenly a mob gathered, and we ran for our lives,” narrated Thoufeeq. Given the concerted misinformation around this history, this film comes as much-needed work.
Through Gulnar’s story, the film invites us to the middle of Khurram’s house, to share dinner with them, as she sows seeds in her garden, and into their moments of loss. Sidestepping the question of politics, it tugs at the human struggle at the centre of this history. It asks us, whose histories and losses are memorialised? Who is allowed to remember? The onus is on us to explore.
C. Yamini Krishna works on film history, urban history, and Deccan history. She is the founding member of Khidki Collective.
Pictures by Thoufeeq. Poetry from the film by Khurram Murad.
The film premieres today at Prasad’s Preview Theatre in Hyderabad.
