Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: Movies and books that documented the gruesome mass murder

— By Sonali Pimputkar | Apr 12, 2018 02:35 pm

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre, marks one of the darkest moment in Indian history. The incident ignited the first spark of the Indian freedom movement, which ultimately led to the fall of the British empire. On April 13, 1919, the troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer fired upon a crowd who had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar for the annual Baisakhi celebration and also to protest peacefully against the deportation of two national leaders Dr Satya Pal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew. As per the British record, the incident killed 379 people and wounded 1,200, however, the Indian National Congress estimated killing of over 1,000 people. The Jallianwala Bagh is a public garden of 6 to 7 acres with five entrances and wall on all the sides. The troops first blocked the entry of the ground by a tank, locked the exit and fired continuously for ten minutes, killing and injuring many. The bullets were fired on the people who were trying to flee from the open gates. To save themselves people even jumped into the well and after the massacre over 120 bodies were recovered.

Authors, poets, and filmmakers have been paying tribute to the gruesome mass murder with their books, poems, and movies. Here’s a list of artistic portrayals of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Jallianwala Bagh Mein Vasant (1932)
Freedom revolutionary and distinguished poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s poem ‘Jallianwala Bagh Mein Vasant’ in her anthology ‘Nikhre Moti’. Also been part of many curricula, the poem portrays what bravery, sacrifice and tragedy in the freedom struggle. Chauhan is also remembered for her poem ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’.

Watch: Lyricist and playback singer Swanand Kirkire recites ‘Jallianwala Bagh Mein Vasant’.

Jallian Wala Bagh (1977)
Produced and directed by Balraj Tah, the film features Vinod Khanna, Parikshat Sahni, Shabana Azmi, Sampooran Singh Gulzar and Deepti Naval. The film is a part-biopic of Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, and showcased aftermath of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Midnight’s Children (1981)

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is based on real historical events and portrays life in India at the time of India’s independence. The protagonist Saleem describes Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in the chapter titled ‘Mercurochrome’ on pages 32-35. The retelling of the massacre is factual and is shown from the perspective of a doctor in the crowd, who is saved from the gunfire.

Gandhi (1982)
Richard Attenborough’s 1982 film Gandhi chronicled the massacre where the role of the notorious General Dyer is played by Edward Fox. The film portrays an accurate description of the massacre and subsequent inquiry by the Montague commission.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002)
Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ features Ajay Devgn, Sushant Singh, D Santosh and Akhilendra Mishra in lead roles. The film chronicles Bhagat Singh’s life where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and takes a vow to free India from the British rule.

Rang De Basanti (2006)
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, ‘Rang De Basanti’ features Aamir Khan, Siddharth Narayan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor and Atul Kulkarni as lead freedom fighters Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Ashfaqullah Khan and Ramprasad Bismil. A part of the film depicts the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in black and white sequence and the influence it had on the freedom fighters.

City of Ghosts (2009)
Bali Rai’s novel ‘City of Ghosts’ is a blend of fact with fiction and magical realism. The novel is partly set around the massacre.

Midnight’s Children (2012)
Directed by Deepa Mehta, the film ‘Midnight’s Children’ is an adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s 1981 novel of the same name. The film features Shriya Saran, Satya Bhabha, Siddharth Narayan, Ronit Roy, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Shahana Goswami, Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Anita Majumdar, Darsheel Safary and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. The movie portrays few scenes of the massacre.

Phillauri (2017)
The film features Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma and Mehreen Pirzada. The film portrays the massacre and the stampede, shot at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial. The film’s lead character ‘Shashi’s spirit, portrayed by Anushka, cannot find peace as her lover lost his life in Amritsar in the massacre and is unable to return to their village for their wedding.

An apology from the British

In January 2017, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor while speaking on his book ‘An Era of Darkness: The British Empire In India’, said that the Jallianwala Bagh centenary in 2019 will be a ‘good time’ for the British to apologise to the Indians.
In December 2017, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is of Pakistani-origin, also said that the British should apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. Khan was on a three-day India tour and visited the Jallianwala Bagh complex.
In October 1997, Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip visited Jallianwala Bagh, but no apology for the massacre was offered.
In February 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameroon visited Jallianwala Bagh offered regrets over the massacre but no formal apology was offered.

Unfortunately, it has been almost a century but India has not received any formal apology from the British. On the occasion of the 99^thanniversary of the massacre, let’s spend a minute to pay tribute to those who lost their lives.