Batwara 1947 First Half Review
Batwara 1947, starting Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta and Shabana Azmi, starts with the painful story of Partition and immediately puts Sunny's character Sikandar Mirza in the middle of it. On August 15, 1947, Sikandar is forced to leave his home in Meerut with his wife and daughter after riots break out. But in the chaos, his son Javed, played by Karan Deol, gets separated and is left behind in India.
Sikandar and his family reach Lahore, but instead of settling down, he starts looking for his missing son. He visits relief camps, railway stations and hospitals, hoping that he will somehow find Javed and bring him back to the family.
Things get more interesting when the family is allotted a haveli in Lahore by the custodian department. But there is one problem - a Hindu woman, played by Shabana Azmi, is already living there and refuses to leave the house. This sets up the main conflict of the film, and the story slowly starts building around what happens between them.
Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Abhimanyu Singh, Ali Fazal and Shabana Azmi have all done a good job. Sunny brings the expected intensity to his character, while Shabana Azmi stands out in the emotional portions. The supporting cast also fits well into the story.
The first half is paced quite well and doesn't feel unnecessarily stretched. The background score works nicely and adds to the emotional moments. Thankfully, there are no unnecessary songs breaking the flow of the narrative.
However, the editing and direction could have been a little sharper. Some of the dialogues also feel like they could have been better written. Sunny Deol's action scenes, meanwhile, are a bit too dramatic. The heroism and action are sometimes pushed a little too far, making them feel over-the-top.
Still, the first half manages to keep the interest alive, especially because of the central conflict. The interval comes at a rather interesting point, leaving you curious about what happens next.
So far, Batwara 1947 has an emotional story, decent performances and a good pace, but it could have benefited from tighter editing, sharper dialogues and slightly less dramatic action. Let's see what the second half has in store.
