Hey Ram! Oh God! Communal Riots and Religious Fundamentalism as Depicted in a Partition Film

Abstract

In South Asia, hardly any historical subject is discussed with such emotion as the Partition of 1947. In the new millennium, after many decades of almost complete silence, writers and film directors (not only) in India have started dealing with 1947. One of the film directors who is keen to show the effects of death, loss and pain on the individual as well the entire Indian nation is the Tamil director Kamal Hāsan. His film Hey Ram! (He Rām!, 2000) is set against the backdrop of the Partition and the assassination of Gandhi in 1947 and the destruction of the Bābrī Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, which led to a wave of violence and communal riots throughout India. The (Hindu) protagonist, Saket Rām, an archaeologist, is traumatized after his wife is killed by Muslims in Calcutta. Later, Saket Rām is deeply influenced by the proponents of hindutva and he even plans to shoot Gandhi. Only an unexpected encounter with his Muslim friend stops him…
 The paper aims at analysing the role of religions as portrayed in the film. Special focus is put on the roots of religious fundamentalism and the question as to whether Hāsan blames anybody for the outbreak of communal violence. Another important issue is the role of history in the prevention of violence.