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Was Jinnah a secular at heart? This question recently created trouble
for LK Advani, leader of India's biggest Opposition party, the right-win
Bharatiya Janata Party, who during a visit to Pakistan tried to
put forward a more secular front by dubbing Jinnah a secular person.
Was Jinnah communal from the very beginning? Or, is it too simplistic
to categories his life span into one ideology? Or is he mystified
in one nation and ignored in another? These are some of the many
questions that have been raised in the riveting documentary, which
was screened for a select gathering yesterday in Delhi.
Zee Telefilms director newsgroup Laxmi N. Goel said ,"The documentary
Jinnah versus Jinnah is another path breaking effort of Zee News
to look at important events through the eyes of dispassionate observers."
The film, rich in its footage from London and Karachi, has been
produced by Zee News in collaboration with News Watch Asia comprsing
some senior print medium jounalist like Raju Santhanam.
While Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been given the status of Quad e Azam
in Pakistan, very little is known about him in India. With historians
on both sides of the border caught in web of their own perspective,
this film attempts to honesty place some facts as they exist, including
the fact, as per admission by a Pakistani personality interviewed
in the film, that in the beginning Jinnah's speeches were secular
--- talking of Hindu-Muslim friendship--- but over the years his
quest for power made practise politics based on religion.
The film is anchored by renowned actor Irfan Khan, who not present
during the screening, is said to have been overwhelmed after reading
the script. According to him, "Jinnah is an intriguing and
fascinating character. It was very interesting to know more about
him and explain the politics of that time."
Well-known advertising and theatre personality, Alyque Padamsee,
who played the role of Jinnah in Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi
and has lent his, voice for Jinnah in this Zee film, said, "The
film portrays the lesser known facts of Jinnah, which people in
India would like to, know."
The film interviews prominent historians of Pakistan like Ayesha
Jalal, London-based sub- continent researcher Syed Hasan Khan, British
historian David Page, besides Mushurral Hassan and Professor Bipin
Chandra to name a few.
The film has also sourced letters from the archives to indicate
that Jinnah and Winston Churchill were in secret correspondence
as both were working towards a common cause of not to give the entire
nation of India to the Congress.
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