Jinnah (film)

Jinnah (جناح) is a 1998 Pakistani–British epic biographical film which follows the life of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was directed by Jamil Dehlavi, and written by Akbar S. Ahmed and Jamil Dehlavi. It stars Christopher Lee in the lead role as Jinnah.

To make this film, Shashi Kapoor wanted to invest $1 million. Shashi Kapoor was the victim of controversy from India and Pakistan for acting in the film. It was shown in Mill Valley Film Festival on 15 October 1999. The director of the film accused Akbar Ahmed of embezzling money from the film. Former Channel 4 executive Farrukh Dhondy also helped write the screenplay for the film for £12,000.

Plot
The film opens with the words of Professor Stanley Wolpert: Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three.

A Guide takes Jinnah to 1947 where, at the Cromwell Conference with Lord Mountbatten, Jinnah demands a homeland for Indian Muslims.

In flashbacks, the Guide recounts the marital life of Jinnah, when he falls in love and marries a Parsi named Rattanbai Petit, nicknamed Ruttie, later known against the will of her parents, mainly on grounds of religion and the difference in their ages. In 1922, Jinnah faces political isolation as he devotes every spare moment to be the voice of moderation in a nation torn by Hindu-Muslim antipathy. This creates tension between Rattanbai and Jinnah. She finally leaves him with their daughter, and they eventually separate. The subsequent death of Rattanbai from cancer greatly impacts Jinnah and his fight for Pakistan. He returns to British India to start a political journey of the two-nation theory. At the Muslim League annual conference in 1940, Jinnah addresses thousands of Muslims and gives them the assurance of the birth of Pakistan.

The Guide questions Jinnah as to who he loves the most apart from Ruttie and his sister Fatima. He then mentions his daughter, who married a Parsi boy without his permission.

While addressing a Muslim League conference in 1947, Muslims fanatics attack the conference and argue that if Pakistan is to be a Muslim state, it cannot give equal rights to women and non-Muslims. Jinnah replies that Islam doesn't need fanatics but people with vision who can build the country. However, the partition of India is carried out, and the Guide and Jinnah witness the massacre of Muslims in migration done by Hindus and Sikhs. Jinnah is sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan and announces Liaquat Ali Khan as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. Jinnah then says goodbye to his daughter. Dina promises that she will visit him but stays behind in Bombay with her husband and child.

After independence and the end of British rule, Pakistan stands as a new nation and sanctuary for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Jinnah is given the title of Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan. Jinnah waits for the first train carrying Muslims who left India for Pakistan, but when the train arrives, they are all found dead save for one infant child. Fatimah and Lady Edwina Mountbatten visit refugees and Lady Mountbatten learns the importance of independence. Mountbatten betrays Jinnah as the Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh, stalls his decision on which nation to join. With the population in revolt in October 1947, aided by Pakistani irregulars, the Maharaja accedes to India; Indian troops are airlifted in. Jinnah objects to that and orders that Pakistani troops move into Kashmir, which leads to a war between India and Pakistan then and afterward from time to time in the Kashmir conflict.

The film jumps into a final scene showing Jinnah and Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (last Viceroy of India) in a Heavenly Court. Jinnah is fighting a case against him over his betrayal. The film ends with Jinnah and his angel judge traveling back in time to the scene of Muslim refugees. Jinnah expresses his sorrow over the plight of the refugees during the division of Punjab. They chant "Pakistan Zindabad" in response, which ends the film.

Critical reception
The film received an overwhelmingly positive response in Pakistan. Christopher Lee spoke highly of the film, calling his performance in it the best of his career as well as stressing the importance of the film.

The most important film I made, in terms of its subject and the great responsibility I had as an actor was a film I did about the founder of Pakistan, called Jinnah.

It had the best reviews I've ever had in my entire career—as a film and as a performance. But ultimately it was never shown at the cinemas.

However, the choice of Lee to play the lead role led to a large amount of media controversy in Pakistan because of his previous roles in horror films and vampire films as Count Dracula, with Lee having received death threats which required personal bodyguards during filming. The BBC reported that the threats were due to his previous film roles and not that he was a European playing an Asian. Some critics even demanded a ban on the film.

International awards

 * Grand Prize - Zanzibar International Film Festival
 * Best International Film - World Film Awards, Indonesia
 * Gold Award Best Foreign Film - Worldfest Flagstaff
 * Silver Award, 1999 - WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival
 * Golden Pyramid Award Nomination - Cairo International Film Festival

Film reviews

 * Troubled Jinnah movie opens (BBC News, September, 1998)
 * IO Film Reviews
 * Close-up Film Review: Jinnah
 * "Jinnah the Movie" reviews by Rizwan