Rabba Hun Ki Kariye
Thus Departed Our Neighbours
Ajay Bhardwaj
India 2007
Punjabi with English Subtitles
65 Minutes

Producer/Director: Ajay Bhardwaj

While India won her independence from the British rule in 1947, the north western province of Punjab was divided into two. The predominantly Muslim areas of West Punjab became part of Pakistan, and the Hindu and Sikh areas of East Punjab remained with, the now divided, India. The truncated Punjab bore scars of large-scale killings as each was being cleansed of their minorities.

Sixty years later, Rabba Hun Kee Kariye, trails this shared history divided by the knife. For the first time a documentary turns its gaze at the perpetrators, as seen through the eyes of bystanders. While East Punjabis fondly remember their bonding with the Muslim neighbours and vividly recall its betrayal, the film excavates how the personal and informal negotiated with the organised violence of genocide. In village after village, people recount what life had in store for those who participated in the killings and looting. Periodically, the accumulated guilt of a witness or a bystander, surfaces, sometimes discernible in their subconscious, other times visible in the film.

Without rancour and with great pain a generation unburdens its heart, hoping this never happens again.

Director’s Bio

Ajay Bhardwaj is a documentary filmmaker based in Delhi. He has a Masters in Mass Communications from M.C.R.C. Jamia Milia Islami and in Political Studies from Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi. From 1990 – 1996 he worked with television companies directing and producing a diverse range of programmes like current affairs, election analysis, game shows, chat shows, popular science shows as well as infotainment programmes. He is making documentaries since 1997.