Preity Zinta‘s portrayal of Hameeda in Rajkumar Santoshi‘s ‘Batwara 1947’ turned out to be a profoundly personal experience for her. As she embodied a woman determined to protect her family through the chaos of the Partition, Zinta found herself tapping into her own life as a wife and mother, an experience she credits with transforming her understanding of the role.
Preity Zinta calls the role a personal experience
In an interview with Variety India, Zinta said, “For me, this was about the love of my family. The beauty of the script for me was that, however dark life could be, one ray of hope is enough to keep you going. This story is a story of hope.”
Preity Zinta recalls a powerful moment on set
Looking back at a particularly powerful moment on set, Preity recalls, “Rajkumar Santoshi came up to me and asked me to think only of what is happening within the family and nothing beyond it. If I hadn’t been a mother or been married, I wouldn’t have understood this suggestion. I understood what it meant because I have my family. Even when we were shooting the train sequence… Sunny has done ‘Gadar,’ so he had an idea of the scenario with the trains and the massive crowd (during the Partition). But for me, it was painful when I did the scene. You won’t feel it if you are not into it.”
Preity Zinta on connecting with Partition-era mothers
She goes on to explain how becoming a mother deepened her connection to the women who endured the horrors of Partition. “Rajkumar Santoshi asked them to move around. I was thinking to myself, I have little kids. When I run out of diapers, I freak out. So what were the mothers doing at that point? Women and children experience the worst. So my character’s whole worldview was her family,” Zinta adds.
Director Rajkumar Santoshi on the film’s deeper layers
Sharing his thoughts on the film’s narrative, director Rajkumar Santoshi says, “There are many layers in the film. Many times, a man puts his family in trouble due to his ego, ideologies or aspirations. This happens to Sikander Mirza, Sunny Deol’s character too. He takes permission from his wife. He also apologizes to her that his decisions might bring trouble for her and asks her to forgive him. He gives that respect to his wife and then she becomes her strength.“
