Takethispunch The story is set in Lahore (now the capital of Pakistani Punjab) in the time period directly before and during the partition of India in 1947 at the time of Indian independence.A young girl with polio, Lenny (Maia Sethna), narrates the story through the voice of her adult self (Shabana Azmi). She is from a wealthy Parsi family who hope to remain neutral to the rising tensions between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims in the area. She is adored and protected by her parents, Bunty (Kitu Gidwani) and Rustom (Arif Zakaria), and cared for by her Ayah, a beautiful Hindu woman named Shanta (Nandita Das). Both Dil Navaz, the Ice-Candy Man (Aamir Khan), and Hassan, the Masseur (Rahul Khanna) are Muslim and in love with Shanta. Shanta, Dil, and Hassan are part of a small group of friends from different faiths (some of who work for Lenny's family) who spend their days together in the park. With partition, however, this once unified group of friends becomes divided and tragedy ensues.

o-90768 The Indian Independence Act of 1947 was passed in July 18, 1947. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, once living hand in hand in harmony, quickly turned against each other in all out war. Earth, directed by Deepa Mehta is a depressing movie about life in a City named Lahore during the split of India, into two countries, India and Pakistan a month after the act was signed. Lahore is handed over to Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs, in a rush migrate to what is now currently India, mostly headed to a city called Amritsar.The movie is set beautifully in Lahore before the chaos. Deepa Mehta shows people living in harmony, such as in a scene when a small group of Muslims, Sikhs are having a picnic, a man named Dil Navaz(aka Ice Candy Man) comes up with a beautiful poem for Lenny(the young daughter of a wealthy Parsee couple). They laugh, and shake hands. This doesn't last very long. People start to get desperate. A little girl is married off to a man, and the same group of friends from the picnic start arguing about which country will get Lahore. Shockingly, one of the Muslims says "We'll put the fear of God up your Hindu trousers," and "Even the British say you Sikhs are a headache, a bloody nuisance." Through this, and many other clues, Deepa Mehta gets her message across: things are falling apart, fast. But Deepa Mehta intentionally adds some hope, giving the viewer suspense, forcing them to infer what is going to happen next. After the derogatory comment by the Muslim man, Hassan, the masseur says "why fight amongst friends? We'll stand by each other, won't we?" and Dil Navaz says "Yes, we'll stand by each other."I really like how makes viewers feel strong waves of sympathy, and doesn't hold back from explicitly showing violent scenes, such as a train massacre on Muslims, and a young Muslim man being torn apart with rope tied to two parts. Deepa Mehta doesn't exaggerate events such as these either. Riots shortly after Independence, and just in a few months people in the millions were killed. In the Riot scene, when numerous Hindu tenements are exploding and catching fire, "firefighters" arrive at the scene. But the "water" that they spray turns out not to be water, but petrol, ironically Dil Navaz, who earlier said "In the eyes of God, we are all equal. You are Hindu, I am Muslim, what's the difference?" this time says "Great! The firefighters must be Muslim." with a glint of delight in his eyes. Earth is a film masterpiece. From the beginning it is enticing. Deepa Mehta's courage in being explicit, especially when the movie is about India and Pakistan is great. Because of her explicitness, which I respect, Earth was banned in Pakistan, and six cuts of the movie were made in India. Mehta's coverage of real-social problems in India is unlike any-other, as shown in her trilogy: Elements Trilogy, which includes Earth. Her use of suspense is really good, with moments throughout the movie, where there are sudden, unexpected changes. This movie portrays the chaos in such a meaningful, touching way that any viewer, even those who are insensitive, will have a soft heart for the victims. I do not recommend this movie to those who are looking for entertainment, but for those who are looking for truth, or those seeking to gain a stronger sense of morality. There was not one point where I lost interest during the movie. I rate this movie a 9/10.

anshul2001anshul Good movie but lot is left unsaid probably because it is an autobiographical account of author. The only problem people who do not know history will form wrong impressions e.g. movie gives a feeling that riots started in Lahore after Tara Singh's speech and Sikh procession while low scale rioting was on since many days. Only one scene where fire brigade actually puts petrol in fire shows that administration was partial but there could be many such scenes. One thing is sure that human tragedy is covered in its fullness but child marriage of author's friend is completely out of frame . Child marriage could be shown but that too with an old man !!! I think movie director has something against Hindus. e.g. costume of nandita Das is completely out of sync from those times. A character of Gulshen grover actually subscribes to the stereotype of violent Sikh without looking into their real loss i.e. loss of thei motherland. In all movie is good if just seen as a human tragedy but it would be foolish if viewers try to make judgmental on role of communities based on this limited information

Aam Aadmi Having seen this few years ago, the first thought was what it had to do with the India-Pakistan partition in 1947. The film neither shed light on the actual circumstances involved nor addressed the social, economic or political ramifications of the massive uprooting of Northwest India into two separate nations.The partition was not about one family, it was about thousands. Nothing in the movie even tries to address this basic fact. Unknown multitudes were left behind. Many lost everything in the shuffle. The politics of why it happened has been brushed aside as inconsequential, when that in fact is why the *historical account* is so riveting. Six decades later, the two countries are still divided over those political and religious issues, ready to go to war at a moment's notice. That this needed to be pointed out shows how out-of-context the movie really is. And then she goes and calls it 'Earth'! Get off your high horse, woman.Mehta is a film-maker who makes stuff for Western consumption. That is fine but she should refrain from taking liberties with Indian/Pakistani audiences who went through the "horror-show" and survived to tell their stories. Mehta should have watched the Hindi TV serial Buniyaad to get SOME clue. Useless side elements filled up the lack of narrative in the film. The characters are totally unempathic and one fails to connect to anyone except the little girl. And what can one say about the direction or technical side of Mehta's "human-interest piece"? Not much.And if this really was Lenny's story, why muddle it all up with a hare-brained depiction of such a monumental calamity??? If you can only deal with a serious subject with the passing curiosity of an outsider, and have no maturity or emotional depth when interpreting its impact on an entire sub-continent, WHY BOTHER TO DELVE INTO IT AT ALL??