I EPS Film Screening and Discussion

The students of I EPS screened a short film on June 25, 2013. “The Little Terrorist” portrayed the social and political divide that was caused by the partition of India and Pakistan which could be analyzed using the Sociological Perspective.

This 15 minute film was released in 2004. “The little Terrorist” tells a story set along the border between India and Pakistan. It tells the tale of a Pakistani boy who crosses into the Indian Territory and how a Hindu school teacher saves him from the BSF personnel who have witnessed the intrusion of a Pakistani into India. The story further unravels the sociological truth about villages that were split after the partition. The film also shows the stereotypical ideologies of an Indian/ Hindu Brahmin; they consider the Pakistani/Muslim child as an untouchable and yet they display a shade of humanity when the school teacher and his niece decide to help him cross the border back to Pakistan.

Some of the significant scenes of the film were the Pakistani boy being mesmerised by a group of gypsies singing a song which welcomes strangers and friends alike to their country and the other scene being the climax where the boy hugs the old school teacher and his niece, with neither being disturbed by the fact they the boy was not “supposed” to be touched by an Indian/Hindu Brahmin and vice versa.

The short film also displays the disturbed social patterns of the people living near the borders. The old man, although being an Indian, belonged to a village that encompassed the nearby area including the present day Pakistani village, but was unfortunately ravaged by the partition. He is reminiscent of his village when the boy describes his cricket game under the big, shady tree, the same tree under which the old teacher had played many summers ago. Not only Rajasthan, but states like Punjab, Kashmir, and Gujarat have faced such disturbances which have led to a change in the patterns of the society.  As many students discussed the film, it was clear that the stereotype of people on either sides of the border are as founded as a rock, and it is unlikely that they will consider on reconsidering their opinions on each other. Our Sociological Imaginations will help us to uncover these underlying assumptions and understand them.

By:

Jaikishan Agarwal, I EPS