Train to Pakistan

The film was made to commemorate the golden jubilee of Indian Independence, 
  but Train To Pakistan, with its humanist message, remains a film for 
  all times. Based on the novel by Khushwant Singh, the film has a message that 
  transcends the border of the little village where the action takes place.


It is the summer of 1947. The border with Pakistan has become a scene of rioting 
  and bloodshed. But in the village where Sikhs and Muslims have always lived 
  peacefully together, partition does not mean much. Life is regulated by the 
  trains that rattle across the nearby bridge. 

  

  Then, a local moneylender is murdered. Suspicion falls upon Juggut Singh, the 
  village gangster, who, when not in jail, is carrying on a clandestine affair 
  with a Muslim girl. A train comes to their village at an unusual time and the 
  villagers find it full of dead bodies of Sikhs. Some days later, the same thing 
  happens again. The village becomes a battlefield of conflicting loyalties and 
  neither the magistrate nor the police are able to control the rising tide of 
  violence. Juggut Singh sacrifices himself and saves the lives of many Muslims. 



This is Pamela Rooks' second feature film, her first being the critically acclaimed 
  Miss Beatty's Children, which won the National Award for the Best First 
  Film of a director and for the Best Cinematography in 1993.

  

  

  Punjabi/1997/Color/108 min

  Direction / Screenplay: Pamela Rooks

  Story: Khushwant Singh

  Music: Kuldip Singh, Taufiq Qureshi

  Cast: Nirmal Pandey, Mohan Agashe, Ranjit Kapur, Smriti Mishra