The Lost Migration
A FILM BY: Shahbano Farid Introduction
After nearly a century of rule, in August 1947, the British finally gave independence to India. This led to the creation of two new countries along religious divisions: a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan (including East Pakistan which is modern-day Bangladesh).
It also led to the largest forced migration of human population; it is estimated over 10-20 million people moved during the dissolution of the British rule (that is larger than the population of NYC and Connecticut combined). This created a massive refugee crises and an outburst of violence in which millions of lives were lost.
The already strained relationship between the Hindus and Muslims was further exacerbated by the partition and hostility still lingers in the diplomatic relationship between these two nations.
While the decades of distrust and hostility between the two nations is globally known, the details of the partition which led to the strained modern-day relationship is under-documented.
A few archival initiatives have taken place, however, there is no visual medium that feels Map of India — Pre partition,1947 substantial enough to carry these narratives through the coming generations.
With millions of people affected by the partition — several of them being my grandparents, aunts and uncles — it is our duty for the sake of humanity to document, first hand from the survivors themselves, the journeys they took to create new lives — to ensure another mass forced migration such as this does not lead to endless violence or senseless loss of life. The Lost Migration (WK)
Synopsis The Lost Migration is a documentary that shares 5 first-hand interviews of survivors from the the largest migration to take place, the partition of India and Pakistan. This film will cover the lives of the survivors before the partition; the days leading into their respective moves; the move itself; and their journey to building new lives.
Throughout their narratives, we’ll hear from renowned experts on the history and context which will better illustrate the subject’s story narration.
We’ll end with where these individuals are now; how their identities have been shaped by the partition; and take one of them (my grandfather) back to their hometown, Sherkot, India.
Format The Lost Migration is a feature length documentary
Distribution and platform Submitted for festival circuits and distribution platforms such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Why this project
This project has a dying lifeline, literally. A ten-year old during the partition is currently in their 70’s and likely will not be around to share their stories in the coming decades. If we do not capture the interviews of survivors now we may never fully understand the details, severity and impact this migration had on millions of people. Taking inspiration from Steven Spielberg’s project “Survivors of the Shoah,” I hope to archive even a fraction of the 10 million stories that are going without notice.
These stories affect affect every 1 in 7 person on Earth, meaning they impact more than 1 billion people out of our world of more than 7 billion.
Moreover, these stories are invaluable to the current state of world affairs. As we witness yet another refugee crisis around the globe — affecting over 70 million people — this project will set the stage for how not to repeat history as well as serve as a solace for new refugees forging a path of re-self discovery within their identities. About me
My name is Shahbano Farid and I am a second generation Pakistani. My children will be first generation Americans and it’s inextricably linked to my identity — as i’m sure millions of others like me — to pass down the history of my parents and grandparents lives that I am directly the result of. This project is personal because of my grandparents migration story however it’s even more meaningful when I think about all the other stories I can help capture for families just like mine. Our advisors
Suroosh Alvi Suroosh Alvi is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and filmmaker. He is the co-founder of Vice Media, a youth media brand operating in more than 50 countries. Alvi is a travelled journalist and an executive producer of film, covering global youth culture, news, and music.
Patrick Moses Patrick Moses is an executive producer with a track record of highlighting subcultures around the world. His EP credits include Dopesick Nation, Noisey, and The Therapist with Michael K. Williams. He is also the creator of the original Real Housewives franchise for Bravo.
Ayesha Jalal Ayesha Jalal is a Pakistani-American historian who serves as the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, and was the recipient of the 1998 MacArthur Fellow. Born in Lahore, Jalal studied at Wellesley College before moving to Trinity College, Cambridge where she received her doctorate in 1983. The elements
Interview Comfortable living room/ bedroom setting, close up on subject, background obscure
Subject will be prompted questions off camera
Archival Archival photos and videos to be overlaid when explaining a journey, severity of an event or when talking in depth about a certain topic (e.g. turning a picture of a map into an animation showing someone’s journey; a picture of Jinnah and Nehru as a scholar narrates a situation between the two leaders)
B-Roll To help bring to life the emotions and actions of the subjects while they explain. Additionally to help the audience get to know the subject beyond their interview and foster an emotional tie with their story (e.g. my grandfather speaking to his brother candidly about something adjacently related to his interview — possibly a memory. Sample interviwees
Ehsan Siddiqui - Survivor My Grandfather and the inspiration for this project.
Veera Hirandania - Survivor & Historian Writer of The Night Diary (Named one of 2018’s Best Book of Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Amazon etc). With a book under her belt and a passion for storytelling, Veera will be able to add detail to the personal narratives others are sharing. Whereas they are speaking from a personal space, she can expand her story to reach a wider audience that may know nothing about the subject.
Ayesha Jalal - Historian Ayesha Jalal is a Pakistani-American historian who serves as the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, and was the recipient of the 1998 MacArthur Fellow. Born in Lahore, Jalal studied at Wellesley College before moving to Trinity College, Cambridge where she received her doctorate in 1983. Sample Storybeats Act 1 - Set up Bucolic life + Rising Menace
We meet Ehsan as he’s in the kitchen telling the cook exactly how to cook his roti for lunch. “Not too stiff and not too fluffy, just like his mother used to make.” We cut to him sitting in the living room with his two brothers, sister in law and a grandchild as they drink chai. The family asks what the interview is for and Ehsan excitedly tells them, “my beautiful granddaughter is making a film about me” (directing his comment towards me, his granddaughter). We start the interview, now seen in his parlor with nicer furniture and art hanging up, as he gets ready to share his story. The Lost Migration
The frame fades into black. The Lost Migration title card appears.
We meet Ehsan as well as four other subjects that start to tell their story from their earliest memories of their childhood where they grew up. From their most cherished activities to favorite foods and everything in between, we start with a playful narrative of life pre-partition.
The interviews are interlaced with introductions of partition survivors who begin to share the lives that were lived before political religious and economic issues started taking shape early in January 1947. Animations of these depictions are overlaid with their VO. Sample Storybeats Act 2 - The Journey
The partition/the day Ehsan started his journey to Pakistan—Ehsan and our other subject’s lives would change forever. We hear individual stories from each of them on what it was like for them.
He didn’t know what out of his possessions what was more valuable than the other…even so, he took what he could carry and went downstairs to see the elephants packed up with the family’s belongings. Some of his uncles and aunts decided they would stay. He held back his tears in the fear that his father would tell him to stop crying. He was the eldest after all.
Historians fill our subject’s stories with an overarching view of what was taking shape around the country. The riots started in Calcutta but they quickly started to spread. It seemed as if all of a sudden people were meant to choose a side. How did this shift happen over night? We hear how manipulative propaganda from the British empire as well as the hasty border drawing would set the stage for India and Pakistan’s relationship to this day.
We cut back to our subjects on their journey. Ehsan’s started in Sherkot. They traveled through Delhi, past Lahore and then finally after four days of travel by elephant and foot, they arrived to their new home in Attock. I ask him if he can go into more detail about the journey and he goes quiet. “No, no I’ve forgotten most of it” he says hastily. Then goes on to say “It was a scary time. We saw many people die and others who were already dead. I didn’t know what I was looking at.” Sample Storybeats Act 3 - New Life & Old Hopes
The subjects have now recounted their migration and the heavy lift for their emotional testimonies has passed. We give them a second to gather themselves.
Ehsan explains his new life in Pakistan. “Life after that was good. That’s when some of my brothers and sisters came to this world. That made 5 siblings into 10. In ways we had resentment towards them, they were true ‘Pakistanis’ whatever that meant. But more than t hat, they would never understand what their family went thru before they got here. They had it easy.”
Ehsan’s siblings resumed school but at this point he was 17 and his parents needed his help at home and to rebuild their business they had in India. They started from nothing, leaving most of their wealth, business, possessions and memories in Sherkot. Other individuals give their take on how their identities shifted, life in their new homes and things they miss the most from where they had to leave.
Our historians/experts add their knowledge of how the newly found governments of Pakistan and India started to work towards a promised “better life.” Viewers learn about the issues that started then and are present now, one of the most prominent difficulties being going back to your origins — getting a visa to visit either country if you’re from the other is almost impossible. Animations help paint this picture as our subjects share personal moments post partition.
I tell my grandfather (off-camera) that we’re going to take him back to his house in Sherkot where his cousin lives. He is emotional but contains himself. He says he’s ready. Sample Storybeats Act 4 - New Identities / Going Home
We hear final testimonies from our other four subjects that close out their interviews. We also close out historian interviews as they explain in more detail the current relationship between the two countries and their potential future — as forever foes or possible allies?
We cut to the weeks that would follow our interview with Ehsan as we plan his trip to Sherkot. The viewers see us preparing for the trip with long nights of visa applications, correspondence with both Pakistani and Indian government officials and mapping out our journey. Three weeks go by and the day of travel is finally here.
After a day-long journey, we finally arrive to Sherkot. Everything is quiet. We’re still as we let him take in whatever emotions are going through him. He stays quiet and holds back tears. He walks straight in without hesitation and calls for his cousins.
Screams of joy start ringing through the large palace house. This is where it all started. This was his home. Everyone rejoices and spends time catching up. Ehsan takes us through his house and memories. We cut to his final interview in the house.
We first ask him how he’s feeling.“Good; I feel good.” It’s hard to get emotion out of him but we can tell he is happy. We begin to ask him about his identity and what it feels like to be back. “I am a Muslim first. So, it doesn’t matter if I was Indian or Pakistanibecause those come second. I am happy to be here but I will also be happy to go back home to Karachi.” “Even the fruit on the trees tasted of blood… when you broke a branch, red would come out…some people say they had temporarily gone crazy,”
Sudershana Kumari, survivor and archival interviewee for the Partition Museum in Amritsar “Gangs of killers set whole villages aflame, hacking to death men and children and the aged while carrying off young women to be raped.”
Nisid Hajari, writer of Midnight Furies “We were on our own, the police never came to help.”
Arif Mir, father of BBC Radio Four Saturday Live presenter Aasmah Mir Style / Tone Moodboard Style / Tone Moodboard Style / Tone Moodboard Thank You