Ramchand Pakistani

Plot

Champa (Nandita Das) is a Hindu woman who is left desolate when her young son and husband disappear one day from their village at the Pakistan-India border near Nagarparkar, in Tharparkar. The film depicts the crossing of the Pakistan-India border, during a period (June 2002) of war-like tension between the two countries, by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the 'untouchable' dalit caste, and the extraordinary consequences of this unintended action upon the lives of a woman, a man, and their son.

The film is about a Hindu Dalit family living in Pakistan peacefully. Ramchand, the main protagonist, is the son of Shankar and Champa. One day, after an altercation with his mother, Ramchand runs away in anger and, accidentally, crosses the Indo-Pakistan border into India. His father follows him and, he too, crosses the border into India.

After being arrested by the border security personnel, they are sent to a prison in India and stay there for a long time. They get a release order soon, but later it turns out to be a mistake and they are sent back to the jail. Meanwhile, Ramchand’s mother, Champa, leads a life of loneliness and although she takes a temporary job in a faraway place, she returns to her village.

Finally, after a long, when Ramchand has grown a few years, he gets released. He returns home to his mother. His father, Shankar, also gets released soon after. They are united and there, the film ends.

The singular theme of the film is how a child from Pakistan aged eight years learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner, along with his father in the jail of a country (India), which is hostile to his own (Pakistan). Meanwhile, the wife-mother, devastated by their sudden disappearance builds a new chapter of her life, by her solitary struggle for sheer survival.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by Debojyoti mishra and include the following songs:

Awards

The film won the following awards:

1. FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics at the Osian Film Festival, July, 2008
2. Honourable Mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award at the 2008 London Film Festival.
3. Best Actor for Rashid Farooqi at the KaraFilm Festival, Pakistan, 2009
4. Audience Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland, March 2009.
5. Honourable Mention by the Eucumenical Jury at the Fribourg International Film Festival, March 2009.
6. Honourable Mention by the E Changer Award at the Fribourg Int'l Film Festival, March 2009
7. Ramchand Pakistani received a silver medal in the feature film category at the 2012 SAARC Film Awards.
8. Rashid Farooqui received the award for best actor in the feature film at the 2012 SAARC Film Awards.
9. Ramchand Pakistani won Best Film Award on Pakistan Media Award in 2010.