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To Celebrate Indian Independence Day, Mom and I watched Viceroy’s House
It’s both happy and also tragic
The photograph above shows what used to be the Viceroy’s House and is now the Rashtrapati Bhavan or President’s House. It’s a huge and beautiful building located in New Delhi and is the gorgeous location for most of the movie, Viceroy’s House.
The movie was based on the book Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre and published in 1975.
The movie makes it clear that Gandhi didn’t want to split India. He didn’t want partition. He wanted Hindus and Muslims, as well as other Indian groups such as Sikhs, to live together like brothers.
Would it have been better if India hadn’t split into India and Pakistan?
The movie shows scenes of tragedy — about a million people died and many millions were displaced. The director of the film’s mother experienced loss herself as one of her babies died during the migration.
Who was guilty?
Some blame the British, but perhaps they only exploited the underlying rifts in Indian society?
The movie provides some context, but I think I will need to read the book and talk to my mother and her brother and other older relatives for their perspective…
