Toba Tek Singh:The story of partition through the eyes of Deranged

Toba Tek Singh is a 2018 Hindi Language film directed by Ketan Mehta. The story set in the Mental Asylum of Lahore where after Partition, the governments of Pakistan and India decided to exchange lunatics in the same way that they had swapped prisoners. The lead Protagonist Bishan Singh’s character performed by Pankaj Kapoor and the character of Sadat Hasan Manto acted by Vinay Pathak, and once again they proved that why we called them a powerhouse of talent. The story mainly focused on the Bishan Singh, and everybody called him Toba Tek Singh. The older staff of the asylum knew that he had been a well-to-do fellow who had possessed large land in Toba Tek Singh village. Then he had suddenly gone mad. His family had brought him to the asylum in chains and left him there. They came to meet him once a month but ever since the communal unrest had begun, his family had stopped visiting him. He did not know what date, what month, what day it was, and how many years he had spent in the asylum. Yet as if by his gut feeling he knew when his family was going to visit, and on that day he would take a long bath, scrub his body with soap, comb it, and put on clean clothes. If his family asked him anything he would keep quiet or burst out with Uper the gur gur the annexe the bay dhayana the mung the dal of the laltai" and he continuously murmuring this. His feet were swollen with constant standing and his calves had puffed out in the middle, but despite this pain, he never thinks about to lie down. When all the prisoners came to know about the exchange Bishan Singh asked Toba Tek Singh kithe hai and one of his companions said God knows, he asked the other one who always pretends himself as he’s near to god and talking to him he said hamne abhi aadesh nahi dia. The character Bishan Singh take you back to the character of Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza in Garam Hava, when he and his family were tortured after partition for their Muslim identity, in the same way, Bishan Singh forcibly was sent to Hindustan when his heart and soul lied in Pakistan. Symbolically with the condition of Bishan Singh, the director portrays the story of those who left everything after partition, their home, their roots, and the most important their memories. The director portrays the pain through the eyes of these Lunatics that Partition had been a trauma for everyone. The Director also includes the small part of Saadat  Hasan Manto's story “Khol Do” where a girl was found near the railway station but she lost consciousness. The scene when the warden of Male asylum ( Manto) came to meet her and he found that one of the lunatics was fixed with ropes, he told the female asylum warden that just open her( Khol Do) and the girl next to him with fear suddenly down her pants and the scene itself was elucidated a diverse story of partition. At long last the preparations for the exchange were complete. On a cold winter late afternoon, truckloads of Hindu and Sikh lunatics from the Lahore asylum were moved out to the Indian border under police escort. Senior officials went with them to ensure a smooth exchange. The two sides met at the Wagah border check-post, signed documents and the transfer got underway. When Bishan Singh's turn came to give his details to be recorded in the register, he asked the official "Where's Toba Tek Singh? In India or Pakistan? "The officer cackled loudly, "In Pakistan, of course. Hearing that Bishan Singh turned and ran back to join his companions. The Pakistani security caught him and tried to drive him across the line to India. Bishan Singh wouldn't move. It was explained to him over and over again that Toba Tek Singh was in India, or very soon would be, but all this urging had no effect. They even tried to pull him to the other side, but it was no use. There he stood on his inflamed legs as if no power on earth could remove him. Soon, since he was a harmless old man, the officials left him alone for the time being and continued with the rest of the exchange. Just before the sunrise, Bishan Singh let out a terrible scream. As everybody rushed towards him, the man who had stood straight on his legs for fifteen years, now laid on to the ground. On one side, behind the pointed wire, stood together with the lunatics of India and on the other side, behind the more pointed wire, stood the lunatics of Pakistan. In between, Toba Tek Singh dies in the no man’s land, between India and Pakistan.