Jinnah

As a Westerner, I was only exhibited to one person in recent South Asian history, and that was Gandhi. Call it a media bias but M.A. Jinnah was never mentioned, let alone portrayed in a good or bad light. This film, beautifully pictured as well acted by the honorable Christopher Lee, embellishes historical facts that the West and India ignores. The scenery is excellent, as well as certain key points in the film exclaiming award worthy. A great scene is when Jinnah is talking to a little girl near the end. The humanity is simply awe inspiring. This is a factual portrayal of M.A. Jinnah. You will see others on this site praise or malign M.A. Jinnah, which is obvious of the hatred between some Indians and Pakistanis. Watch this film and read history and be the judge of it yourself.

Best work under wraps - Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee may be starring in the forth-coming Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Star Wars: Episode II, but the lack of distribution for his 1998 film Jinnah continues to be a source of frustration for the actor.

Lee who plays the title role of Mohammed Ali Jinnah – who founded the nation of Pakistan in 1947 – shot the film on location there over a ten-week period in 1997 amid significant controversy (including attempts to have him arrested and deported). Since then, however, the film has never had a proper theatrical release and the ongoing potential for controversy could well be the reason.

At a special screening of Jinnah at the Barbican, Lee told Empire Online that he has been informed that distributors are afraid to show the film, fearing the possibility of terrorist repercussions from Muslim Fundamentalists. He was keen to point out, though, that this would be an unlikely reaction:

"[Jinnah] is the antithesis of that. It is the story of a remarkable man: a husband, a father and a brother who founded a nation. It has absolutely nothing to do with Fundamentalism," said Lee, adding that the film was not a political movie and had"played in Pakistan for a couple of months to packed houses and there was not one dissenting voice."

Lee did hit out at the portrayal of Jinnah in Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning movie Gandhi, however, telling Empire Online: "The presentation of him in the film Gandhi was on the level of distortion. It was wildly inaccurate." Despite his long career, which includes over 200 screen credits, Lee considers Jinnah to be his best work to date.

"I'm very proud of this picture, and it should be shown," he said. "It must be shown. But what can we do about people who, I'm told, are afraid to show it?"

Source : Empire Online UK

This is a high-quality biopic on the life of Jinnah, and an excellent film in general. It is a great character portrayal of a key figure in the history of the Indian subcontinent, and it peels away layers of Jinnah's life in the context of the events that shaped the independence struggle and the partition into India and Pakistan. The pace of the movie is unhurried and yet engaging; all the key actors have done a superb job of portraying their characters well and lent them credibility and depth. Lee, Fox, Kapoor, and Lintern were especially notable.

Being from India, I especially appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the life and persona of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who no doubt was among the most important historic figures of the time that shaped the history of the two countries. I liked the form of the film where Jinnah is challenged and questioned on many of the events in his personal life and on his political ideology. I feel that the film does an honest job of addressing and delving into those issues from his perspective and taking the viewer on an intimate journey into his motivations.

The partition is a sensitive, politically charged, and often divisive issue for the people of India and Pakistan; the scars on either side are deep and not too distant. However, films like Jinnah and also Gandhi to some extent offer a critical glimpse into the human aspects of the leaders of those times and what made them Quaid-e-Azam or Mahatma for the people then and also for the generations that followed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Jinnah and it told the truth unlike Ghandi. The film never got the distribution it deserved in the USA nor surprisingly in England. Why is it that Christopher Lee, the most underrated actor of all time, was never nominated for an award for his superb portrayal of Jinnah? Why was it that this excellent film was passed over? I found it compulsive and once I got used to the strange beginning (angel debating whether Jinnah goes to Heaven or Hell)I was hooked. I would have given it 10 but for the silly scene (location in between Heaven and Hell) with Nehru and Ghandi looking at computer screens..... The trial of Mountbatten. however, was very interesting and clever. If you haven't seen this movie you need to and it is now available on DVD in UK and USA.

Jinnah was more than a mere politician. He was the most important phenomenon in the history of the Muslims of India. He almost single handedly changed the course of history and created one of the greatest Muslim countries of the world; Pakistan. And he did that without shedding a drop of blood throughout the movement of freedom. He did that through his sheer will power and political genius. ‘Jinnah the Movie' is tribute to this great personality of the previous century.

The film took a long time in making and was surrounded with all sorts of rumors and controversies, but the end product is definitely very impressive. Its narration is quite different from the usual biopics. Instead of telling a usual birth to death story ‘Jinnah the Movie' takes a different approach. It travels back and forth in time highlighting important events in Jinnah's life that helps the viewer understand Jinnah the person and Jinnah the leader. Although the deviation from the traditional technique of storytelling gives ‘Jinnah the Movie' an artistic touch but it becomes rather hard for a commoner to grasp the story line. In a country whose literacy rate isn't something to be proud of, the producers probably should have stuck to the usual methods but they took a brave risk by taking an alternative route. They preferred artistic values to the commercial success and they should be appreciated for that.

Editing and art direction are the highlights of ‘Jinnah'. Camera work is brilliant and some of the shots reflect the director's command in his field. Production quality is way above any sub continent film and almost equals the standard of any Hollywood production. The producers deserve a pat on the back for creating such high quality production with a shoe string budget. Christopher Lee gives probably the best performance of his life and Shashi Kapoor deserves special applaud for working in a film that negates many of the India's political beliefs. Maria Aitken as Edwina and Shireen Shah as Fatima Jinnah play their roles perfectly. But Richard Lintern as young Jinnah was most impressive of the whole lot. His performance is really top class and his portrayal of Jinnah was as close to life as possible. A host of actors from Pakistan television have also performed in minor roles although the pick of them is Talat Hussain who shines in his cameo appearance.

All in all ‘Jinnah the Movie' is a tribute to the great leader who, though called snobbish and arrogant, was respected by all his contemporaries for his integrity and honesty. The film answers many questions related to Jinnah, Pakistan and its creation and one must admit that it does that without damaging the artistic quality of the film. Irrespective of its box office performance and the number of awards it garners ‘Jinnah the Movie' is the most important chapter in the history of Pakistani cinema.