Marvel’s latest show ‘Ms Marvel‘ has given the South Asian community a lot to debate over, from beloved actors making appearances, to familiar songs being used and now, the latest episode of the show has given desi people all over a chance to argue over the 1947 Partition.
‘Ms Marvel‘ follows the story of a Pakistani-American teenage girl, Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, a Pakistani-Canadian actor. Kamala, who is a massive superhero fan, discovers that she has superpowers after receiving a gold bangle from her grandmother Sana, played by veteran Pakistani actress Samina Ahmed.
The latest episode of the show has Kamala travelling back in time to when her great-grand mother Aisha, played by Mehwish Hayat, was migrating to Pakistan in 1947. The episode is rife with emotion, as Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy successfully evokes the bittersweet chaos and sorrow of what the migration must have felt like.
“I have been involved in collecting oral histories of the 1947 partition for the better part of two decades— so to be able to bring those stories to life for #MsMarvel was truly special”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Director of Episode 4 @msmarvel pic.twitter.com/j7hELj7mL3
— Ms. Marvel Updates⚡️ (@msmarvelupdates) June 30, 2022
#MsMarvel
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As a South Asian it was so difficult to even watch this horror unfold that our grandparents went through 75 years ago. Marvel so far did a great job realistically portraying the Partition of India pic.twitter.com/XnQKJcX8Ob— Swarna | exams era (@kidofmisfortune) June 29, 2022
But one Partition related scene in particular has got people worked up. In the scene, Kamala’s Nani tells her about the emotional duality of identity that came with the Partition.
However, some people seem to think that the last sentence, when Nani says that people are claiming identities based off of an idea by the British is problematic and not an accurate portrayal of history.
There are some who argue that this idea takes away the agency of the Hindus and Muslims who fought hard to get their independence.
– The idea of a different state for Muslim Majority Pakistan and Hindi Majority India was made to protect the Muslim minority of the sub-continent.
– The British did not force partition, rather it was Jinnah and the Muslim League that asked for it.— جعفر. | .Jaffar (@jaff1r) June 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/UrvaAK_/status/1542174697558884355
White washing the crimes of pre partition Hindu supremacist and undermining the 100 years of struggle of freedom of Muslim minority in Subcontinent.. Undermining 1857 revolt, Khilafat Movement and Two Nation Theory.
That's not how Pakistanis view Partition as.. #MsMarvel https://t.co/zAhbaxsbeV— undone (@shaat_up) June 29, 2022
The correct word is Independence of Pakistan , Not partition this is so much of an Indian narrative 🤢 tell me Marvel what is the hidden agenda behind repeating the word partition? It is so insulting to all the Pakistanis @msmarvel @Marvel @DisneyStudios https://t.co/tepxdV8NDi
— Khan’s Warrior (@saachsirfsaach) June 30, 2022
Peculiar thing I realized watching Ms. Marvel. Western media always shows desi people regretting partition. For them anyone outside of first world isn't happy with freedom, with having their own country.
WE DON'T, stop trying to convince us our freedom was a mistake.— ehbeerawr (@ehbeerawr) July 1, 2022
Ms Marvel has been amazing till this point! What a weird and apologetic viewpoint on partition…. As if the British and the Indian just felt nice and handed Pakistan to us… as if countless lives weren’t lost in the process https://t.co/rRRpeY3OHU
— Abdullah (@akkkk93) July 1, 2022
People are angry at the show for erasing the oppression Muslims in India had to face, and think the show should have attributed the mess of Partition to ‘Hindu extremism’ instead. The very pro-two nation theory approach some people are taking to the scene depicts the kind of communal violence we still see in our society even today. Across the border, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) preaches narratives of Mughal invaders who oppressed Hindus, while here, we talk about the horrors of living under Hindu oppression. The white man once again conveniently gets let off the hook.
Others yet, are trying to be the voice of reason, and are maintaining that political technicalities aside, the sentiments echoed by Kamala’s Nani are very accurate to sentiments a lot of our grandparents and elders might have, which is what the show was trying to portray. And even if you may not agree with the political stance on how Partition played out in reality, you cannot deny the generational trauma that all of us still carry with us.
About that partition scene in #MsMarvel that people seem to be mocking, please have a conversation with your grandparents if you can (if they were a part of it). My nani who was a teen at that time resonated deeply with Samina Ahmed’s dialogue. You cannot wipe out sentiments.
— soha (@SohaTazz) July 1, 2022
Getting mad at that ms marvel scene where her mom laments about the pain of partition means you wanna ignore history, and have never paid attention to literature like manto etc that defined the post partition era. We STILL live with the generational trauma of partition.
— Mishal Mahfooz Ursani (@mishalmursani) June 30, 2022
I seen a lot of people take this scene out of context. They are not saying The British forces the partition on us. That’s not what happened and that’s not what they are saying. #MsMarvel pic.twitter.com/yCR56DZufT
— watchwithneebz (@watchwithneebz) June 30, 2022
