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1998 Canadian film
Earth
(
Hindi
:
??????
; released in India as
1947: Earth
) is a 1999 Indo-Canadian
period
romance
drama film
directed by
Deepa Mehta
. It is based upon
Bapsi Sidhwa
's novel,
Cracking India
(1991, US; 1992, India; originally published as
Ice Candy Man
, 1988, UK), set during the 1947
partition of India
.
Earth
is the second instalment of Mehta's
Elements trilogy
, preceded by
Fire
(1996) and followed by
Water
(2005). It was India's entry for the 1999
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
Plot
[
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]
The story is set in
Lahore
(now the capital of
Pakistani Punjab
) in the time period directly before and during the
partition of India
in 1947 at the time of
Indian independence
.
A young girl with
polio
, Lenny (Maia Sethna), narrates the story through the voice of her adult self (
Shabana Azmi
). She is from a wealthy
Parsi
family who hope to remain neutral to the rising tensions between
Hindus
,
Sikhs
, and
Muslims
in the area. She is adored and protected by her parents, Bunty (
Kitu Gidwani
) and Rustom (
Arif Zakaria
), and cared for by her
Ayah
, named Shanta (
Nandita Das
). Both Dil Navaz, the Ice-Candy Man (
Aamir Khan
), and Hassan, the Masseur (
Rahul Khanna
) are in love with Shanta. Shanta, Dil, and Hassan are part of a small group of friends from different faiths (some of whom work for Lenny's family) who spend their days together in the park. With partition, however, this once unified group of friends becomes divided and tragedy ensues.
Cast
[
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]
Critical reception
[
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]
Reviews
[
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]
The film holds an 86% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
based on 35 reviews.
[2]
Roger Ebert
gave the film three out of four stars and states that
Earth
"is effective because it doesn't require much history from its viewers, explains what needs to be known, and has a universal message".
[3]
The New York Times
described it as "a powerful and disturbing reminder of how a civilization can suddenly crack under certain pressures".
[4]
The New Yorker
argues that "Deepa Mehta handles her material convincingly, and the cast is so likable that they wear the larger themes like beautiful garments".
[5]
Rediff.com notes that "Aamir Khan has probably given the best performance of his life. It is hard to imagine another actor bringing alive the nuances of the ice-candy man the way he does".
[6]
Planet Bollywood
gave the film a 9.5 out of 10 and wrote that "
Earth
is strongly recommended to those who want to see a different type of Hindi film and who are tired of the usual boy meets girl stories and revenge dramas".
[7]
Awards and nominations
[
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]
Soundtrack
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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Feature films
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Shorts and documentaries
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See also
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1957?1980
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1981?2000
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2001?2020
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2021?present
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