Skip to content
Menu
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
    • Books
      • Saints Or Sinners – Ruskin Bond Treats Every Character Equally
      • Ever Raised Any Eyebrows, as You liked Reading While Walking? Milkman by Anna Burns
      • Samaresh Basu
      • Ayn Rand & Me
      • United We Revolt
      • Swapan Kumar and his Sleuth — The Cornerstone of Bangla Pulp Fiction
      • Subhas Mukhopadhyay: Portrait of a People’s Poet
      • A Legend Passes Away. A Legacy Remains. Forever.
      • Manto – Man With Unprocessed Raw Words
    • Art
      • Evolution of the Indian Art – Is it going to reach every corner soon?
      • Woodstock
      • I got the Blues
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part I
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part II
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part III
      • Kalamkari – Reviving the Ancient Art of Storytelling
      • Madhubani – A Celebration of Mithila Art
      • Women & Art
      • Hiran Mitra’s Japan Diary
      • LGBT & Art
    • movies
      • Dogman – An Exciting Thriller for Dog Lovers
      • The Adorable Teachers and Professors in Movies
      • Evolution of The Indian Film Industry : From Black & White to OTT
      • Evolution of Bengali Cinema— the Cultural Nuances, Portrayal of the Society and the Transformation in Popular Culture – Part 1
      • When the Characters on Screen Can Hear It Too — Diegetic Sounds in Indian Cinema
      • An Abstract Hunt for the Meaning of life – The Top Layer Philosophy of “The Banshees of Inisherin”
      • Cut, Chop, Cook, Clean, Repeat – The Great Indian Kitchen
      • Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan
      • Rituparno Ghosh: Actor and Rebel
      • The Making of Tamas
      • Ritwik Ghatak’s Partition Trilogy
      • 127 Hours
      • Naseem
      • Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda
      • Qissa
      • Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan
      • Perfect Days – Finding Joy In Every Moment – Philosophy
      • Movies That Came Ahead of Their Time
    • Culture
      • Queer Languages – The Secret Code for Survival
      • The Revolutionary Dancers – Bringing Changes with Movements in Space
      • Skydiving In the Land of Multicolor Ashes – Banaras
      • Omar Khayyam’s Potions of Wisdom for Writers, Poets, and Rebels
    • Thoughts
      • Where are the Happy Coincidences of Hrishikesh Mukherjee & PG Wodehouse?
      • The Story of Love
      • Rationality of being Agnostic
      • Marilyn Monroe – Max Factor
      • You often penetrate my Mind
      • Poets of Passion – Rumi & Tagore
      • Once Upon a Time…in Advertising
      • Love Letter To Gulzar Saab
      • Books, Movies and Some Random Philosophy
      • Love and ‘Other Factor’
      • If you can’t fix it, you gotta stand it!
      • ‘Re-framing Stigma’ ⁠— LGBTQ and HIV
      • Unpacking the Transgenders (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019
    • History
      • A Brief History of Bengal’s Sweat Meat & The Portuguese Influence
      • The Zenana System : History, Education & the Cosmopolitan Set-up
      • Kanpur as the centre of Revolutionary Activities
      • Shekhawati — Havelis Reiterating The Tales of Glorious Days
      • Mata Hari – The Weeping Mother Who Turned Into A Dancer & Spy.
      • Partition Literature — Was The Partition of India a matter of ego satisfaction?
      • Did the Muslims of India opt for the Partition of India?
      • The Partitions of Bengal I
      • Partitions of Bengal (II)
      • Qissa
      • The Woman Who Loved – Orchha, Madhya Pradesh
    • philosophy
      • Rabindranath Tagore and Buddhism: The Philosophy of Peace & Compassion
      • Loneliness & solitude – The Pain & Paradox
      • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – Virtual Tour Inside A Depressed Mind
      • Fakir Lalon Shah – Voice of the Poor
      • Nietzschean Bad Conscience in Koreeda’s Shoplifters
      • Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
  • INCEPTION
  • CONTACT
  • Beauty
Menu

The Making of Tamas

Posted on March 9, 2020April 8, 2020 by artpickles

“Making Tamas was an act of faith,” director Govind Nihalani had said in 2013 in an interview with Mid-Day.

And faith did stay by his side ever since he chanced upon a copy of the book at a bookstore in Delhi while shooting for Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, of which he was the Second Unit Director. Having come from Karachi himself during the Partition, Nihalani was able to identify with the storyline. Sahani, brother of Balraj Sahani, had seen Nihalani’s Aakrosh and felt that he was capable of taking on Tamas, which means Darkness. Tamas, the book, had won the Sahitya Academy Award in 1975, almost immediately after the book was published.

The original plan was to shoot the film in Pakistan’s Punjab, but that idea was shelved and it was shot in Mumbai instead. The author, Bhishma Sahani, who was himself an actor, agreed to play the role of Harnam Singh. “When I came to the character of Harnam Singh, I immediately thought of Bhishamji and Dinaben. I saw them as a pair and they immediately agreed,” says Nihalani about casting one of the famous names in Tamas. It had a heavy cast starring Om Puri, Deepa Sahi, Pankaj Kapoor, Uttar Baokar, Hangal Sahab, Manohar Singh, Saeed Jaffrey and Amrish Puri.

Nihlani had known Amrish Puri since their days with Satyadev Dubey’s theatre group and had already cast him in his earlier film, Ardh Satya. Puri had read Tamas and when Nihlani asked him to play the role of Sardar Teja Singh, he had just said, “Karenge.”

Getting money for Tamas was not easy, but almost accidentally found Lalit Bijlani of Blaze Films – who had produced Benegal’s Ankur – open to the idea. Govind had warned him that the film could be controversial, but Bijlani went ahead nevertheless. The film did run into controversy when aired on Doordarshan in 1988. Though it was a runaway success from the first episode, the Hyderabad studio of Doordarshan and Nihalani received threats from unknown people and had to be provided with security cover for eight weeks. “But I must thank all the progressive forces – writers, trade organisations, women’s organisations – they all supported us. Without that kind of support, it would not have been easy for me. Doordarshan also stood by me at that time,” Nihalani says.

The film swept the 35th National Film Awards with Tamas being adjudged the Nargis Dutt Award for National Integration, Surekha Sikri winning the Best Supporting Actress Award and Vanraj Bhatia winning the Best Music Director Award.

Though made in 1988, Tamas needs to be screened again, over all channels, since the message of the story is perhaps far more relevant now than it was then.

The link below will take you to the haunting soundtrack of Tamas, scored by Vanraj Bhatia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1K2iM7uRk4

 

 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

“If I could have him like this in my dreams every night of my life, I'd stake my entire life on dreams and be done with the rest.”
― André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name

May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Oct    
© 2025 | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme
Menu
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
    • Books
      • Saints Or Sinners – Ruskin Bond Treats Every Character Equally
      • Ever Raised Any Eyebrows, as You liked Reading While Walking? Milkman by Anna Burns
      • Samaresh Basu
      • Ayn Rand & Me
      • United We Revolt
      • Swapan Kumar and his Sleuth — The Cornerstone of Bangla Pulp Fiction
      • Subhas Mukhopadhyay: Portrait of a People’s Poet
      • A Legend Passes Away. A Legacy Remains. Forever.
      • Manto – Man With Unprocessed Raw Words
    • Art
      • Evolution of the Indian Art – Is it going to reach every corner soon?
      • Woodstock
      • I got the Blues
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part I
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part II
      • The World Learns to Rock – Part III
      • Kalamkari – Reviving the Ancient Art of Storytelling
      • Madhubani – A Celebration of Mithila Art
      • Women & Art
      • Hiran Mitra’s Japan Diary
      • LGBT & Art
    • movies
      • Dogman – An Exciting Thriller for Dog Lovers
      • The Adorable Teachers and Professors in Movies
      • Evolution of The Indian Film Industry : From Black & White to OTT
      • Evolution of Bengali Cinema— the Cultural Nuances, Portrayal of the Society and the Transformation in Popular Culture – Part 1
      • When the Characters on Screen Can Hear It Too — Diegetic Sounds in Indian Cinema
      • An Abstract Hunt for the Meaning of life – The Top Layer Philosophy of “The Banshees of Inisherin”
      • Cut, Chop, Cook, Clean, Repeat – The Great Indian Kitchen
      • Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan
      • Rituparno Ghosh: Actor and Rebel
      • The Making of Tamas
      • Ritwik Ghatak’s Partition Trilogy
      • 127 Hours
      • Naseem
      • Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda
      • Qissa
      • Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan
      • Perfect Days – Finding Joy In Every Moment – Philosophy
      • Movies That Came Ahead of Their Time
    • Culture
      • Queer Languages – The Secret Code for Survival
      • The Revolutionary Dancers – Bringing Changes with Movements in Space
      • Skydiving In the Land of Multicolor Ashes – Banaras
      • Omar Khayyam’s Potions of Wisdom for Writers, Poets, and Rebels
    • Thoughts
      • Where are the Happy Coincidences of Hrishikesh Mukherjee & PG Wodehouse?
      • The Story of Love
      • Rationality of being Agnostic
      • Marilyn Monroe – Max Factor
      • You often penetrate my Mind
      • Poets of Passion – Rumi & Tagore
      • Once Upon a Time…in Advertising
      • Love Letter To Gulzar Saab
      • Books, Movies and Some Random Philosophy
      • Love and ‘Other Factor’
      • If you can’t fix it, you gotta stand it!
      • ‘Re-framing Stigma’ ⁠— LGBTQ and HIV
      • Unpacking the Transgenders (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019
    • History
      • A Brief History of Bengal’s Sweat Meat & The Portuguese Influence
      • The Zenana System : History, Education & the Cosmopolitan Set-up
      • Kanpur as the centre of Revolutionary Activities
      • Shekhawati — Havelis Reiterating The Tales of Glorious Days
      • Mata Hari – The Weeping Mother Who Turned Into A Dancer & Spy.
      • Partition Literature — Was The Partition of India a matter of ego satisfaction?
      • Did the Muslims of India opt for the Partition of India?
      • The Partitions of Bengal I
      • Partitions of Bengal (II)
      • Qissa
      • The Woman Who Loved – Orchha, Madhya Pradesh
    • philosophy
      • Rabindranath Tagore and Buddhism: The Philosophy of Peace & Compassion
      • Loneliness & solitude – The Pain & Paradox
      • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – Virtual Tour Inside A Depressed Mind
      • Fakir Lalon Shah – Voice of the Poor
      • Nietzschean Bad Conscience in Koreeda’s Shoplifters
      • Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
  • INCEPTION
  • CONTACT
  • Beauty