Batwara is About Human Compassion

Sunny Deol’s nuanced, subtle, persuasive performance as a Muslim man protecting an old Hindu woman from the mobs during the Partition in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Batwara 1947 has won praise. But the actor has a point to make  “It is not about Muslim and Hindu. The film touches a far more profound core issue: What comes first religion or human compassion?”

Sunny told this writer that he has never been so moved by any character he has played. “Many times during the shooting I found myself in tears. My character puts his entire life, his family’s safety, at risk to protect this woman who is not even related to him. But he has decided she is like his mother. She must be protected at any cost.”

How far would Sunny go to protect his loved ones? “My family is my entire world. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for them. With my father’s death, my mother means the world to me,” he says.

Sharing that he became emotional shooting mother-son scenes with Shabana Azmi, he says, “She is such a great artiste, she became my Maai (mother) during the shooting. I responded to her emotional scenes the way I would to my real mother.”

Batwara has also given Sunny the opportunity to share screen time with his real-life son Karan. “It was Raj Santoshi’s idea to cast Karan as my son. I hope he gets the same love from the audience that my father and I got,” he says.