Set in a tiny village caught in the violent cross-currents of the unparalleled political and social upheaval that was the Partition of India, the novel Train to Pakistan is one of the best-known works of Indian author and journalist Khushwant Singh. Dramatised for Kalaa Utsavam 2024, this classic is an Esplanade co-production with HuM Theatre.
Ahead of the play’s premiere at Kalaa Utsavam on November 20, Daisy Irani Subaiah (executive producer and director) and Subin Subaiah (playwright, dramatist, and researcher) speak to Connected to India about why this Partition story resonates with Singapore and with the wider 21st century world. The director and dramatist are both part of the cast as well.
What does a novel published in 1956, set in the turbulence of 1947, have to offer to audiences in 2024? Daisy and Subin believe that the global conflicts raging around us show how relevant this historical novel still is.
They say, “The Partition was a singularly traumatic period in Indian/Pakistani history, but that hardly means there are no lessons to be learned from it. The geopolitical environment around us is rife with wars and conflicts that destroy societies, communities and families, much as the Partition did to the Punjab. So, really, it is no stretch of the audience’s imagination to connect Train to Pakistan with the contemporary world we live in.”
Interesting to note that in the village of Mano Majra, where the story is set, there is very little awareness of how the Partition has come to be, who the central figures are (Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah, Mountbatten), and why the British are leaving the Indian sub-continent. Three communities — Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims — have lived here in peace for ages. But with a new country carved out of India, a train needs to cross the border into Pakistan, and that moment of passage is the story’s denouement.
“Mano Majra discovers [in the play] that the harmony of the village can be disrupted by forces outside its control. So, if there is a lesson to be learned, it is that societies are fragile and we should not take our hard-earned stability for granted,” says Subin.
Singapore, with its close ties with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and home to the Indian diaspora, has an emotional link to the Partition.
Explaining the rationale for staging this historical play, Daisy says, “It is unbelievable how many people in Singapore have historical connections with events of the Partition. Singapore is about shared histories, and if we neglect to tell stories about our minority communities (in this case, the Punjabi Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus), we will be relegating them further into the archives.
“But it is not for this reason alone that we picked Train to Pakistan. Simply put, it is a heck of a humanistic story, full of intrigue and courage and love. It makes for good theatre. HuM has always been intent on trying to present plays that do two things — entertain and help to get to know each other just a little bit better. Train to Pakistan checks both boxes.”
Train to Pakistan has a total of eight shows from November 20 to 24 at Esplanade Theatre Studio, and standard tickets are priced at SGD 65.
For such a famous novel and with so much theatrical and cinematic potential, Train to Pakistan has not made it often to the stage and the screen. That gives the HuM Theatre production an extra touch of freshness.
“To the best of our reckoning, there haven’t been a whole lot of adaptations of Train to Pakistan out there,” says Subin, citing “one Bollywood movie and a couple of Indian language plays over the years”.
To keep their own production distinctive from the rest, Daisy and Subin “deliberately avoided watching any such material available”.
They say, “No disrespect intended, but we wanted to bring our own vision to Mr [Khushwant] Singh’s tale of this turbulent time. We relied more on the text of the novel, interviews with people who were viscerally connected to the Partition, and independent research.”
