Mehta shows us the partition of India as if it was a sudden catastrophe that broke into a world which was free of any conflicts before.
In Sidhwa's novel were the perspective of the child this is no problem, but in the film this gains the quality of objective truth. But everybody studying the history of the Punjab cannot look over the fact that except for a short intermezzo in the 1920's the relations between the communities were generally strained. The jolly community of friends would thus have been rather an exception than a symbol for Lahori society as a whole.
In Sidhwa's novel were the perspective of the child this is no problem, but in the film this gains the quality of objective truth. But everybody studying the history of the Punjab cannot look over the fact that except for a short intermezzo in the 1920's the relations between the communities were generally strained. The jolly community of friends would thus have been rather an exception than a symbol for Lahori society as a whole.