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Govind Nihalani: ‘The Difficult Way Is Often the Best Way’

Govind Nihalani’s account of Partition, a career shaped by cinematography and parallel cinema, and why he believes the difficult path is often best.
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Govind Nihalani traces his path from childhood displacement during Partition to cinematography and directing in a 2019 interview with Scroll.in. His advice to aspiring filmmakers is direct: “One should never look for short cuts. The difficult way is often the best way.”

How Partition shaped Nihalani’s early life

In an interview published by Scroll.in on October 6, 2019, Govind Nihalani recalled leaving Karachi with his family during Partition. They went first to Jodhpur and later settled in Udaipur. The interview describes him witnessing a stabbing in Karachi as a child and connects memories of violence and displacement with his enduring interest in depicting Partition.

Those recollections are Nihalani’s account of his childhood, as reported in the interview. They provide personal context for a body of work that would later include Tamas, an adaptation centered on Partition.

From still photography to the film industry

Nihalani told Scroll.in that an interest in still photography led him toward cinematography. After studying cinematography in Bangalore, he arrived in Mumbai in 1962 and began working as an assistant to cinematographer V.K. Murthy, according to the interview.

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He went on to work as a cinematographer on films directed by Shyam Benegal. The interview names Ankur, Manthan, Nishant, Bhumika and Junoon among their collaborations.

Making the move from cinematography to directing

Nihalani made his feature-directing debut with Aakrosh (1980), written by Vijay Tendulkar, as the interview recounts. It lists Vijeta, Ardh Satya (1983), Party, Tamas (1987), Drohkaal and Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa among his subsequent films.

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The interview places his work in the context of parallel cinema and contrasts the filmmakers’ aims with mainstream conventions. Nihalani put that difference this way: “They wanted stars and chocolate heroes, we didn’t.” He added, “They wanted songs and dance, we didn’t.”

Why he chose to adapt Tamas

Nihalani said he had long wanted to make a film about Partition. Reading Bhisham Sahni’s novel Tamas gave him the material he had been looking for. In his account, he secured the film rights and invited Sahni to help write the screenplay. Nihalani also credited Sahni’s contribution as novelist and screenwriter as greater than his own contribution as director.

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The Scroll.in interview reports that the adaptation ran four hours and 58 minutes and was telecast on Doordarshan in six episodes in 1987. Those duration and broadcast details are figures reported in that 2019 interview.

Nihalani described the relationship between the two forms simply: “Both cinema and literature support each other.”

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His advice to aspiring filmmakers

When asked about the difficulty of finding a way into the film industry, Nihalani did not offer a shortcut or a promise of easy entry. His guidance was: “One should never look for short cuts. The difficult way is often the best way.”

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