[crowd screams and cheers, dhol plays]
Today, we must celebrate!
Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Assam, Bihar,
United Provinces!
There's a Congress government, everywhere!
Wah!
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
These results can mean only one thing -
Destiny is at our door!
Congratulations!
Congratulations on a spectacular win, gentlemen!
Ghantaram's sohan halwa!
I hear it is your favourite.
I was thinking...
In light of these results, it would be wise for our parties
to form a coalition.
Think of the message it would send to the Raj.
If the party of the Muslims, the Muslim League,
and the party of the Hindus, the Congress, come toge-
Mr. Jinnah,
Congress is not just a party of Hindus.
Having a token Muslim member -
and actually representing Muslims in your party - are not the same.
Muslims are not exactly voting for your party... are they!
Muslims are not voting for your party either, Jinnah sahab.
-Right, Vallabhbhai? -Oh, definitely.
Bihar, Frontier, Orissa, Sindh...
the League has won no seats.
And in Punjab, out of 86 Muslim seats,
how many did the League win?
It's laughable. Just two. That's it!
Face it, Jinnah sahab...
neither is the League the only party representing Muslims,
nor do we need your help to garner the Muslim vote.
You're wrong!
I am the sole spokesman of Muslims in India!
Well, I can't stop you from dreaming big.
Thank you.
We accept the sweets.
But we refuse your offer.
Jinnah sahab!
Here's a proposal.
You are a former Congressman yourself.
Join us once more!
You are a capable man...
a portfolio will fall into your lap one way or another!
Oh, lighten up, Jinnah sahab!
"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot,
that it do singe yourself."
Confused?
Pandit-ji will explain!
Gentlemen.
[intense music begins]
The Muslim League has made a dramatic comeback to Indian politics
nearly a decade after their poor performance in the provincial elections of 1937.
Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah's appeal for 'direct action'
has not only unified League supporters in Bengal
but also made it clear that...
Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah has emerged as a powerful voice
mobilising the Muslim population
to demand for an independent nation of their own.
In light of the widespread violence across the country,
it would be at our peril to ignore the League's demand
for an independent Pakistan.
[Jinnah coughs]
[telephone rings]
Congress party office.
Yes, one moment.
Sir, we are trying to obtain Information from multiple sources,
but the League government in Bengal says that
the death toll in the riots was only four thousand,
and only ten thousand lost their homes.
The axe will not tell you how many trees it has cut.
Please set up an investigation committee.
And write a letter to Wavell -
We need Governor's Rule in Bengal with immediate effect.
Okay, sir.
I would like to speak with Jawahar in private.
Later.
Kriplani-ji,
please close the door on your way out.
Yes, Vallabhbhai.
Sit, Jawahar.
[Patel sighs]
You were absolutely right.
These riots in Calcutta have compelled the British to enter the fray.
The Viceroy has sent word.
An invitation for Congress to form the government!
First, I will need some written assurances.
You can get your assurances later... first, take what you are getting!
-What are we getting? -FREEDOM!
Freedom from Jinnah!
By rejecting the Cabinet Mission Plan, the League has cleared our path.
Now we can form a government of our own!
Vallabhbhai, we need written assurances
that in this government, the Viceroy will be no more than a figurehead.
Oh, let the Viceroy be whatever he wants.
It will be our government!
Once we have control over the law and order,
the League will not be able to throw their weight around.
That is what we wanted, right?
I need some time to think.
[clock ticks softly]
Oh, well...
You can take some time...
because you have time.
What about me?
I am a heart patient...
Who knows how many days I have left...
Who knows... whether I will even see the day India is free.
I thought only Bapu had the gift of emotional blackmail.
Well, I would go on a hunger strike too,
But you know, I have to take my pills everyday... after I eat.
[Patel chuckles]
Thank you for accepting my invitation,
but... there is a condition.
You must invite Jinnah to join the government.
Absolutely not!
You must understand I am under great pressure
from London to find a solution to this problem...
Jinnah has blood on his hands!
If anything, you should've arrested him by now!
Or at least dismissed his government in Bengal.
And make him a martyr?
Since Calcutta, it is clear
that Mr. Jinnah's words carry amongst the people.
He already wields much more power than any of us ever gave him credit for.
We ignore him at our own peril!
-Yes, it doesn't mean that you- -No, Your Excellency...
We are not ignoring anything or anybody!
The League has voluntarily
withdrawn from the Cabinet Plan.
Well, that may be, but I think it best
that Jinnah's occupied with administration.
More logistics, less politics.
Now that is not fair, Your Excellency!
To be seen as unfair by two opposing groups,
does that not render the judgement...
Fair!
[Patel taps the table]
Jawahar!
Jawahar...
-Wait! -"Take what you are getting, Jawahar!"
I wonder which is the way out...
Freedom from Jinnah, it seems, freedom from the League...!
First, let us be free of this place!
How will we get out?
Why did we come in so confidently if you didn't know how to get out?
Oh, these things happen sometimes!
In politics, these things happen.
Uh, that...
You know, even that Abhimanyu was trapped in a Chakravyuh...
He was trapped alone, he didn't drag anybody else down with him!
Also, things didn't end well for him!
Come...
Come on, Jawahar, how could I have known
Wavell would insist upon involving Jinnah?
Wait, wait, wait!
Wait. We are trapped!
You are right, Jinnah has trapped us!
I mean we are trapped HERE!
Here in the Viceroy's house!
How do we get out?
[both laugh heartily]
Hey, excuse me!
Excuse me! Where is the way out?
That way.
It is this way.
That is where we came from. Let's go.
This whole place is a maze.
Listen, this is important...
since you are the Congress president, as per protocol,
you should be the one to take this proposal to Jinnah -
Absolutely not!
You are both Gujarati, it would be best if you go.
Oh, rubbish!
Jinnah can barely speak Gujarati!
He is more English than the English themselves.
Just like you!
Wearing an expensive suit is not enough to mask the truth.
What truth?
He has never been to University.
Even his law degree, it is not from Oxford or Cambridge,
but from some ordinary Bar Council in London!
I didn't go to Oxford or Cambridge either...
so am I...?
That is not what I meant...
He believes in religious politics
and dividing the country...
I am nothing like Jinnah.
Hey, Mr. Prime Minister!
You will have to work with Jinnah.
You will have to collaborate and cooperate with him.
So you might as well start now!
If I am to do everything, what will you do?
I will show you the way. Come!
Like you showed me the way out of this place...
-Shh, not here... -Why?
Let's get out of here first...
or these Brits will trap us again!
[airplane rumbles]
"Handsome hostess or Soviet sympathiser?"
Parasites! They'll write anything to sell a few copies!
That may be.
But may I remind you that I am up for promotion.
I cannot afford this kind of press.
Bloody embarrassing.
Embarrassing?
All I did was speak my mind in my own home
and I am labelled a communist.
These are the people that you're trying to please.
These people can help me become First Sea Lord.
And thank God, Shelby kept his word,
and Attlee, well, he's still prepared to see me, no thanks to you!
We must maintain appearances.
Yes, well, your appearances.
I can curb so much of myself for your ambition,
Dickie, really. But only so much.
-I don't think you understand! -No, you don't understand!
I'm just tired.
Tired of pretending to be somebody else.
Well, nobody asked you to be a part of this life.
I am done! With the intrusion and the endless scrutiny that comes with it!
Well, it's all part of the job, dear.
Not anymore.
When you'd like your wife to talk about something other than Felix Ostini,
you know where to find me. Driver, stop the car!
What? Edwina!
Edwina-
Come on, Edwina!
For God's sakes!
Edwina,
Edwina, would you come back?!
Edwina!
For Chrissakes!
Ah! Hello.
Good morning, sir, the Prime Minister is waiting for you.
The walls are closing in on us.
Catastrophe looms.
If we are not careful, this whole situation could get away from us.
Calcutta demonstrated that.
A scale of savagery unlike anything we have seen before.
And one we must learn from.
Wavell is a military man of painfully few words.
He can't cope with Gandhi,
Nehru, Jinnah, Patel -
that babbling battery of London-trained lawyers run rings round him.
I'm sorry, I don't follow.
A fresh face
is what we need...
a new approach.
Me?
Wavell's replacement?! You're thinking of me...?
I'm sorry, Prime Minister, I confess...
This is...
quite a surprise.
I am a little taken aback.
Mountbatten, above everything, you are an Englishman.
Duty to your country obliges you accept.
We cannot afford to mess up.
Britain needs you.
This is terribly flattering gentlemen, but
I fear you've got the wrong man for the job.
My apologies.
We understand that you have aspirations of becoming the First Sea Lord.
Yes.
I'll let you in on a secret, Mountbatten.
You are under consideration.
But there are others in contention.
However...
The Viceroyalty would certainly give you an edge.
May I have time to think?
You may.
But be warned, Mountbatten...
Time...
is the one thing we're running short of!
Time itself will stop to witness the meeting of these two leaders...
because this meeting will, in all likelihood, decide the fate of Hindustan.
President of the Indian National Congress, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
and Muslim League president, Muhammed Ali Jinnah.
He is late!
Peter Pan - just refuses to grow up!
What do you think? Why does he want to meet you?
He needs something.
Badly.
Like opposite banks of a river, these two stalwarts
have advanced parallelly for decades, never seeing eye to eye.
The new twist in the winding road of Indian politics
that will result from this meeting, remains to be seen.
Books look new! Impressive!
That is because I bought them...
I didn't inherit them from my father like you.
If you had, perhaps
you would have been interested in reading something other than legal journals.
Look... we are both lawyers.
Cross-examining one another will lead to nothing.
So let us not waste time. Your time...
But more, importantly, my time.
Well.
I come bearing an invitation for the League to form
a coalition with the Congress and draft the constitution together.
[Jinnah laughs drily]
Thank you.
It seems you have been waiting for me.
For ten years.
The halwa must be quite stale then.
"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot,
that it do singe yourself."
I thought we were not going to waste each other's time.
Fine. I accept your offer!
Well, that was quick!
But I have one condition.
The right to nominate Muslim members to the Cabinet will
exclusively belong to the League.
Absolutely not!
All that Wavell has approved is a concession of five ministries.
Nothing more!
Today, the League has 74 out of 86 Muslim seats in Punjab.
34 out of 40 in Bihar,
17 out of 34 in the Frontier,
and 28 out of 36 in Sindh!
Yes, I am aware. So?
So?
It's no longer 1937, Mr. Nehru.
Now, you and your cronies must admit...
that I am the sole spokesman of Muslims.
I didn't agree then,
and I don't agree now.
I only came here to ensure that what happened in Calcutta,
does not spread to the rest of the country.
What happened in Calcutta is extremely condemnable!
I had appealed for peaceful demonstrations.
"We have guns too, and we are not afraid to use them!"
"Hindustan will be divided or destroyed."
These are not peaceful words, Jinnah sahab!
Well, I did not know that my words would be so misinterpreted by some goons!
If you can't control your goons, you should not recruit them to your party!
Are you suggesting that I was responsible for those riots?
The six thousand casualties speak for themselves.
Don't forget, Mr. Nehru,
that more Muslims than Hindus have died in Calcutta!
You have already divided the living into Hindus and Muslims,
the least you can do is leave the dead alone!
How dare you?!
You come to my house, asking a favour,
only to call me a murderer?!
Peace is not a favour!
It is a duty... yours as well as ours!
For years, we have fulfilled our duty,
but you...
You always choose WAR!
[Jinnah coughs]
Not right now!
It seems you didn't shake on it, Pandit-ji.
Perhaps I should have gone...
Vallabhbhai...
We promised Wavell
we would invite Jinnah to form the government.
Not agree to his conditions.
Now, if the League has refused our invitation,
then...
Then we did what we could, Pandit-ji.
So, we are now compelled to form the government on our own.
Refusing Nehru's offer seems to have backfired, Quaid.
Now the Congress will form the government independently
and write the laws of this country!
They are playing it dirty by giving Maulana Azad a ministry.
It means we will
not be able to nominate a Muslim member!
The existence of the League itself is at stake, Quaid!
We have spent enough time on the outside, looking in.
It's time to play.
We will join the interim government, and draft the Constitution with the Congress.
You will work as Nehru's subordinate?!
You will...
... against Nehru!
I guess Mr. Jinnah has changed his mind!
Wait a minute, wait a minute!
Our Pandit-ji is a favourite of the international press
so the Foreign Affairs ministry must remain with the Congress!
In that case, we want the Home Ministry!
Oh, have mercy on us!
That would be like handing a robber the keys to the house!
Patel sahab is taking all the choicest bits and leaving us the scraps!
Nobody is casting aspersions, this is a government matter!
But -
You can have the finance ministry, whether you take it or leave it is up to you!
No, you must be -
Take it.
The time has come to bring an end to the feudal system!
We object!
Feudal landlords have legal ownership of their land,
which the government cannot take away!
[Parliamentarians heckle and jeer, thump tables]
-Hear! Hear! -Sit down! Just sit down!
This man is a bad omen.
Jinnah is like a shadow that is present even in the dark.
If the game becomes difficult to win...
One must sabotage it!
Eradicating the feudal system is an agendum in our manifesto!
Which you all should have read before joining the coalition!
This law cannot be passed without approval of the League!
Obstruction.
That should be our policy, Liaquat!
When your opponent is busy arranging his cards...
that is when one must play one's hand.
If you want to help the poor, the rich must pay a higher tax!
Mr. Speaker, we suggest that all businessmen
earning more than one lakh rupees a year be taxed 25% of their income!
Vallabhbhai, you know what they say.
A fine is a tax for doing wrong, a tax is a fine for doing well.
A twenty-five percent tax?!
Under the pretext of the budget, League members
are aiming to destroy our economy, before they leave for Pakistan!
-You are absolutely right, Vallabhbhai! -No, Liaquat sahab?
Taxing the rich is part of your own manifesto, Vallabhbhai!
If not ours, you should have at least read your own manifesto!
We did not expect being successful to become
such a big offence under your government.
Take care of it, Vallabhbhai...
Or we will have to.
Mr. Speaker, Patel sahab's disagreement with this budget calls for some poetry...
This is not a poetry contest, Liaquat sahab!
"On their palms, they cradle wounds with care,
To shield their friends' path from thorns laid bare."
Patel sahab, if you didn't catch my drift,
should I tell everyone what I mean by 'friends'?
Look, a guilty conscience! I didn't even take names!
He is leaving!
Hey, Patel sahab, slow down!
What is it they say, Liaquat...
"If I'm going down..." What is that, out with it!
"I'm dragging you down with me!"
[Jinnah coughs] Yes... yes!
But, Quaid... We cannot go down, we must sail...
Will obstruction alone ensure that we get Pakistan?
[coughing persists]
We need some kind of divine intervention.
Your Majesty.
This is where she was anointed Empress of India.
Our great grandmother.
I was rather hoping you would agree to our proposal.
I don't know, Bertie.
History will remember me as the one who gave it all away.
If I was to succeed,
how would that look to you?
A consolation would be if they,
the Indian people, pledged allegiance to me after the withdrawal.
I feel a great affinity to that people.
I find them enterprising, resilient.
Should India remain a dominion,
it would keep her linked to the Crown.
I admire your optimism.
-Dickie! -But...
Who is it that I see before me?
Viscount Louis Mountbatten, liberator of Burma...
The last Viceroy of India,
who preserved the link between Jewel and Crown.
Do it for your country...
And for your favourite cousin.
Do it for your name.
Battenberg.
I suppose congratulations are in order!
Will you accept?
Dare I, you mean?
You've read the papers.
India is in turmoil.
Well, lucky for them, Britain is sending in their best.
It is very good of you to say so.
I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it.
I have never lied to you before, Dickie. And I am far too old to start now...
So it is to be...
I am to be the patsy, the sacrificial lamb.
When it does go wrong, and believe me, it will...
I'll be hung out to dry.
Everything I have built will be turned to rubble...
just like Father.
I'll be alone.
Not alone.
Perhaps we should just get away.
Let's go to India, Dickie.
After all, it's where it started for us.
A momentous occasion is upon us, as Prime Minister Clement Attlee
makes his way into the parliament
and prepares to deliver a speech that may alter the course
of our shared history, and indeed, that of British India.
What is the matter, Pyarelal?
It is anticipated that the Prime Minister will announce the appointment
of a new Viceroy of India,
signalling a profound step in the relations between Britain and India.
At this pivotal point, we invite you to join us as
we listen in to this historic address at
London's House of Commons via our UK correspondent.
In the opinion of His Majesty's government,
the time has come for responsibility for the governance of India
to pass into the hands of its people.
I have a few conditions.
Go on...
I want full discretion. I won't have the Cabinet breathing down my neck.
And keys to the kingdom while you're at it?
I will be the sole spokesman for the Crown!
Effective the 21st of February, 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten
will take over from Lord Wavell as Viceroy of India.
Wah!
One Brit vacates the post only for another to take his place...
And nothing changes for us.
Secondly, we must declare a precise date of departure.
How do you propose we arrive at this date?
In my personal opinion, we have already missed it, by quite a stretch.
Our best bet now is to leave as early as we can.
And if the situation still requires resolution?
What the situation requires is a deadline.
So we wish to make it clear...
that it is our intention to transfer power into responsible Indian hands
by a date no later than June, 1948.
He is saying the English will leave India for good by June of 1948!
In just 14 months, we will be free!
Bapu! Freedom is here!
And one last thing...
What now? The blood of a virgin? My first-born son?
Not quite. My aircraft.
The York MW 102, to be at my personal disposal at all times.
Ridiculous!
However, His Majesty's government are still deliberating on the suitable course
in which the powers of British India should be handed over.
Whether that is as a whole to an established form of central government, or
in some areas, to the existing provincial governments...
Fatti, typewriter! Quick!
Jinn?!
Phone Liaquat, quick!
Jinn, the doctor has instructed you to rest.
Our dream of Pakistan can still be realised!
And I am still its sole spokesman.
We finally got the divine intervention, Fatti!
We finally got the divine intervention!
-I don't understand! -Didn't you hear what Attlee said? Huh?
"Power will be handed over to the central government, but in some areas..."
"...to the existing provincial governments."
The provinces where the League is in power
can still become Pakistan...
You were right, Vallabhbhai...
The shadow of Jinnah will follow us to our graves.
If somebody were to tell me now
that saying yes to Pakistan would mean we are free of Jinnah,
I would do it in a heartbeat.
But I know, I understand... I was just...
No matter what Jinnah does,
we will never consent to a partition.
God forbid...
it ever comes to that.
[sound of a conch shell being blown]
[temple bells, chanting]
[tense music builds]
[door is latched]
[terrified screaming]
[intense, frantic music]