Sadly, Rajit Kapoor's Iqbal suffers even though the actor makes the best of what he has. He's a little loud with dramatics but overall it's a good effort. Nirmal Pandey provides some comic relief. Mohan Agase as the ignorant head of the village conveys the complexity of his character with complete ease especially in the scenes where he reflects himself as the man he he has become compared to who he used to be. Some characters did require development, especially Iqbal. At some point, the film seemed to move at a sluggish pace until it swiftly picks up in the last half hour. I haven't read the original novel (I didn't know it was an adaptation until afterwards) but many are disappointed mainly due of the lack of development). However, I think it adds to the rawness of the hot-headed villagers. Some viewers have disapproved the use of foul language. None of the bodies are shown from close range and yet the scene is so impactive. In one very effective scene we see corpses float on a river as the villagers silently stare. Even if there are few such scenes they are used minimally.
I liked her direction and she really put effort into presenting the time and the horror of the war without flooding the film with graphic images and sounding preachy. There have been several movies on this subject but Rooks takes a different turn. Rooks's 'Train to Pakistan' tells the story of a small Punjab village during the partition in 1947.
