"Kamray kum nhi, Yeh ziada hai."

This movie shows the after- effects of partition on the Sharif class. Within the movie there is the subplot of Amina’s love story. Amina falls in love with her cousin Kazim but he migrates to Pakistan, leaving her behind with nothing to hold on to but letters. The crisis however becomes apparent along the movie when we realize that this isn’t only Amina’s case. We see the aunt and Amina’s mother discussing how there are no men left in India and how “itni kawari larkiyan hain har ghar mein” almost as if some misfortune had fallen each home. The older women are constantly worried about the future prospects of the younger girls, and we even see them advising one of the younger girls to sit in “maiyon” soon. The Dadi tells Amina how in their age marriage was convenient and easy, how they married at an early age before they got wrinkles. The grandmother’s taunts put emphasis on the bleakness of the marriage prospects of not only Amina but all the young girls who are left behind. The hopeless situation is highlighted when we see Amina making a very rational and practical decision when she accepts Shamshad’s proposal even though she doesn’t love him and says “mein dosray kou nhi urnay dungi.”  However the most poignant moment is when the family shifts into a smaller haveli and there aren't enough rooms and Amina’s brother comments “kamray thoray nhi hian, yeh ziada hai.”Although he comments in a very light joking manner, it highlights the predicament they are facing and the viewer then questions if there is a larger narrative at play. The subplot seems to question the fate of the Muslim woman in India. At first we see a lot of inter- family marriages most likely because they want to maintain the economic and social status as people are leaving and choices are being narrowed down. Then the men of the family start to leave as well, leaving a large Muslim feminine body in India which is useless since now it can’t reproduce and so they can no longer belong to or participate in the large mother India. Not only can they not reproduce, but they also don’t participate in the business world or any economic activity “yeh tou mardon k kaam hain, wohi jaanein.”

The uselessness of the feminine body left behind leads one to question what kind of future does this class now have?  With the Haveli gone and the men leaving, the idea of the traditional home seems to be lost. The “pinjra” like new house, the restricted movements when it is too expensive for them to ride a tonga, the failure to reproduce and with no one to look after the businesses, the Indian Muslims are constantly being driven into smaller places. So the movie uses the Muslim woman as an instrument to produce a larger narrative that highlights the hopeless situation of the Indian Muslims and hints at how Pakistan is the only option left for them.