The Pastness of the Present and the Presentness of the Past: A Study of Nav Bajwa’s Film Radua
The present paper is an attemp t to locate the cultural production of the film in relation to the dialectical relationship between the past and the present. The paper has analyzed Nav Bajwa’s film Radua (2018) as a manifestation of this interconnection by situating it in the nuanced space formed by the confluence of moral codes of medieval Punjab and undivided Punjab on the one hand and the power structures of contemporary Punjab on the other. The film, as a representational form, alw ays plays a key role in the constellation of images and representations through which a populace experiences reality. As a genre, the film is, in fact, a peculiar confluence of human endeavor and technology that animates objects through the combination of light and speed. This combination of light and speed, and the ability of the camera to capture the real world with all its nuances qualify it as an art form that generally has an immediate impact on the consciousness of the viewers. The innate mass appeal of the film also assigns it a peculiar pedagogic ability. At the same time, the film that involves huge capital and the essential function of ‘showing’ cannot be overtly political, still, it cannot help carrying cracks in its symbolic order, exposing the political unconscious of the time.
