Published Online:March 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJES120325
DOI:10.71329/IUPJES/2025.20.1.143-155
Author Name:Priyanka Bisht
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:143-155
The paper attempts to address how popular narratives challenge the rigid notions of national borders by foregrounding shared histories and emotional solidarities. In this context, the paper critically analyzes Kabir Khan-directed Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015, film), the rap song “Humsaye Maa Jaye” (2019, song) by Bushra sisters and Akhil Katyal’s “The Border Speaks” (2019, poem). In contrast to the general understanding of geographical borders as lines of division, the paper argues that art becomes the medium to transcend the physical borders by creating a sense of togetherness between the socially and culturally interrelated people of India and Pakistan. The subsequent narratives give voice to the concerns of common people through their characters, dialogues and song lyrics. The paper argues that such cultural productions offer powerful counter-narratives to statesponsored discourses, thereby reframing the border not as a site of enmity but as a space of human connection.
The Partition of India in 1947 remains one of the most defining and devastating events in the history of South Asia.