Tamas

Nathu, a Chamar, is finishing his work in his shop when the thekedar walks in and asks him to kill a pig for the Veterinary doctor who needs it for medical purposes. Nathu declines saying he has never killed a pig before and doesn’t have the necessary skill for it, offering instead to tan the hide if required provided the people from the piggery kill it. Thekedar insists and gives Nathu 5 rupees and leaves the shop saying by morning the jamadar will come to take the carcass.

Early next morning Bakshiji and a few members of the political party go to a Muslim mohalla to clean drains as propaganda, singing patriotic songs. They’re received at the mohalla warmly and are joined in by the residents in cleaning the drains. Later they are confronted by an old Muslim and asked to leave for their own good. Soon stones fly at the party members from neighboring houses and they flee the scene. Party members then discover that someone has thrown a pig carcass at the steps of a mosque.

Fearing unrest in the community, Bakshiji and Hayat Baksh, the spokesman of the Muslim League, visit the Deputy Commissioner Richard at his house and urge him to take preemptive measures to bring the situation under control. Richard declines the suggestions of Bakshiji and Hayat Baksh to deploy police or impose a curfew and instead tells the party members to urge their respective communities to maintain peace and order.

Nathu having seen the pig carcass at the mosque and having witnessed slight unrest in the town, wonders whether it was the same pig he had killed last night. While returning home in the evening he sees the thekedar in the street. Nathu tries to approach him but the thekedar rushes off hurriedly. Now sure that it was the same pig, Nathu feels terribly guilty and goes home and confesses it all to his pregnant wife Kammo. Outside at a distance they see burning houses and Nathu blames himself for the erupting communal violence.

Sensing danger, Nathu decides to leave the city with his wife and mother. They start off on foot, Nathu carrying his old crippled mother on his back. During the travel Nathu’s mother dies and has to be burned in the forest without proper funeral rites which further devastates the conscience-stricken Nathu who in his naivety holds himself responsible for the holocaust.

In a nearby village Harnam Singh and his wife Banto are the only Sikh family. They too are planning to go to their daughter Jasbir’s house in a Sikh village. They travel on foot all night and the next morning reach a village and knock a door seeking shelter. The house belongs to a Muslim, Ehsan Ali, who has been a friend of Harnam Singh since long. Harnam Singh and Banto hide at the house during the day, but at night are discovered by Ehsan’s son and are asked to leave immediately. On their way the next morning they meet Nathu and his wife in the forest and they all go together to a gurudwara where Jasbir and several other Sikhs have taken shelter.

At the gurudwara Teja Singh, the leader of the Sikh council, informs the Sikhs that Muslims are continually collecting arms and Sikhs should do the same. Later that night a junior granthi comes to the gurudwara and informs Teja Singh that the Muslims know that the Sikhs are out numbered and not sufficiently armed, so they’re demanding 2 lakh rupees for truce. Teja Singh and the Sikh council deem the amount too much and send the granthi and Nathu to negotiate with the Muslims. Teja Singh and the council members watch from the terrace of the gurudwara as Nathu and the granthi are approached by the Muslim mob, surrounded and attacked. Sikhs enraged by this take up arms and go out to fight shouting Sikh slogans. Back at the gurudwara Jasbir leads the Sikh women to a collective suicide by jumping into a well, some with their children in their arms.

Richard is later shown addressing prominent figures of the city where he informs the gathering about the relief measures taken by the government and proposes the leaders to form an Aman Committee to send out a message of peace. Bakshiji and Hayat Baksh are made vice presidents of Aman Committee. At the conclusion of the meeting the thekedar is seen shouting communal harmony slogans.

Harnam Singh, Banto, and Kammo are at the refugee camp. Harnam Singh requests a government employee to help find Nathu who hasn’t been seen since he went with the junior granthi for negotiating with the Muslims. The employee suggests they inquire at the hospital tent where he might’ve been admitted had he been found in the city. Kammo looks through the dead bodies lying in a row on the ground and identifying Nathu’s dead body among them, she collapses, crying. She goes into labor immediately and is taken into the hospital tent by nurses. Harnam Singh and Banto sitting outside the tent hear the newborn’s cries from inside the tent mixed with slogans of “Allahu Akbar” and “Har Har Mahadev” coming from a distance.

Last Updated: November 25, 2025 at 11:29