Jinnah

tessiegirl · 17th November 2004, 10:33 PM

Does anyone know if Jinnah has/will be released in the US? I can't seem to find it anywhere!

Tess

**Andrés Verdú** · 18th November 2004, 02:14 AM

Dear Tess,

Hi again. As far as the film Jinnah being released in the US, I don't think it has made it over there yet, nor do I think it's going to be an easy job either. I'll give you a brief synopsis and history:

Jinnah is based on the life of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The film begins with a dying Jinnah, who dies and crosses over into an Afterlife where a "spiritual guide," for want of a better term, greets him and is going to evaluate his life to decide his fate. However, the story of his life has been converted into a computer file which has gone missing. Jinnah is asked to recall his life in order to fill in the gaps. Although the crux of the story, in terms of political and historical importance, really revolves around India's struggle for independence from Britain, (which they finally achieved in 1947, bringing about the creation of Pakistan through "Partition"), the film also looks at Jinnah's youth, and his relationships with his sister, Fatima, his wife, Ruttie, and his daughter, Dina.

The key political players were Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. As a Muslim, Jinnah fears that British Raj will turn into Ram Raj (in other words that the Hindus, who far outnumbered the Muslim population, would have suppressed the Muslims. This, I repeat, is what Jinnah was afraid of). Therefore Jinnah advocated a separate nation for the Muslim minority, a nation where their voice would be heard.

The film was made in 1997, despite several problems (there were complaints about Christopher Lee, a Christian Westerner playing Jinnah, an Asian Muslim; government funding was withdrawn three weeks into filming; one newspaper attacked the production on a daily basis; etc.). To cut a long story short, despite the fact that Jinnah received rave reviews in every film festival it was shown (New York, Los Angeles, London, Cairo...) it could not, with the exception of Pakistan, get a distributor. For seven years it has been gathering dust on the shelf, and has only just now made it to DVD.

This is a great shame, because not only was did it scupper Mr Lee's chances of winning an oscar, it has meant that, for quite a long time, the world has been without one of Mr Lee's best performances. The problem that I see as far as US distribution is concerned is that the film portrays Islam in a positive light. It shows that you can be an Islamic political leader and still be a decent, honest, incorruptible person too. And tolerant of other faiths and beliefs. In view of the current political climate, I would be very surprised indeed if the film Jinnah received a decent distribution in America. I think your best chance of seeing Jinnah would be buying the ROTK/Jinnah deal on the website for region 1 (I'm not sure if they are selling region 1 Jinnah DVDs on the site on their own... you could check out the online store).

I hope this answers your question.

Kind regards,

poeraven

Purple_Pen · 18th November 2004, 11:27 AM

The Jinnah DVD for sale on this site is a region 0, which means it will work in any regions. So you can just buy it directly from here and it will work perfectly in the US.

The same is true of 'The Making of a Legend'. See here for both:

http://christopherleeweb.com/store/i...689190d62181df

**Amber Klinge** · 30th October 2006, 08:49 PM

I saw the preveiws on the Google website of this film. I want this bad. I saw the end part where it show Jinnah (Mr. Lee) cried. All of the sudden I began to cry as well I don't even know why but it was heartfelt to see the preveiws.

Thanks,
Amber

**Andrés Verdú** · 30th October 2006, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amber Klinge

I saw the preveiws on the Google website of this film. I want this bad. I saw the end part where it show Jinnah (Mr. Lee) cried. All of the sudden I began to cry as well I don't even know why but it was heartfelt to see the preveiws.

Thanks,
Amber

Hello everyone,

You certainly get around fast, Amber!! That scene where Mr Lee is crying is real. I think that's probably the reason why it is so moving. According to Jonathan Rigby's book Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, Mr Lee said that the actor playing the little girl's father (Talat Hussain) played the scene "'so simply, so beautifully that I simply couldn't restrain my tears.'" (Rigby, Jonathan, Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, (Surrey, England: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd., 2001), p. 228). I have seen Jinnah quite a few times, and that scene never fails to move me. I remember when I was attending the celebration of Mr Lee's career at Heathrow a couple of years ago and they showed this film with a projector onto a large screen. When it came to the scene in question, I had a very big lump in my throat. Luckily they had dimmed the lights so I managed to get away with letting my emotions get the better of me:

Warmest regards,

Andrés

**Amber Klinge** · 30th October 2006, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrés Verdú

Hello everyone,

You certainly get around fast, Amber!! That scene where Mr Lee is crying is real. I think that's probably the reason why it is so moving. According to Jonathan Rigby's book Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, Mr Lee said that the actor playing the little girl's father (Talat Hussain) played the scene "'so simply, so beautifully that I simply couldn't restrain my tears.'" (Rigby, Jonathan, Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, (Surrey, England: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd., 2001), p. 228). I have seen Jinnah quite a few times, and that scene never fails to move me. I remember when I was attending the celebration of Mr Lee's career at Heathrow a couple of years ago and they showed this film with a projector onto a large screen. When it came to the scene in question, I had a very big lump in my throat. Luckily they had dimmed the lights so I managed to get away with letting my emotions get the better of me:

Warmest regards,

Andrés

Howdy,

Yes I am going around quite fast round here. It is quite interesting on how you can you a website to find things out.

Thanks and Gutten Tag,
Amber

**Javier Mendoza** · 3rd April 2008, 10:11 PM

Hello!
Could you confirm if the edition which is sold at the web, comes with subtitles of any kind (spanish preferrably, but english would do fine).
Also, can anyone confirm the specifications of the audio tracks? (Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, commentary track, etc).

Thank you!!

Javito

**Steve Thompson** · 4th April 2008, 12:35 AM

Hello Javier.
The copy I have, purchased from this site has 5.1 Dolby Digital English and Urdu. And it has commentary track.
It is a fine movie, and very moving. As has been pointed out, the end is particularly touching.
All the best.

**christian gonzalo irigoyen** · 20th April 2008, 01:31 AM

People I don´t see that movie. Everybody say that is the best Chris Lee´s role in a film.

**Isabel Alves** · 20th April 2008, 07:13 PM

I didn't also watch this film. I hesitate in buying now, because it would be necessary subtitles, because I have larger interest in really understanding the film. I continue awaiting to be thrown in Brazil this DVD.

**Aaron Singh** · 28th April 2008, 02:00 AM

Christian and Isabel, if you are at all able to get your hands on a copy of the film (through the website or however), by all means do. Andres is right - the film is definitely Oscar-worthy, and provides a more than formidable opponent to Ben Kingsley's Gandhi.

I tried really hard before I found a copy - I'm beginning to believe Mr Lee when he said why governments don't want Jinnah distributed.

P.S. Andres - wow. you're really thorough with your bibliographic references aren't you? Do you work in scientific research or something? :)

**Andrés Verdú** · 30th April 2008, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Singh

P.S. Andres - wow. you're really thorough with your bibliographic references aren't you? Do you work in scientific research or something? :)

Hello everyone,

Hahaha, Aaron! Not at all! It all stems from my days at university, and how often the importance of referencing everything to avoid plagiarism was stressed. I also think that if you go to the trouble of quoting someone's words, you should at the very least acknowledge that person. The other benefit is that those who are interested in following up points made (well...you never know!) can find the source reference easily. And back in the days when we used nicknames on here (mine was "poeraven") I used to quote rather extensively from different books; not so much nowadays. Anyway, take care:

Warmest regards,

Andrés

**christian gonzalo irigoyen** · 4th May 2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Singh

Christian and Isabel, if you are at all able to get your hands on a copy of the film (through the website or however), by all means do. Andres is right - the film is definitely Oscar-worthy, and provides a more than formidable opponent to Ben Kingsley's Gandhi.

I tried really hard before I found a copy - I'm beginning to believe Mr Lee when he said why governments don't want Jinnah distributed.

P.S. Andres - wow. you're really thorough with your bibliographic references aren't you? Do you work in scientific research or something? :)

Thanks, Aaron. I must see that great movie!

All the best,

Christian

**Stephen Welbourn** · 4th May 2008, 10:28 PM

Jinnah is certainly one of Christopher's best films and should be seen by all his fans.I purchased the film from his website and it contains several extras as well as being good value for money.
What a pity the film wasn't given a proper distribution and as far as I know it was only shown once on Sky.