Taangh review: Poignant homage to a father and the forgotten champions of India

Few people today remember that in 1948, India made history when its hockey team won the gold medal at the London Olympics. For the newly independent country to defeat England, its erstwhile ruler, at the game was a bittersweet moment. The incredible win was tinged with sadness as the united India hockey team was no more and the Indians had to play against many former teammates who were now part of the rival Pakistan team. The frenzy and bloodbath that had accompanied the Partition of India had left no one untouched, least of all teammates who were dear friends and had played alongside each other.

Bani Singh’s documentary Taangh (Longing) excavates this historic moment through a personal lens, making it as much a discovery of her father, Grahanandan Singh, an India hockey player who won two successive gold medals at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. We see a much older Grahanandan Singh and a daughter’s attempt to retrace his life as he continues to exhibit the champion spirit despite his physical frailties.

Bani pores over old family photographs, trying to identify key moments and reconstruct timelines to recreate her father's days of glory. Grahanandan Singh, unable to speak because of a stroke that left him partially paralysed, puts the pieces together, aiding her in retrieving pieces of his life that she was not a part of. As she says, “The journey for me is about meeting that champion”, a man whom she did not know as an incredible sportsperson but whose indefatigable spirit is inspiring.

As she interviews her father’s teammates and presents archival footage, we are transported to that moment, that time of bonhomie, sportsmanship and friendship that in many ways defined the united India hockey team.

She discovers a teammate, Shahzada Shahrukh, “the missing link to a collective past”, and goes off to Lahore, Pakistan, in search of scattered memories. Through it all, the filmmaker foregrounds her emotions, frustrations, doubts and thought processes.

The reconstruction of the final at the 1948 Olympic Games, the strategies adopted to mitigate challenging conditions, what the players were thinking, is exciting. The players describe the pride they felt at hearing the national anthem being played in London, while being acutely aware of the grave loss that was the cost of Independence.

The meeting of friends across borders is similarly moving and holds an intense emotional charge. However, the intermingling of the multiple strands makes the narrative straggle in places, which some deft editing could have remedied.

As we witness the emotional cost of Partition, Bani Singh’s film leaves you contemplating the question, what is the idea of a motherland? Is it a place shaped by memories and experiences that you carry around in your heart or a physical space defined by geography and political borders?

Taangh was screened as part of the New York Indian Film Festival 2022.