When Om Puri danced on 'Dama Dam Mast Qalandar'!

Mumbai: Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha says actor Om Puri used to dance on Hans Raj Hans's version of 'Dama Dam Mast Qalandar' that the Punjabi singer has sung in her film "Partition: 1947". The historical-drama stars Huma Qureshi and Puri, who died in January this year. Puri played Huma's father in the movie. "In the scene, he had his food and is going to bed but the moment Hans Raj Hans started playing, he started dancing. I had to tell him, 'you don't have to dance'.

He enjoyed the music, culture, enjoying being on the sets. This is the memory I have of him," Gurinder told reporters here at the music launch of the film. The director got emotional while watching another song 'Do Dilon Ke' on the screen today. Composed by A R Rahman and sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Hariharan, the song reminded her about the tragic stories that she heard from her maternal grandmother about Partition while growing up in England.

"I grew up in England and I made a film like this in India. It's a big deal. The film shows a lot of pain... We do feel terrible about the things we witnessed not just in India, but in Europe or America. We fear for our children, and I have two small children and I want them to live in a world where people love and respect each other," she said. The trailer and song give a glimpse into the closeness between Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru but Gurinder said they are not the story's focus.

"I believe that Nehruji and Lady Mountbatten were very close and had great fondness for each other, and I wanted to show that. I have couple of scenes where they are close and comfortable with each other. "I was not interested in knowing anything about this relationship as that is not the story... It takes away from the story of the ordinary people and the main story of Partition."