The documentary, ‘Pakistan’s Best Kept Secret: Lahore Museum’ documents the journeys of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and their shared history with the UK. The film features Anwar Akhtar, British Pakistani journalist and director of samosa media, in conversation with the Lahore Museum’s ex-director Sumera Samad, and playwright Shahid Nadeem (Ajoka Theatre Company).
According to the makers, Lahore Museum has a rich, ancient and varied collection which demonstrates the historical wealth, religious and cultural plurality of Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim majority countries in the world, with large diasporic communities across the globe. The film explores the significance of the Museum in Asia, but also in Britain today. Its collection tells stories of ancient cultures: Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim histories, and those of empire, trade, the arrival of the East India company, the contribution of British Indian soldiers in World Wars I and II, the partition of India, and the creation of Pakistan. It also gives some insight into life in Pakistan today.
This documentary is a volcanic eruption of information about the shared history of South Asia with Britain, preserved inside a museum in Lahore. It opens with the mention of playwright Rudyard Kipling’s father’s contribution, and over a span of 49 minutes, it talks about hundreds of untold stories ranging from the discovery of Harappa & Mohenjodaro and Indus Valley Civilisation, the power of Pakistani women, their contribution in visual arts and politics and the division of Indian and Pakistani army post partition who belonged to the same regiment.
This documentary is not shot like quintessential documentaries one might find on the internet. It is more like a virtual tour of the museum, with more explanations than screen time for artefacts. It may not make for a cinematic experience, but does open the pathways for numerous stories into your head, almost like an information explosion which you may want to note down on a diary as you watch. It is after-all a commendable effort on the part of the makers to put together the legacy of the East India Company, India and Pakistan. The documentary is available to watch for free on YouTube.
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“It struck me, watching this revealing film, that this Museum throws light not only onto thousands of beautiful and fascinating works of art, but also onto a body of thought, a concept of society, an ecumenical vision and a long view that risks being erased by many forces in the contemporary world.” – Dame Marina Warner, DBE, CBE, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Birkbeck
“The real star of the film is the museum itself, founded at the height of the British Raj, with John Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard) as its first curator. As the film’s title implies, it’s a museum which, if it were in almost any other country, would enjoy worldwide fame.” – Edward Mortimer, author of Faith & Power: The Politics of Islam, former adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and long-serving program advisor to Salzburg Global Seminar
“The conversation…is, first and foremost, a pleasure to eavesdrop on. All three protagonists seem to be having fun, to be enjoying the pursuit of serious questions in an extraordinary context. At the Lahore Museum, showing a collection that reflects the serial transformations of this complex country poses thorny problems of identity and ownership. Pakistan’s relatively recent acquisition, in contrast to its long and fluid history, of an apparently monolithic religious identity, makes the museum’s address to a richly diverse past more difficult and more essential.” – Dr Jim Harris, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Teaching Curator, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
