Who do you think killed Hassan, the masseur (and Shanta's fiancé)?
I think most likely it was the Ice Candy Man, in jealousy, as Hassan was leaving the night before. Is this what others think too? I'm just not sure if it's obvious that he did it or if anyone has any other ideas.
i agree that it was the ice candy man, as hasan was found in a guiney sack (like the candy man's sisters).
shareI think it was the ice candy man.
shareYep, that viewers are shown the Ice Candy Man watching the couple in a um... private moment... gives him a motive for murder that no other character in the movie had.
What I didn't understand was it appeared both the Masseur & the Ice Candy Man were Muslim. Is that correct? If so then I guess the murder was personally, & not in any way politically, motivated-- with all the current partition violence being a convenient cover-up?...
In the book,the identity of the killer is not revealed and neither is it remotely dwelt upon,so alluding to the ice candy man is a far-gone conclusion
The Masseur is Parsee (Zorastrian) like Lenny and her family, in the novel. I haven't seen the film, but the novel is pretty much awesome!
shareI saw the movie a while ago, I believe you are referring to Aamir Khan when you say ice candy man. He is jealous that the woman (Nandita Das) loves the masseur (Rahul Khanna) and is not interested in him.
I think it is a case of the rage of a jealous lover and he resorts to "if not me then no one else" and uses the violent background to cover up his death.
The masseur's death is depicted in the manner it is (in my opinion) to force upon us the memory of the countless (and nameless) innocent victims in that conflict.
you guys didn't understand. Hassan was killed by the sikh family whom he helped to migrate. no one can trust nobody.
shareThey killed him because they didn't trust him? I know they were tense, but that just doesn't seem likely.
shareIn the novel it seems to be different. The Massuer's death takes up less than a paragraph, Lenny and Harti find his torso in a bag and that's really all they mention of it. Given the role of leadership that Ice-candy-man appears to take among angry Muslim men later in the book I would say it is probably likely that he was somehow responsible for his death. This possibility isn't even addressed in the novel although shortly before he turns up dead in the book anyway, Ayah professes that she has loved the Massuer all along and will follow him anywhere. This is followed by a confrontation between the Massuer and Ice-candy-man in which Ice-candy-man reveals he wishes to take Ayah where "trained fingers can't violate her" or something of that nature in a direct reference to The Massuer.
shareWhat makes you think that?
shareI have only just seen the film, as it formed part of an assessment for university; however, I don't agree with your point of Hasan being killed by the Sikh family which he was helping.
How could they have killed him when they were in hiding waiting on him to let them know when they would be leaving for India.
He was trusted by the family.
The only person likely to have killed him, was in fact Dil Navaz. The murder seems to also have been done out of pure revenge and had nothing to do with the politics of the time. I believe that they were both Muslim.
He killed Hasan because he was jealous of him and because he had been hurt by Shanta, he went after her, just as the mob of Muslim men did to find out where she was hiding.
:)
It was none other than Dilnawaz, the ice candy man. The murder was done out of jealousy...as rightly said it was a case of 'if not me then no one else'.
shareI think it is purposely left ambiguous as to who killed Hassan. Similarly, we don't really know what happened to Shanta. Dil is the most likely suspect as a killer to both, but the film doesn't really state one way or the other if Dil really was out to kill them. Dil could have loved Shanta so much he also could have come to save her and Hassan. Dil never showed that he was willing to kill neither Hassan nor Shanta. Also, Dil does put Shanta on a wagon, which is strange as the crowd would have just killed Shanta there. I think it is the intention of the film to not tell us what really happened neither to Hassan nor to Dil in order for us to distrust everyone and not be certain of whom to trust.
share