The memorialisation of the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 through popular cinema is the theme of this paper. Both in India and Pakistan, cinema as a cultural production wields immense influence in the lives of the people and mainstream cinema has been deeply affected by Partition. By offering the potential for public mourning in a public space such as a theatre, cinema confronts the trauma of that cataclysmic event and Partition cinema in particular invests heavily in the private sphere of emotions and familial relations while also demonstrating that the private domain is already political.