Boota Singh

Boota Singh sometimes spelled as Buta Singh, was a Sikh ex-soldier of the British Army who served at the Burma front under the command of Lord Mountbatten during World War II. He is popularly known in India and Pakistan for his love story with Zainab, a Muslim girl he rescued during the communal riots in the time of Partition of India in 1947. They both fell in love and got married. Later, Zainab was deported by Indian authorities and sent to the newly created Pakistan. Singh illegally entered Pakistan to reinstate contact with Zainab, but she ended the marriage under pressure from her family. In 1957, after the failure of the marriage, he took his own life by jumping before an upcoming train near Shahdara station in Pakistan along with his daughter, but his daughter survived. The love story of Singh's life is widely adapted in films and books on both sides of the border. A Punjabi film Shaheed-e-Mohabbat Boota Singh (1999) is entirely based on the story. Ishrat Rahmani wrote a novel, Muhabbat, based on the story. The story also influenced many other films including a 2007 Canadian film Partition and the Bollywood films Gadar: Ek Prem Katha in 2001 and Veer-Zaara in 2004.