Film Veer Sawarkar enthrals

By Sushama Kasbekar
Veer Sawarkar was a freedom fighter and activist who armed himself with a law degree from England to fight the British. He has often been ignored because of his Hind stance which is considering all persons who live from The Sindhu River to the Hind mahasagar as Hindus.

The movie is fast paced and very interesting. The freedom struggle of very young fighters like Madanlal Dhingra at age 25 years is portrayed. Sawarkar was greatly influenced by Chhatrapati Shivaji and Lokmanya Tilak. His ideology was different from Gandhi’s and he believed that for independence India would have to fight a brutal war against the British. He was jailed at Port Blair and subject to torture and humiliation by the British. But he survived unspeakable horrors and went on to become a prisoner in Ratnagiri . He became a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and spearheaded a movement against the British. He was accused of killing Gandhi but later on absolved. However his younger brother died in a lynching incident after the Mahatma was killed.

Randeep Hooda, producer-director and part part script writer of the film is to be congratulated. “This movie is for young Indians “ he says. The narrative lags in the first half sometimes but is fascinating afterwards. Hooda is to be congratulated on his acting and actor Ankita Lokhande on her role as his wife and portraying the travails of a freedom fighter’s family. The film has earned over 3 crores in the first two days.

Personally I felt the famous Savarkar poem ‘Sagara Talmalla’ could have been the musical score predominant in the film but it is just a snippet. Don’t miss the film!