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The film has been made to give Savarkar the importance that is due to him , neglected as he has been due his idea of hindutva ( hinduness ) which ran straight against the vote bank politics of the congress party which ruled India for long .
It shows him to be of different calibre from childhood and one of his elders dies worrying about what will happen to him considering his nationalistic ideas even in young age in British ruled India . Even when marriage is on the cards he asks his wife Yamunabai to marry him only if she is ready to share life with a man who will tread the path of fire . She does , and even Gandhi congratulates her for living life with a person who he can't even tolerate for one hour .
Savarkar creates a secret society called Abhinav bharat in Pune and participates in lokmanya Tilak's swadeshi agitation burning all British made things . Goes to Britain and meets other revolutionaries and plans violent revolution . Some of his compatriots die on the gallows and he is sentenced to kaala pani , a hellish incarceration in Andaman islands for two repeated terms of 25 years which no other prisoner has got because he is far too special and special people receive special treatment...
In the cellular jail he is confronted with his British jailer who is a psychopath who tortures inmates and his subordinate who is worse because he is a religious fanatic giving better treatment only to those who convert to islam . Earlier Savarkar has been allied with muslims in his fight against the British but is this treatment the reason he turned towards hindutva ? The film does not give a clear answer .
The scenes in cellular jail are pure hell . The solitary confinements driving a person almost mad , the brutal beatings with heavy rods , the horrifying unsanitary conditions . In between some emotional moments of meeting brother in the same jail .
The petitions sent to the British government for release seem to be a format that anyone has to write to the government . When Gandhi is asked to appeal for Savarkar's release he himself offers to help write a petition . Would a petition dictated by Gandhi forwarded by Savarkar have been any different from Savarkar's own petition ? Not likely .
When Savarkar is told that Gandhi is going to appeal for his release his reaction is a surprised "Has Gandhi become that big ?" which drew laughs in the theater . They had met in Britain when Savarkar talked of tearing out hearts of Britishers while Gandhi talked of nonviolence .
In fact as Savarkar comes out of jail he and Gandhi are at loggerheads politically . When they meet Gandhi talks about dalits as harijans while Savarkar is opposed to giving any caste a particular name . In this issue Savarkar is met with other opposition . Brahmans refuse to allow dalits in temples and he builds a separate temple where dalits are not only allowed but upper caste people eat food along with them and prepared by them .
The biggest problem however is the separatist ideology Jinnah is spreading among muslims and Savarkar becomes leader of hindu mahasabha to counter this . His ideology is hindutva . Hindutva according to Savarkar defines a person who believes his holy places and roots are in India as a hindu . Even a muslim who believes that his holy places and roots are primarily in India is welcome according to Savarkar . But there should be no regionalism according to him and a works of a Bengali person like Rabindranath Tagore should be equally respected in other regions of the country he defines as akhand Bharat . Savarkar is nothing but dazzling genius and the congress party is justly afraid of him .
In fact so shrewd is Savarkar that he suspects congress deliberately gave no security to Gandhi inspite of previous assassination attempts so that hindu nationalists could be blamed when Gandhi is shot dead thus wiping out all sympathy in the country for hindu nationalism . Congress realises both his shrewdness and audacity . So when pakistani prime minister comes visiting Savarkar is arrested so that he creates no trouble . Savarkar's sharp intellect is on show here too as he corrects the police officer who tells him the orders to arrest him have come from the elected prime minister by calling Nehru the selected not elected prime minister , a reference to Gandhi selecting Nehru over Patel ? Later he cheekily admits that if he had not been arrested he would have blown the pakistani's car by bomb . The movie ended with this scene drawing loud cheers from the audience .
The movie is driven by Randeep Hooda's life like portrayal of Savarkar . You feel as if Savarkar is standing in front of you . The effort put by Hooda is terrific and kudos to him for that . Ankita Lokhande shines her scenes as his wife . Rajesh Khera superbly plays the glib talking Gandhi who cleverly pushes his wrong ideas down the throat of the Indian public . The movie shows how Savarkar's ideas were right on every point he differed with Gandhi . Not surprisingly Savarkar's ideas have come of age today after he is long gone . His ideas have outlasted him because they are timeless and much needed as the country faces multiple challenges .
Photography in the movie has a dark hue because what transpires on screen is a dark theme of hellish suffering in the Andamans . Music is good . The movie is made to make one feel awe of Veer Savarkar and succeeds .
Rating---Good .
Four stars out of five .
It shows him to be of different calibre from childhood and one of his elders dies worrying about what will happen to him considering his nationalistic ideas even in young age in British ruled India . Even when marriage is on the cards he asks his wife Yamunabai to marry him only if she is ready to share life with a man who will tread the path of fire . She does , and even Gandhi congratulates her for living life with a person who he can't even tolerate for one hour .
Savarkar creates a secret society called Abhinav bharat in Pune and participates in lokmanya Tilak's swadeshi agitation burning all British made things . Goes to Britain and meets other revolutionaries and plans violent revolution . Some of his compatriots die on the gallows and he is sentenced to kaala pani , a hellish incarceration in Andaman islands for two repeated terms of 25 years which no other prisoner has got because he is far too special and special people receive special treatment...
In the cellular jail he is confronted with his British jailer who is a psychopath who tortures inmates and his subordinate who is worse because he is a religious fanatic giving better treatment only to those who convert to islam . Earlier Savarkar has been allied with muslims in his fight against the British but is this treatment the reason he turned towards hindutva ? The film does not give a clear answer .
The scenes in cellular jail are pure hell . The solitary confinements driving a person almost mad , the brutal beatings with heavy rods , the horrifying unsanitary conditions . In between some emotional moments of meeting brother in the same jail .
The petitions sent to the British government for release seem to be a format that anyone has to write to the government . When Gandhi is asked to appeal for Savarkar's release he himself offers to help write a petition . Would a petition dictated by Gandhi forwarded by Savarkar have been any different from Savarkar's own petition ? Not likely .
When Savarkar is told that Gandhi is going to appeal for his release his reaction is a surprised "Has Gandhi become that big ?" which drew laughs in the theater . They had met in Britain when Savarkar talked of tearing out hearts of Britishers while Gandhi talked of nonviolence .
In fact as Savarkar comes out of jail he and Gandhi are at loggerheads politically . When they meet Gandhi talks about dalits as harijans while Savarkar is opposed to giving any caste a particular name . In this issue Savarkar is met with other opposition . Brahmans refuse to allow dalits in temples and he builds a separate temple where dalits are not only allowed but upper caste people eat food along with them and prepared by them .
The biggest problem however is the separatist ideology Jinnah is spreading among muslims and Savarkar becomes leader of hindu mahasabha to counter this . His ideology is hindutva . Hindutva according to Savarkar defines a person who believes his holy places and roots are in India as a hindu . Even a muslim who believes that his holy places and roots are primarily in India is welcome according to Savarkar . But there should be no regionalism according to him and a works of a Bengali person like Rabindranath Tagore should be equally respected in other regions of the country he defines as akhand Bharat . Savarkar is nothing but dazzling genius and the congress party is justly afraid of him .
In fact so shrewd is Savarkar that he suspects congress deliberately gave no security to Gandhi inspite of previous assassination attempts so that hindu nationalists could be blamed when Gandhi is shot dead thus wiping out all sympathy in the country for hindu nationalism . Congress realises both his shrewdness and audacity . So when pakistani prime minister comes visiting Savarkar is arrested so that he creates no trouble . Savarkar's sharp intellect is on show here too as he corrects the police officer who tells him the orders to arrest him have come from the elected prime minister by calling Nehru the selected not elected prime minister , a reference to Gandhi selecting Nehru over Patel ? Later he cheekily admits that if he had not been arrested he would have blown the pakistani's car by bomb . The movie ended with this scene drawing loud cheers from the audience .
The movie is driven by Randeep Hooda's life like portrayal of Savarkar . You feel as if Savarkar is standing in front of you . The effort put by Hooda is terrific and kudos to him for that . Ankita Lokhande shines her scenes as his wife . Rajesh Khera superbly plays the glib talking Gandhi who cleverly pushes his wrong ideas down the throat of the Indian public . The movie shows how Savarkar's ideas were right on every point he differed with Gandhi . Not surprisingly Savarkar's ideas have come of age today after he is long gone . His ideas have outlasted him because they are timeless and much needed as the country faces multiple challenges .
Photography in the movie has a dark hue because what transpires on screen is a dark theme of hellish suffering in the Andamans . Music is good . The movie is made to make one feel awe of Veer Savarkar and succeeds .
Rating---Good .
Four stars out of five .
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