When Ajay Devgn auditioned in full get-up for The Legend Of Bhagat Singh: 20 years of the historical film

Ajay Devgn took to Instagram to celebrate 20 years of his film, The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, which had won two National Awards.

Ajay Devgn as Bhagat Singh

The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, which starred Ajay Devgn, completes 20 years today. The actor took to Instagram and penned an emotional post, saying how grateful he feels to be part of such a ‘monumental film’. Starring Ajay in the role of the icon, the film chronicled revolutionary Bhagat Singh’s life as he fought against the British and sacrificed his life in honour of the nation.

Ajay wrote, “Even after 20 years, #TheLegendOfBhagatSingh remains a film I’m proud to have associated with. The sentiment in it is forever, for me & for every Indian. Grateful to be a small part of this monumental film. Jai Hind.”

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The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, also starred Sushant Singh, Amrita Rao, and Raj Babbar. The film released among a slew of Bhagat Singh biopics in 2002. In an old 2011 interview, writer Anjum Rajabali related how they decided on Ajay Devgn for the role. “The biggest question that arose while scripting and planning, who would play the central role?” Santoshi added that he had interacted a lot with Ajay Devgn during the shooting of Lajja. “His eyes and intensity matched with the character I needed for Bhagat Singh. We auditioned him in full get-up, and I was pleasantly surprised that he almost resembled the character.”

Bhagat Singh’s brother Kultar Singh had stayed with the film’s unit in Pune. Ajay shared with Rediff in 2002, “You know, at Pune, someone told Kultar Singh that he should bless me. Kultar replied, ‘How can I bless my elder brother?’ I could not help crying.” Ajay added, “He gave us deep insights into his brother’s life, facts that have not been revealed by history.” Kultar Singh also recalled that the other Bhagat films that were being released, ‘did not follow Bhagat Singh’s ideologies’ and that he wasn’t happy with them. Kultar Singh passed away in 2004 at the age of 86.

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Ajay had also said that Bhagat Singh had predicted many of the problems that the country was still dealing with. He said, “This fearless freedom fighter was a great visionary. He had clearly stated our country would be besieged with problems like communalism and corruption. Isn’t that what’s happening today? May I stick my neck out and say that if he had been living 15-20 years after Independence, our country would not be in the shambles it is in today,” Ajay said at the time.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh won two National Film Awards in 2003 – Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor for Devgn. This was Devgn’s second National Film Award after 1998’s Zakhm.

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