Savarkar, one man8217;s magnificent obsession

MUMBAI, OCT 6: Sudhir Phadke gets easily sentimental over the decade-long delay in completing the film on national leader Swatantryaveer ...

MUMBAI, OCT 6: Sudhir Phadke gets easily sentimental over the decade-long delay in completing the film on national leader Swatantryaveer Savarkar. It8217;s a project the 80-year-old singer and music director has been carrying within him almost all his life. 8220;I am not a mad man deliberately delaying a film involving public money of around Rs three crore. I want the film to be a perfect, true-to-life delineation of Savarkar, a leader systematically forgotten after Independence. A film covering a turbulent lifespan 1883 to 1966 is bound to take time,8221; says an irked Phadke.

Phadke formed the Savarkar Darshan Pratishthan 11 years ago, to encourage production of films and literature on Savarkar8217;s life and philosophy. Followers of Savarkar in India and abroad gave generous donations for the biopic, whose mahurat shot was taken at Dadar in 1991 under director Rajdutt. However, the intervening years saw over ten directors and an equal number of scriptwriters walk in and out of the project. All the directors,including Basu Bhattacharya who completed almost half the movie, fell short of Phadke8217;s expectations. Phadke, who has ultimately zeroed in on writer-director Ved Rahi, claims the shooting of the film will be over by the year end.

Interestingly, Phadke has often publicly threatened 8220;he will not be seen8221; if the film is not completed before the deadline. Whenever questioned about the donations sought for the project, Phadke states that the public has full faith in the film. 8220;I have given my entire life to this project. I have stopped all public performances and playback singing. Although I do not have any income source, I am fully concentrating on this film,8221; he states, adding that the 8220;modest flat in which he lives8221; stands testimony to the single-minded devotion with which he treats the film. 8220;The numerous Savarkar bhakts know that their money is being honestly utilised. Except for the last years of Savarkar8217;s life in Mumbai, the rest of the shooting is over,8221; he claims.

Phadke has travelledto Port Blair for the shooting of Savarkar8217;s stay in the Cellular Jail. The film unit will also fly to London and Marseilles for canning Savarkar8217;s arrest. Even if shooting does get over by the year end, dubbing and editing will take a few more months, he admits.

Phadke8217;s detractors accuse him of hazy conceptialising on the film, and also question his credentials as a project co-ordinator and his choice of people for the project. It was also suggested that he should have taken the help of experts who have worked on films on leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru. Moreover, he should have incorporated the latest historical research on Savarkar8217;s life. However, for Phadke, critics be damned. 8220;I have been in the film industry for the last 55 years. Although I am essentially a musician, I know film making as well. Therefore, I know the best hands which can deal with this film.8221;

Phadke states that unlike leaders like Gandhi, very little is known about Savarkar. 8220;To make matters worse,the Congress party has always portrayed Savarkar as a narrow-minded Hindutvawadi. Therefore, Savarkar8217;s philosophy never found its place in school curriculum. His novel struggle against untouchability in Ratnagiri has never been treated seriously. Against this backdrop, I did not want to entrust the film to a person who does not fully believe in the Savarkar philosophy,8221; says Phadke, a longtime associate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. 8220;It is not easy to delineate a person who accomplished so much despite being in jail for better part of his life,8221; he adds.