February 28: As if the exit of seven directors wasn't trouble enough for the film Veer Savarkar, director number eight, Ram Gabale, has now chosen to call it quits. A big question mark now hangs over the future of the controversial film-in-the-making, which has seen no less than ten scriptwriters so far and led to expenditure worth lakhs of rupees.``It is not possible for me to direct the film any more. I am quitting. History has repeated itself,'' Gabale has said. The ``history'' Gabale is referring to is, in all probability, the alleged undue interference of the film's authority, singer-composer Sudhir Phadke. Phadke is president of the Savarkar Darshan Pratishtan, which is producing the film.``Gabale was not doing anything in the last two-three months. He was not able to manage the work and has not given any reasons for quitting,'' Phadke told Express Newsline. Asked why so many directors had been changed in the last nine years, he claimed everything was fine and the film was nearingcompletion.The seven directors who quit before Gabale were Rajdatta, Basu Bhattacharya, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Ved Rahi, Prabhakar Pendharkar and Pradeep Dikshit, all big names in the Hindi and Marathi film world. Phadke is said to discarded even the works of reputed scriptwriters like G R Kamat, Ved Rahi, Dr Dwivedi and Srinivas Joshi. As a result, the film on the life and works of freedom fighter Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is far from complete, despite the fact that its mahurat took place way back in 1990. Scenes related to episodes in London's India House were recently shot in Kolhapur after a gap of several months. Gabale's decision to dissociate himself from the venture could yet again halt the film's progress, and chances are that Phadke might not be able to keep the May 28, 1999 deadline he had set for himself. He had said that the film would be ready to be given to the censors before May 28, '99.Phadke's charge against the directors who have quit is that no one hasunderstood Savarkar. His associates have, however, alleged that his excessive love for Savarkar has marred the project. For instance, they say, Phadke had insisted that the episode of Savarkar's confinement in Andaman jail be shot in the very cell itself. Basu Bhattacharya had a tough time convincing Phadke of the difficulty of shooting in the extremely small place. Phadke had also demanded that all the artistes to be screen-tested for the lead role should be asked to put on Savarkar's coat during the test.Ved Rahi had said he found it difficult to take orders from a non-technical person like Phadke. ``A film is a director's medium,'' he said.The film has been funded by donors from across the state of Maharashtra. It has also received an aid of two lakh dollars from the US-based India Heritage Foundation.
