Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero
Director: Shyam Benegal
Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Divya Dutta, Alokananda Roy, Jishu Sengupta, Surendra Rajan, Partap Sharma, Nandini Chatterjee, Arindam Sil, Kunal Mitra, Pankaj Berry, Rajpal Yadav, Ila Arun, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anna Prustel, Rajit Kapur, Sunil Sinha, Sonu Sood, Arif Zakaria, Tom Alter, Kelly Dorji, Howard Lee, Ivano Rondelli, Udo Schenk, A. Oymatrov, Christian Willis, Chris England, Shakeel Khan, Sunil Mukherjee, Rakesh Srivastav, Iliya Trojanow, (Amrish Puri)
8/10
Shyam benegal’s Bose... is no documentary on Netaji Subhas. There’s no point in myopic academic nitpicking about accuracy, authenticity, etc. This gigantic biopic is a hugely-mounted, large-canvas ‘bio-epic’ about a larger-than-life figure, who inspires patriotism even in the most apathetic Indian citizen.
The film tells a moving, action-packed tale of a real-life tragic romantic hero of legendary proportions ? whose historic deeds and mysterious death become stuff of modern mythology. And Benegal carefully handles the delicate, even contentious business of depicting heroic Subhas with hubris and hamartia and revealing how, like all epic heroes, he transcends them.
With the vision of free-India and mission of freeing India, Netaji, armed with a one-point agenda, mobilises support, forms a guerrilla army to fight the enemy out of the motherland. Bold, daring and undeterred by obstacles, he undertakes perilous journeys across seas and lands, travelling by submarine and rickety aircraft and living dangerously till assumed plane-crash death.
A profoundly elevating scene is when Bose’s tall, lonely figure enters ‘British-free’ terrains of Afghanistan, with blue-gray hills as backdrop and Tagore’s Ekla chalo re? as background song. Who cares if it doesn’t sound Bengali enough? Patriotic sentiments should not be bound by parochial boundaries anyway!
Subhas and Emilie’s love story too is sensitively and subtly depicted, lending an endearingly vulnerable human quality to a great man with formidable image. And when he bids her adieu ? aware that he may never return ? and yet says “I’ll get you glass bangles from India next time,” one’s heart simply breaks.
Sachin Khedekar essays commendably a mammoth task of portraying a monumental character. Sometimes the resemblance is uncanny in khaki uniform or black sherwani/topi, etc.
Like his subject, the veteran director is brave and upfront, about his conviction. In the film’s epilogue monologue, he concludes succinctly that it would’ve been impossible for India to obtain independence without momentum of the armed struggle led by Netaji. Finally! Freedom revolution’s most charismatic, enigmatic leader ? ‘wronged’ by most chroniclers of colonial history ? finds his rightful place in the sun.
Mandira Mitra
