Release date:
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July 28, 2017
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Director:
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Tigmanshu Dhulia
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Cast:
Language:
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Kunal Kapoor,
Amit Sadh, Mohit Marwah, Kenny Desai, Kenny Basumatary, Mrudula Murali, Kanwaljit
Singh, Zakir Hussain, Vijay Verma, Rajesh Khera
Hindi
|
A string of Hindi
films have been made in the past century about the life of Bhagat Singh and his
hanging along with his associates Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on March
23, 1931. Most recently, at least three productions on the subject were
released within the same year in 2002, including Rajkumar Santoshi’s excellent
but unfortunately underrated The Legend
of Bhagat Singh starring Ajay Devgn as the charismatic Singh.
Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Raag Desh is about another conviction, far
less spotlighted, that took place 14 years later in vastly different
circumstances although the British still ruled India at the time.
What came to be
known as the INA Trials or the Red Fort Trials of 1945 involved three soldiers
of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA): Major General Shahnawaz
Khan, Lieutenant Colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal and Lieutenant Colonel Gurbaksh
Singh Dhillon. After being taken prisoners of war by the Japanese during World
War II, they had joined INA and were involved in some of its more notable
successes on the battlefield against the British in south-east Asia, but as their
force gradually got depleted, were later compelled to surrender.
Khan, Sahgal and
Dhillon were court martialled and their trial – held within Delhi’s historic
Red Fort – attracted widespread attention. Defending them in court was an
illustrious panel of lawyer-freedom fighters including Jawaharlal Nehru,
Bhulabai Desai and Asaf Ali.
The trial became a
rallying point for an Indian public that could see Independence within touching
distance. Though the trio were found guilty of treason, the expected death
sentence did not come, with the British sensing the possible disastrous
consequences of such a move, keeping in mind the national mood and their own
waning influence on the country.
Despite the many
inherently melodramatic elements in this real-life tale of bravery, bloodshed, patriotism
and sacrifice, writer-director Dhulia (who is credited with the film’s
screenplay and dialogues) has taken a commercially risky route in Raag Desh with his clinical,
documentary-like approach to the subject. There is no Sunny Deol-esque screaming
in this film, no love songs wafting about although there is a romance, no
chest-thumping nationalism, only facts, plain facts, about men and women who
risked their lives that we might live in a free country.
In making this
narrative choice, Dhulia reminds us that you do not need to raise your decibel
levels to stir an audience when life itself is so packed with stirring moments.
“Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azaadi
doonga (give me your blood and I will give you freedom),” was not a
dialogue conjured up by a film writer – Bose actually uttered that line to inspire
a people. “Lal Qile se aayee
awaaz / Sahgal Dhillon Shahnawaz…
(A voice comes from the Red Fort / Sahgal, Dhillon, Shahnawaz),” was not coined
by a novelist to articulate an imagined secular ideal, it was a slogan from
reality that rang outside the Fort while the trial was on inside.
The happenstance of
this story’s protagonists being a Hindu, a Muslim and a Sikh is not a fiction
created to propagate communal harmony, these were real people who fought side
by side for a common cause without allowing their differing backgrounds to be a
hurdle. In today’s divided India, where mob lynchings of Muslims have the
covert and sometimes even overt support of the Central government (look no
further than Union Minister Mahesh Sharma paying obeisance to the body of one
of Mohammad Akhlaq’s alleged murderers, with the national flag wrapped around
that body) and where a concerted effort is being made to keep minorities and
liberal Hindus insecure, Raag Desh’s
unspoken message speaks more than a thousand words.
In the noisy times
we live in, where yelling matches have become standard fare on news TV, it is a
relief to watch the story of Netaji’s men and women being told in such muted
tones. Dhulia adopts a non-linear timeline, going back and forth between
courtroom scenes on the one hand and the central trio’s journey with the INA. The
result could have been confusing, but Geeta Singh’s even editing
and the director’s smooth storytelling combine to ensure clarity instead.
Raag Desh feels like a history lesson delivered by a
conscientious teacher. The detailing in the legal arguments presented in court
makes for particularly exciting viewing. It is evident that the team has done
painstaking research for their film.
Neither of the
above – the understatement or the meticulousness – should come as a surprise,
considering that Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) is the producer of Raag Desh. Many of India’s private television channels now bow and
scrape before the present government, indulging in raucous displays of
patriotism to prove their credentials in keeping with the demands of the
current establishment, and competing to out-shout each
other in a bid to attract sensation-seeking audiences. RSTV – owned by the
Upper House of Parliament and headed by the House’s ex-officio chairperson, the
Vice President of India – has remained sane, sobre and non-partisan though under
VP Hamid Ansari. The tenor of Raag Desh
is but natural then.
Despite the focus
of the film being INA’s formation, its work and the trial, it gives us enough
information about its three protagonists to make them people we cannot
help but emotionally invest ourselves in. The manner in which we are acquainted
with their personal lives, however, is an almost amusing contrast to J.P.
Dutta’s brand of filmmaking. Without LOC Kargil-style
maudlin music, Raag Desh, for
instance, brings home the tenderness of the relationship between Sahgal and
Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan, head of INA’s all-women regiment, who met and fell
in love during their time together in the Army.
What I missed in
the film though was the debate that is so much a part of RSTV’s programming. Raag Desh, for instance, steers clear of
taking a position on the great Bose’s deeply disturbing, questionable alliances
with fascist forces during WWII that many people rationalise with an end-justifies-the-means argument. No, they do not – however much you may respect and
admire an individual’s intentions. It is disappointing that a filmmaker as
politically aware as Dhulia would take a blinkered (or safer?) view of Netaji.
The acting in the
film is uniformly good. The sweet-faced Amit Sadh downplays his looks and
physique here (quite the opposite of what he did when he first attracted
national attention in Kai Po Che). He
perfectly portrays Dhillon’s more rustic effervescence in comparison with the
other two lead characters. Kunal Kapoor as Khan and Mohit Marwah as Sahgal are
both distractingly handsome in uniform, but do not let their great beauty
subtract from the gravitas and conviction they bring to their roles.
While all three are
impactful, Marwah (who, by the way, is Anil Kapoor’s sister’s son) stands out
for his matinee idol looks and innate sincerity. He was impressive even in his
dismal debut film Fugly (2014), but
should hopefully attract the attention of sensible producers with Raag Desh, where he gets more material
to sink his teeth into.
The supporting cast
features a bunch of familiar faces who are well styled to represent the historical
personalities they portray, and deliver on-point performances relying on
immersion in the character rather than bombast. Kenny Basumatary as Netaji,
Kenny Desai as Bhulabai Desai and – in smaller roles – Mrudula Murali as
Captain Lakshmi Sahgal nee Swaminathan and Rajesh Khera as Nehru are all memorable.
The film is on
shaky ground though in certain tehnical areas. Some outdoor settings look like sets
in a not-very-expensive stage production. And the no-fuss narration that
works so well elsewhere in Raag Desh takes
the edge out of some battle scenes. Compensation comes in the form of Rana Mazumder
and Siddharth Pandit’s music, including a rousing rendition of the INA’s
marching tune Kadam kadam badhaaye jaa.
Dhulia made his
directorial debut in 2003 with Haasil,
a gem of a film on campus politics in Allahabad starring Jimmy Sheirgill, Hrishitaa
Bhatt and Irrfan Khan. It remains his best till date. Raag Desh, which he has written and directed, may not be up there,
but it is special.
If you plan to
watch it, do not go looking for Border
or LOC Kargil. This one is more akin to
Sankalp Reddy’s Telugu/Hindi The Ghazi Attack (2017), albeit even more under-played and also less swish on the
production front. Raag Desh is a docu-drama,
not a high-pitched weepie.
In an age of
armchair nationalists fighting wars on the social media, the experience of
watching these genuine heroes and heroines who put their lives on the line for
us – and are not half as well-known as they ought to be – is both educational
and poignant.
Rating
(out of five stars): ***
CBFC Rating (India):
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UA
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Running time:
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137 minutes
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