A movie that had me really intrigued ever since its first look came out last year was the story of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, written, directed and starring Randeep Hooda. A biopic in its truest sense, Randeep Hooda has literally spent over two years with project making sure that this story of a celebrated Indian Freedom Fighter and the astonishing and heartbreaking journey he has experienced gets told to the world.
The film focusses on the life of Veer Savarkar, a prominent figure in India’s freedom struggle against the British and a much talked about Freedom Fighter even today due to the polarizing viewpoints many have. His ideology regarding how he foreshadowed India as an independent nation, his creation of the Abhinav Bharat Society, his anger towards the British seeing the sheer misery, violence and injustice around him, his role at the India House as he went to England to practice law, the years of torture endured by him in the jail of Ratnagiri and especially Kala Pani, the much talked about Mercy petitions, the role of the Congress, the concept of Akhand Bharat, his strong opposition to the Muslim League & Jinnah’s dream of the creation of Pakistan and the ideological differences he had with Mahatma Gandhi forms several prominent beats of the film’s screenplay.
The effort that has been made by Randeep Hooda to make sure this project materializes into a reality has been a sight to see and here’s me doing my bit to tell you the good and bad aspects of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar so that you guys can ultimately decide whether to watch it in theatres or not?
The fact that Randeep Hooda is headlining this movie like no one’s business by writing the screenplay, dialogue, directing, and acting in it, is to be celebrated and appreciated. The herculean task in this one is not just writing a story and translating it on the big screen, it is to justify a life that existed and give him the homage that the country failed to for years and only gave him a lot of injustice.
Randeep Hooda has marinated himself so much in this source material that he almost writes a love letter to Veer Savarkar. But he makes sure it isn’t a flowery or whitewashing move. For a first timer, Randeep ends up leaving rough edges and ones that are important.
Veer Savarkar led a life that was meant to be a story. Of course, there must be changes and amends to the chronology of things, but even the standalone episodes of his career and personal journey are so interesting and they deserved to be told. So, the task at the hands of makers is to tell this story in a way that it doesn’t end up looking like another biopic taking the same route.
Hooda keeps the narrative linear. The story in the movie travels almost through decades starting from the year 1897 to 1966. Between this, there is country, family, trauma, life, and its difficulties. Hooda makes sure you feel it all.
What works for me is that he doesn’t over-simplify the world of pre-independence. For the ones who have never touched a history textbook, the jargon and few terms will make you feel alien, and you deserve it. It only adds up to the experience and makes you realize how genius minds these are. There’s Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Madan Lal Dhingra, Bhikaiji Cama, Nathuram Godse and Vasudev Chapekar, and they just enter the screenplay without any special introduction. You are supposed to know them because you have kind of studied about them.
Veer Savarkar was a human and he had friends and life where a special introduction doesn’t show up on their heads. I love when filmmakers think of their audience as literate people who know things.
There’s a whole lot of history that plays up on the screen. Hooda makes sure not everything only worships his subject but also shows his flaws, his stone-hearted nature at times, and his cunning greedy attitude. But the indulgence also affects the screen time which seems a bit stretched at some points.
Randeep Hooda has gone beyond his limit to shape Swatantrya Veer Savarkar and there is no way he could have let anything go wrong from at least his end. The actor has to age back and forth, and he manages to make us believe and invest through all of it. You can see him put those efforts. It’s one hell of a Randeep show and he deserves to be seen.
Ankita Lokhande plays Veer Savarkar’s wife Yamunabai. The actor is all forms of amazing for the lack of a word. In the most traumatic of the situations where Savarkar is still composed, she makes you feel the height of pain the family has gone through. What starts like a stereotypical character gets so nuanced after a point. Another nod to the good writing.
Rest everyone does their jobs earnestly and creates a world that is lived in and authentic. There are a lot of good actors involved for parts that are almost special appearances but crucial. You will know. Amit Sial is beyond reviews for such parts now.
Randeep Hooda as a director is like a free-flowing river. There is no set blueprint or map to his direction. But that also works in his favor. As a director he decides to invest less time in things that the audience already know.
What he shouldn’t have done is add hints of the big events that are about to come. He adds quick visuals like you are being foretold the future. He uses this to join two scenes and that end up breaking the tone.
The music is moving but also a bit extra in some parts. Can’t deny Vande Mataram is placed in a way to churn out emotion and it does that successfully.
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is a movie that must be celebrated because an artist has tried to come out of his comfort zone and tell a story not many could dare. It is about a man who gave this country everything but was compensated with brutality. It is a story that must be told and heard!
4/5 Stars!
Films Genin 