Battle B of Saragarhi, the new topic of interest in B-Town
Actor Akshay Kumar’s upcoming Kesari; actor Randeep Hooda’s Battle of Saragarhi; and television star Mohit Raina’s new TV show, 21 Sarfarosh: Saragarhi 1897 have one thing in common — the core of the story in each of the projects is the legendary battle of Saragarhi.
In this historic battle, 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army fought 10,000 Afghans at Saragarhi, in the North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan). This is the kind of tale of valour that the Indian entertainment industry laps up — but three at the same time? The films are on the floors and the TV show also began a few days ago.
Actor Mukul Dev, who stars in the TV show, doesn’t think that it’s too much. He feels that “real-life incidents are open to interpretation”. Mukul says, “The USP of [narrating] a historical event is that people have an idea of it already, but they also want to know what exactly happened.”
Mohit points out, “We’re making a series of 1,200 hours, whereas the films would be of two-three hours. Everybody’s vision is different. As long as you’re true to the subject, everyone will appreciate it.”
However, trade analyst Atul Mohan feels that a film like Kesari, expected to be “huge and spectacular”, might draw the hype away from smaller ventures with the same storyline.
Mohan points out another subject picked up by several ventures — the life of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, which inspired three films in 2002. They had mixed fortune at the box office. The analyst adds that it’s “foolish to risk so much money on the same subject”.
Rajkumar Santoshi, who’s directing Battle of Saragarhi, tells us that when one person has announced the subject of their film, it’s only ethical that others refrain from picking the same subject. He says, “As a matter of ethics in film-making, I had announced the Saragarhi project before anyone else and started preparation, including shooting the look, rehearsals and actors’ training. Others working on the same subject, at the same time, doesn’t just harm the film industry, but also creates ill will in the fraternity.”
Incidentally, it was announced in August 2016 that Ajay Devgn too, would make a film on the battle of Saragarhi. He had posted a ‘first look’ on Twitter as well.
As a matter of ethics in filmmaking, I had announced the Saragarhi project before anyone else and started preparation. RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI, FILMMAKER