‘CURIOUS TO KNOW PM’S REACTION’
Says director Mangesh Hadawale, who has captured an incident from PM Modi’s life in his short film
Monika Rawal Kukreja
While many may be toying with the idea of making a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Award-winning filmmaker Mangesh Hadawale has already directed a 40-minute short film — Chalo Jeete Hain — capturing an episode from Modi’s childhood. A special screening of the film was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, on Tuesday, for President Ram Nath Kovind and the Cabinet.
The film’s trailer, released last Sunday, begins with a child looking at an image of Swami Vivekananda and reading his work, and one particular sentence stays in the child’s mind — Wahi jeete hain, jo doosro ke liye jeete hain. Thus begins his quest to discover who he lives for.
On what inspired him to pick this particular chapter from Modi’s life, Mangesh shares that he had read Samajik Samrasta, a book by Modi, which describes a play called Peelo Phool that Modi participated in when he was 10 or 11 years old. “When I read about this play, I wondered how a 10-year-old boy can think so sensitively and differently. So, that was the trigger,” says Mangesh, who later discussed the idea with producer and presenter Mahaveer Jain.
Proud to be associated with this project, producer Bhushan Kumar says, “The thought of the title, that you should live for others, was noble. I wish that, after watching it, everybody in our country starts thinking like this.” The film will have its world premiere on Star Network and its OTT platform Hotstar on July 29.
Explaining why they made it a short film and not a feature, he adds, “The moment we wanted to capture was fitting in this time frame. Also, we wanted to give the message and entertain people.”
About the research he did, Mangesh says, “I went to Vadnagar in Gujarat, Modiji’s native place, and met people close to him. We’ve shown the same classroom where he did his schooling. The house we’ve shot in is just a few steps away from where he lived. Even the names of his childhood friends are the same in the film. So, this is 75% inspired from a real incident.”
He adds, “Not for once did I think that it’s the story of a child who is our PM today. My character was an 11-year-old boy.” Though the director had no discussion with PM Modi prior to the film, he is “curious to know how he’ll react to it”.