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 One
look at him, and one senses that an intelligent mind is indeed his
crowning glory. An exchange of words, and the feeling is accentuated.
At the end of a conversation, one can only marvel at his clarity
of thought and articulate expression. Anjum Rajabali who has scripted
films such as Drohkaal, Ghulam, Kachche Dhaage and co-scripted China
Gate and Pukar, has now written the screenplay for Raj Kumar Santoshi’s
ambitious film, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, a Tips production. A
tete a tete with the writer
How
did you come about writing for The Legend of Bhagat Singh?
Sometime in June 2000, Raj Kumar Santoshi asked me whether I would
like to script a film on Bhagat Singh. At first I wasn’t too
keen, film patriotism is not genuine. Mostly patriotic films are
loud, dramatic and playing to the gallery. Nevertheless, I told
Raj that I would read up on Bhagat Singh and get back to him in
a few weeks. I read a biography given to me by Raj and realised
that Bhagat Singh was an extremely remarkable man and there was
so much that was not known about the man. I was hooked. I wanted
to know more and understand him badly. So, I told Raj that I would
definitely do it, but do it my way. Finally, after 17 months I gave
him the final draft.
What challenges did the writer in you have to face in those 17 months?
For one, it is quite a task to write a film on a real person. One
cannot afford to play with facts. Moreover, it was imperative to
present it in a manner which would be interesting without offending
the spirit of Bhagat Singh. I was responsible for the spirit, if
not all the details. Also, for the screen one has to dramatise to
an extent. To me, Bhagat Singh’s development was more internal
than external. Of course, there were the external influences and
events in his life. But to me, it was the real internal happenings
in the man that were truly interesting and this had to be dramatised.
It was challenging to understand this man, gain an emotional insight
and portray it in an engaging manner. My first draft was 5 hours
and 30 minutes, fortunately, the seventh and final draft, which
was 2 hours and 45 minutes, had the same primary feeling about it.
All along, I hoped that I would be able do justice to the greatness
of Bhagat Singh. Till now there is an anxiety whether I have done
even a reasonable amount of justice to him.
What fascinated you the most about Bhagat Singh?
His depth of conviction was his real strength. Between his beliefs,
thoughts and action there were no breaches. He had achieved complete
harmony with his personality. He knew what he wanted and nothing
could stop him. The other thing was his sensitivity. He loved his
country and could predict things about it just as a mother is intuitive
about her child.
Bhagat Singh
had said 75 years ago that religion should be kept out of public
life. If you allow it to enter politics, it will become poison.
It will destroy the country. What is happening in our country today?
Religious fundamentalists are destroying it. Why is Gujarat burning
today? Bhagat Singh had foreseen this, and he was a 19 year old
boy then. At 19, you and I were busy discussing jeans and our favourite
film stars, but he was thinking about the country. Gandhiji was
31 when he started the freedom struggle. Bhagat Singh died when
he was only 23. That is no age to die. What made his sacrifice nobler,
was that he really loved life with all its beauty. Yet his cause
was more important. He had the willpower to fast for 81 days. This
one man singularly managed to shake the entire British Government
that too when he was in prison. All these things made Bhagat Singh
a true hero.
How satisfied are you with your effort in writing the film?
No writer can say he is fully satisfied. Now when I see the film,
I wish I had been able to do one more draft. But yes, I am happy
at the amount of research that went into the film. Hopefully we
have been able to project some unknown facets of Bhagat Singh. What
really gratified me was when Ramesh Taurani (of Tips) asked me to
give the clap for the mahurat shot of the film. I felt honoured.
Has Ajay Devgan matched up to your perception of the character?
Ajay is a competent actor and he has done an extremely competent
job.
How does it feel that so many films on Bhagat Singh have been made
at the same time, of which one of them released on the same day
as yours?
It
is quite funny and also sad because I feel the audiences who want
to see a film on Bhagat Singh, will be divided. Enormous effort
has gone into both Sunny Deol’s film and ours. So this should
not have happened, but it has. Anyhow, the treatment of both films
is bound to be different because the writers are different, our
interpretation is different.
That must involve some cinematic liberties!
We have done our best to keep things credible. But when one dramatises
for the screen, one tends to take a few liberties. For instance,
an exchange of letters between Bhagat Singh and his father is shown
in the film as a face-to-face scene. And many of his writings have
been used as dialogues.
Do you feel the experience of writing on Bhagat Singh has left its
mark on you as an individual?
It sounds cliched, but when sees how much has gone into getting
our freedom, one learns to truly value what we have today. We owe
it to people like Bhagat Singh and their sacrifices, to stop our
country from disintegrating. That song ’Hum layen hain toofan
se kashti nikaal ke, is desh ko rakhna mere bachchon sambhaal ke....’
says it all. It truly amazes me as to how me and my fellow countryman
are allowing a bunch of callous, inhuman and uncaring fundamentalists
to ruin our country. How are we letting this happen? Honestly one
of my motivations today is the realisation, as to how difficult
it was for India to get independence. I definitely feel more responsible
as an Indian towards my society.
One hears that you are taking some steps towards this responsibility.
You know, Bhagat Singh began his struggle as an impetuous, revolutionary
who felt that the gun could be used to bring about a social change.
But as he matured, he realised that only awareness could bring about
a revolution. That’s what I and a group of like-minded individuals
hope to do. The Gujarat issue has triggered it. We have formed a
group of writers, film makers, people from the press and advertising
field. We will try to use our respective media to revive secularism
at least in our field. We don’t need to show a "Mogambo"
who is a outsider who wants to destroy India. We have to do our
bit to create awareness about what is happening and what should
not happen. We have to stress more and more on the fact that pluralism
and unity is India’s biggest strength. India is a society for
all of us. We are definitely not a fundamentalist country. The British
feared Bhagat Singh because he tried to bring the Hindus and Muslims
together. They knew that if India was united they would be out of
power. Now it is the fundamentalists who fear this.
How did you enter the world of films?
I was working with Business India where I was forming their database.
Around that time I happened to become friends with Baba Azmi. It
was he who urged me to write for films. I was always a great lover
of cinema, but did not know much about scripting. I then had a chance
meeting with Govind Nihalani who was working on Drohkaal. Somehow
our concerns about moral values amongst other things were the same.
He asked me to help him with Drohkaal and I ended up writing it.
It was also the beginning of a lifetime association with him. Then
Aamir Khan invited me to write Ghulam. The other films happened
soon after.
After this Herculean project on Bhagat Singh, what next?
There is a film for Tips, one for Sanjay F. Gupta which Raveena
Tandon is producing and more are in the pipeline.
As a writer what inspires you?
What really touches me and therefore inspires me are the personal
struggles of people within themselves. That’s where I draw
my motivation from. Most of my films have characters that introspect,
mature and find their strengths. The most blazing one being Bhagat
Singh.
Finally, what is your expectation from the film?
Well, I truly hope people are moved by the story of Bhagat Singh
in the way in which I have told it.
—Monica
Motwani
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