A few days before the release of Swatantra Veer Savarkar on March 22, actor-director Randeep Hooda courted controversy, stating, “If [activist and politician Vinayak Damodar] Savarkar had his way, our country would have become independent 35 years earlier. It was because of Mahatma Gandhi that we got freedom later.”
A still from Swatantra Veer Savarkar
The statement didn’t go uncontested. Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi tells the Magazine, “It is a classic case of fictionalisation of history.” Noted historian Aditya Mukherjee chips in, “Savarkar is the fountainhead of Hindutva ideology. A few years ago, they would not have dared to posit him against the Mahatma. A film like Savarkar, and Hooda’s statement, is an attempt to nibble at the stature of the Mahatma. By the way, three decades before Independence, Mahatma Gandhi was not quite on the scene [Champaran Satyagraha was his first mass movement in 1917] and Savarkar was in jail.”
Tushar Gandhi and (right) Aditya Mukherjee
Hooda tried to course correct soon after, stating how he had come to respect Mahatma Gandhi more after the film. But it couldn’t save Swatantra Veer Savarkar. It opened to 12% footfall in Delhi, prompting many to joke that Savarkar drew more from the British through his pension.
‘The maths isn’t working’
But Hooda’s film was never expected to be strong on facts or provide a comprehensive picture of the man whose legacy — as one of the pioneers of the Hindutva ideology — is much contested. It is part of an avalanche of Hindi cinema facilitating the spread of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva-driven politics. Historicals, biopics and political dramas are all skewed to seamlessly forward a communal political narrative.
“Many great filmmakers have fallen prey to this and they couldn’t ever rise back again. I am not threatening my peers with consequence, but you must think. There is a beautiful film called Mephisto [a 1981 political drama set during the time when Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany] where the actor shrugs and says, “I am an artist. What do I have to do with politics?’ And the [film shows the] repercussions of that. That is what I feel about my peers who are playing along. I am very sure they don’t agree with it, but they are following the trend. Going with the flow is fine, but there is a waterfall at the end.”Kamal HaasanActor and politician, during a recent interaction with The Hindu when asked about the increase in government-friendly films in Bollywood today
Kamal Haasan during a conversation with The Hindu | Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
A cursory look at the names of some of the films either released in the last few years or waiting in the wings and one understands they target the Left liberals, the Muslims, or the Congress, the three favoured recipients of animosity of Hindutva proponents.
The films, however, mostly aren’t faring well. For every successful The Kashmir Files (2022), there are half a dozen Bastar - The Naxal Story (2024). Noted documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, whose feature-length film Final Solution was based on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, says, “The maths isn’t working out. Those who thought their movies will mint money if even 20% of the 22 crore BJP voters buy tickets are disappointed.”
Filmmaker Rakesh Sharma
Main Atal Hoon, a biopic on the life of former prime minister and BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, with popular actor Pankaj Tripathi in the lead, released to a lukewarm response this January. A month later, Yami Gautam’s Article 370, based on the abrogation of Article 370 (which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir) in 2019 by the Modi government fared better, collecting ₹75 crore in the first month of its release. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself gave the film a fillip, stating at a rally in Jammu, “[The film] will be useful for people to get correct information.”
Main Atal Hoon
Another release before the general elections was director Sudipto Sen’s Bastar, which collected merely ₹3 crore in the week of its release in March. Its poor box office returns matched those of Sanjay Puran Singh’s 72 Hoorain last year. Interestingly, a large section of India’s media had pronounced it “a serious take on terrorism” within a couple of hours of 72 Hoorain’s release. Ashoke Pandit, the co-producer, told Magazine: “I have no time for those who call it a propaganda film. They are insecure people. Films like The Kashmir Files (2022), The Kerala Story and 72 Hoorain show a truth our film industry was shy of showing until recently. We have not made the film for those who consider a serious take on terrorism as propaganda.” 72 Hoorain collected just ₹35 lakh in its opening day.
Producer Ashoke Pandit | Photo Credit: Getty Images
A still from 72 Hoorain
“Hindi film producers and production companies seem to think that the surge in political support for Hindutva right-wing will also translate into great numbers of cadres and supporters flocking to the theatres. That’s why we are seeing a flood of films that want to cash in on jingoism, pseudo-nationalism, faux-history, revisionist narratives and such like.”Rakesh SharmaDocumentary filmmaker
Deep Sanghi pockets
Hindi cinema has often been hated by those uncomfortable with the industry’s pluralist ethos. Almost every film is made with a cast and crew that includes members of all religions, castes and regions. But in the last decade, as Tushar Gandhi puts it, “Hindi films have drastically changed. They have become rabidly communal. They often promote fascist tendencies.”.
Documentary filmmaker Sharma agrees. “Sangh Parivar has always seen Bollywood as the last of the secular bastions. A fort that they think they can now breach,” he says. “I hear whispers of funding for culturally and politically ‘appropriate’ projects by Sanghi sympathisers, both desi and NRI. Rewriting history is a favourite Sanghi pastime.” Moreover, films like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story were strongly promoted by the Hindutva regime, and movie tickets were declared tax-free in BJP-governed states.
The Kashmir Files
The Kerala Story
A closer look at those involved with the production and promotion of many of these films tells a tale of politics and cinema. Arun Govil who starred in Article 370, is now contesting from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket. Kangana Ranaut, who released the trailer of Razakar - The Silent Genocide of Hyderabad, is contesting from Mandi on a BJP ticket.
Article 370
As the general election approaches, Bollywood has become a critical vehicle for upholding anti-Muslim tropes in the country. “Hindi film producers and production companies seem to think that the surge in political support for Hindutva right-wing will also translate into great numbers of cadres and supporters flocking to the theatres,” says Sharma. “That’s why we are seeing a flood of films that want to cash in on jingoism, pseudo-nationalism, faux-history, revisionist narratives and such like.”
Now lined up for release before the political slugfest are films such as JNU, Main Deendayal Hoon (a biopic on the leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP) and Dr. Hedgewar (biopic of the founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), each likely to take forward a particular political narrative. In fact, Dr. Hedgewar’s trailer focuses on Muslims as the ‘other’ — much like the multilingual Razakar. Also slated for release is The Sabarmati Report, based on the Godhra tragedy of 2002.
It seems the show, however vituperative and jingoistic, will go on.
ziya.salam@thehindu.co.in
