Nearly 47 years after he was stabbed to death in students’ hostel of Osmania University, the legend of George Reddy is set to be resurrected on screen on Friday. “I wanted people to hear the voice of George Reddy. I wanted them to see the heroic nature of the young man and how he placed ideology before self,” says B. Jeevan Reddy, the scriptwriter of the eponymous movie.
It was a surreal scene on Thursday morning when the movie-maker and the actors turned up at Narayanguda Cemetery to pay homage to the student leader, who was killed at the age of 25. “There is this line in the movie ‘Never was a man treated as a mind’. The line was not spoken by George Reddy, but by Rohith Vemula. I often ask this question. Why have we lost people like them?” said Sudhakar Reddy, the producer of the movie.
The biopic traces the tumultuous life and times of George Reddy and the student politics of the day, which are still being echoed in today’s campuses. “I researched the story for five years. I feel like I love him more than myself. Most of the young actors who were part of the movie could easily relate to him and acted their part without prodding,” said Mr. Jeevan Reddy, standing in front of George Reddy’s grave, renovated in 2000, with a wreath hanging from the raised fist. Some of the actors raised the slogan raised by George Reddy: ‘ Jeena hai toh marna seekho, kadam kadam par ladna seekho ’.
The movie-makers said they have ensured that the movie is a balanced look at George’s life and portrays all aspects of the political struggle at that time.
