Veer Savarkar is a

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

2001

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n film based on the life of

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: �inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationali ...

. This version was released on DVD format. This film was produced by Savarkar Darshan Prathisthan, under the president-ship of Sudhir Phadke. It premiered on 16 November 2001, in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

and six other Indian cities. Rediff.com reports a claim that it is the first movie in the world financed by public donations. On 28 May 2012 its

Gujarati language Gujarati (; gu, ગુજરાતી, Gujarātī, translit-std=ISO, label= Gujarati script, ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old ...

version was released by then

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's ter ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

. The film was screened retrospective on August 13, 2016 at the ''Independence Day Film Festival'' jointly presented by the Indian

Directorate of Film Festivals The Directorate of Film Festivals in India was an organisation that initiated and presented the International Film Festival of India, the National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama. Although the Directorate helped appoint members of the jury ...

and

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

, commemorating 70th

Indian Independence Day Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a public holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, which transf ...

. Produced by Sudhir Phadke who also composed music for this, it has been directed by Ved Rahi. Prabhakar Mone has been its chief production controller.

Cast

* Shailendra Gaur as

*Surendra Rajan as

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Navni Parihar Navni Parihar is an Indian film and television actress. She made her debut with the TV serial '' Mujrim Haazir'' as the main lead alongside Nutan and Utpal Dutt''.'' In the 90s, she was one of the most sought after top lead actresses of televisi ...

as Mai Savarkar *Sushmeena Parihar as Savarkar's son *

Mrinal Kulkarni Mrinal Deo-Kulkarni (born 21 June 1971) is a senior film, TV actress and director of India. She is better known for her role as Meerabai in doordarshan's Meerabai seriel and angel in Hindi TV serial '' Son Pari''. She has acted in Marathi langu ...

Pankaj Berry Pankaj Berry (born 8 January 1956) is an Indian film and television actor. He did his post-graduation from Department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University, Chandigarh where he acted in many theatre productions of the department. His first majo ...

Madan Lal Dhingra Madan Lal Dhingra (18 September 1883 — 17 August 1909) was an Indian revolutionary, pro-independence activist. While studying in England, he assassinated William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, a British official. Early life Madan Lal Dhingra was bo ...

Ram Awana Ram Awana (born 1 March 1971) is an Indian film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Raja Paundrak in '' Dwarkadheesh – Bhagwaan Shree Krishn'', Chanur in ''Jai Shri Krishna'', Farooq in DD's Shikwah, Raja Chhatrasal in ''Sh ...

Rohitash Gaud Rohitash Gour (born 24 March 1966) is an Indian actor best known for his leading character in the TV sitcoms '' Lapataganj'' and '' Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai!''. He has also acted in films like ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'', ''Kya Kehna'', ''Munna Bhai ...

Ganesh Damodar Savarkar Ganesh Dāmodar Sāvarkar (13 June 1879 – 16 March 1945), also called Babarao Savarkar, was an Indian politician, activist, nationalist, and founder of the Abhinav Bharat Society. Ganesh was the eldest of the Savarkar brothers, Ganesh, ...

*Arun Shekhar *

Tom Alter Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Early life Born in Mussoorie ...

Bob Christo Robert John Christo, was an Australian-Indian civil engineer and actor in Hindi films. Starting with Sanjay Khan's ''Abdullah'' (1980), he went on to act in over 200 Hindi films in the 1980s and 1990s, including '' Qurbani'' (1980), '' Kaalia'' ...

*Sunil Shende *Arun Bakshi *Supriya Karni *Madhusudan Tamhane

Production

This film was produced by Savarkar Darshan Prathisthan under the president-ship of Sudhir Phadke. The film is reportedly the first movie in the world financed by public donations. In an interview Ved Rahi the informed that the first contribution was made by Lata Mukadam, who "spontaneously" donated her gold bangles. A Times of India story dated 18 September 2001 quotes Prabhakar Mone; "more than 10000 people contributed from Rs. Five to Rs. Fifty lakh. Four years back, our present prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself helped in raising Rs. 30 lakh for the movie by giving a lecture in the US... Prominent singers like

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...

, Pt.

Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi BR (; ; 4 February 1922 – 24 January 2011), also known by the honorific prefix Pandit, was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka, in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the '' khay ...

and

Anup Jalota Anup Jalota, (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer, musician and actor, best known for his contributions to the Bhajan genre of Indian Music. He is popularly known as the "Bhajan Samraat" (Emperor of Bhajans). The

muhurat shot In the Indian film industry, the muhurat shot or muhurtam shot is the first shot (or take) of a film marking the commencement of the principal photography. It is preceded by a pooja (religious rites). Muhurtam is a word from the Rig Veda and m ...

of the film was taken in 1990, changes to the team resulted in a delayed completion, by 15 September 1998, a fresh muhurat shot taken under director Ram Gabale who was the eighth's person chosen for the job, and script-writer D. M. Mirasdar who was the tenth script writer engaged. The other directors involved were Rajdatta,

Basu Bhattacharya Basu Bhattacharya (1934–19 June 1997) was an Indian film director of Hindi films. He is perhaps best known for his 1966 film ''Teesri Kasam'', starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman (based on the short story "Maare Gaye Gulfam" by Phanish ...

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his ca ...

, Dr.

Chandraprakash Dwivedi Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi is an Indian actor, film director and screenwriter, who is best known for directing the 1991 television epic ''Chanakya'' in which he also played the title role of the political strategist Chanakya and an inspiratio ...

, Ved Rahi, Pradeep Dikshit and Prabhakar Pendharkar. Script-writers earlier working on the project were G. R. Kamat, Ved Rahi, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Vasant Deo and Shrinivas Joshi.

Release

It premiered on 16 November 2001, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Nagpur and six other Indian cities. On 28 May 2012 its Gujarati language version was released by the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. This version was released on DVD format.

Reception

Anjum N reviewing the film for Rediff.com notes that though the film took a long time to produce this time lag is not evident. He also mentions the film publicity brochures that declare the film as "financed 'by the people'". The film had a silver jubilee run at Plaza cinema, Mumbai and Pune's Prabhat cinema. The Government of

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, gave the film a "tax-free status"

References

External links