'It was high time the achievements of Netaji were filmed'

Article Updated 16 May, 2005 11:27:02 AM IST

'It was high time the achievements of Netaji were filmed' - Sachin Khedekar

It's a dream role for him and he well knows it. He is excited and nervous. Meet Sachin Khedekar who plays Subhash Chandra Bose in Shyam Benegal's latest film 'Bose: The Forgotten Hero'.

Excerpts from an interview by Vickey Lalwani:

Do you know what has been the catalyst for this film?
Yes. Benegal is peeved that Netaji is one political hero who has disappeared from public memory. As a filmmaker, he thought it was his moral obligation to rekindle people's thoughts about him. It was high time the achievements of Netaji were filmed.

What kind of homework went into it?
It took Benegal a year-and-a-half to do the groundwork. Exhaustive research, elaborate reading and numerous drafts later, the film was shot in places as varied as Ladakh, Uzbekistan, Germany, Myanmar and Malaysia (pauses).

Go on...
Such a production in India has no infrastructural support. There are no trained people to deal with period films, so you have to look into everything yourself and that is the most exhausting part of making a period film. In the West, you could just buy the support; here you spend a lot of time putting things together.

What were your personal efforts to get into the skin of the character?
I worked for months with Shernaz Patel (English theatre actress, who recently played Rani Mukerji's mother in 'Black') to get rid of my Marathi accent and improve my English, listened to tapes of Bose's speeches, if you agree, Bose spoke with a slight Bengali accent, worked on his posture, for Bose carried himself with dignity and never slouched.

Could you elaborate a bit on the film?
The film captures the last five years of Netaji's life from the time he escaped house arrest in Kolkata to build an army of 80,000 soldiers.

Sahara had initially wanted a television series on the INA and Netaji?
Yes. Benegal had numerous meetings with Sahara Chairman Subrata Roy, but in vain. After a while, they decided in favour of a feature film.

How was it shooting in Kolkata?
Absolutely great. I met some of Netaji's descendants and got in touch with the Netaji Research Bureau. We were greatly helped by the information provided by the Bureau.

Opinions are divided about Bose's marital status?
Benegal has done extensive research, which points towards the fact that Bose was married to Austrian Emilie Schenkl and had a daughter Anita Piaff, who lives in Germany.

Was it easy to draw a conclusion about Netaji's mysterious death?
We had to keep in mind a few things, including the reports by the Mukherjee Commission probing the controversial demise. Benegal came across a book titled 'Back From Dead: Inside The Subhas Bose Mystery' by a journalist named Anuj Dhar. The book provided us with some interesting facts and we incorporated some of them into the conclusion.

So how does the film end?
I can't give away that. It is there for the people to find out. See it in the theatres.

Does the film have a commercial value?
Certainly. Mind you, it did not have a 200 million dollar budget but it has Benegal's zeal to excel.

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