The Legend of Bhagat Singh

The Legend of Bhagat Singh is a 2002 Indian biographical drama film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film is based on Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. It features Ajay Devgn as the titular character along with Sushant Singh, Akhilendra Mishra and D. Santosh as the other lead characters. Raj Babbar, Farida Jalal and Amrita Rao play supporting roles. The film chronicles Singh's life from his childhood where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh massacre until the day he was hanged to death before the official trial dated 24 March 1931.

The film was produced by Kumar and Ramesh Taurani's Tips Industries on a budget of Indian rupee sign|200–250 million (about US$4.2–5.2 million in 2002). The story and dialogue were written by Santoshi and Piyush Mishra respectively, while Anjum Rajabali drafted the screenplay. K. V. Anand, V. N. Mayekar and Nitin Chandrakant Desai were in charge of the cinematography, editing and production design respectively. Principal photography took place in Agra, Manali, Mumbai and Pune from January to May 2002. The soundtrack and film score were composed by A. R. Rahman, with the songs "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" being well received in particular.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh was released on 7 June 2002 to generally positive reviews, with the direction, story, screenplay, technical aspects, and the performances of Devgan and Sushant receiving the most attention. However, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only 129 million (US$2.7 million in 2002). It went on to win two National Film Awards – Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor for Devgn – and three Filmfare Awards from eight nominations.

The film's release coincided with another film based on Bhagat Singh directed by Guddu Dhanoa and titled 23rd March 1931: Shaheed. Both films failed at the box office.

Plot

thumb|The film is about [[Bhagat Singh, a socialist revolutionary who fought for Indian independence.]]thumb|[[The Tribune (India)|The Tribune (Lahore)'s front page headline on the 25th of March 1931: "BHAGAT SINGH, RAJGURU and SUKHDEV EXECUTED"]]

Bhagat Singh was born in British India in 1907. From childhood, he witnesses numerous atrocities committed on fellow Indians by the British, who came to trade under the guise of the East India Company and ended up controlling most of the nation. Bhagat takes a solemn vow to free India from British rule after witnessing the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Soon after the massacre, he learns of Mahatma Gandhi's satyagraha policies, and is especially impressed by his call to launch the non-cooperation movement, which saw thousands of people burning British-made clothing and giving up school, college studies, and government jobs. In 1922, Gandhi calls off the movement after the Chauri Chaura incident. Undaunted, Bhagat decides to be a revolutionary. As an adult, joins the Hindustan Republic Association in its struggle for India's independence, ending up in prison for it. Bhagat's father, Kishen, bails him out so that he can get him to run a dairy farm and marry a girl named Mannewali. Bhagat runs away from home leaving a note saying that his love for the country comes first.

When Lala Lajpat Rai is beaten to death by the police while protesting against the Simon Commission, Bhagat, along with Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar and Chandra Shekhar Azad, carry out the assassination of a police officer named Saunders. Later on in the year 1929, when the British propose the Trade Disputes and Public Safety Bills, Bhagat, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, initiate a bombing at Council House in New Delhi. He and Dutt throw the bombs on empty benches thereby not killing anyone. They are subsequently arrested and tried publicly. Bhagat then launches his much publicised ideas of revolution, stating that he wanted to tell the world know about the revolutionaries himself rather than let the British brand them as violent people, citing this as the reason for bombing the assembly. Bhagat soon becomes as popular as Gandhi among the masses, especially the younger generation, labourers and farmers.

In Central Jail Lahore, Bhagat and all of the other fellow prisoners, including Thapar and Rajguru, undertake a 63-day hunger strike to improve the conditions of Indian political prisoners. However, the police try brutal methods to suppress the hunger strike by canings and forced feedings. Meanwhile, Azad, whom the British had repeatedly failed to capture, is ambushed at the Alfred Park in Allahabad on 27 February 1931. The police surround the entire park leading to a shootout; refusing to be captured by the British, Azad commits suicide with the last remaining bullet in his Colt pistol.

Fearing the growing popularity of the hunger strike amongst the people nationwide, Lord Irwin orders the re-opening of the Saunders' murder case, which leads to death sentences being imposed on Bhagat, Thapar and Rajguru. The Indians hope that Gandhi will use his pact with Irwin as a bargaining chip to save Bhagat, Thapar and Rajguru's lives. Irwin refuses Gandhi's request for their release. Gandhi reluctantly agrees to sign a pact which includes the clause: "Release of political prisoners except for the ones involved in violence". Bhagat, Thapar and Rajguru are hanged in secrecy on 23 March 1931.

Cast

Ajay Devgan as Bhagat Singh
Sushant Singh as Sukhdev Thapar
Akhilendra Mishra as Chandra Shekhar Azad
D. Santosh as Shivaram Rajguru
Bhaswar Chatterjee as Batukeshwar Dutt
Raj Babbar as Kishen Singh Sandhu, Bhagat's father
Farida Jalal as Vidyawati Kaur Sandhu, Bhagat's mother
Amrita Rao as Mannewali, the girl Bhagat's family wanted him to marry
Mukesh Tiwari as Khan Bahadur Mohammad Akbar, Deputy jailor at Lahore Central Jail
Surendra Rajan as Mohandas Karamchand "M. K." Gandhi alias "Mahatma Gandhi"
Saurabh Dubey as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Swaroop Kumar as Motilal Nehru
Arun Patwardhan as Madan Mohan Malviya
Kenneth Desai as Subhash Chandra Bose
Sitaram Panchal as Lala Lajpat Rai
Amit Dhawan as Bhagwati Charan Vora
Harsh Khurana as Jai Gopal
Kapil Sharma as Shiv Verma
Indrani Banerjee as Durgawati Devi a.k.a. "Durga Bhabhi"
Amitabh Bhattacharjee as Jatindra Nath Das a.k.a. "Jatin Das"
Shish Khan as Prem Dutt
Sanjay Sharma as Ajay Ghosh
Raja Tomar as Mahabir Singh
Deepak Kumar Bandhu as Ramsaran Das
Niraj Shah as Gaya Prasad
Pradeep Bajpai as Kishori Lal
Aditya Verma as Des Raj
Romie Jaspal as Sachindranath Sanyal
Sunil Grover as Jaidev Kapoor
Abir Goswami as Phanindra Nath Ghosh
Pramod Pathak as Mahour
Aashu Mohil as Hans Raj Vohra
Manu Malik as Agya Ram
Navin Bhaskar as Kawalnath Tiwari
Shreyas Pandit as Surendra Nath Pandey
Rakesh Awan as Markand
Kiran Randhawa as Police Officer
Ganesh Yadav as Ram Prasad Bismil
Tony Mirchandani as Ashfaqulla Khan
Padam Singh as Thakur Roshan Singh
Ashok Sharma as Rajendra Nath Lahiri
Mahesh Raja as Sachindranath Bakshi
Vikky as Mukundilal
Piyush Chakravorthy as Banwarilal
Vasudevan as Murari Sharma
Narendra Rawal as Manmath Nath Gupta
Shamsher Singh as Arjan Singh
Oshima Rekhi as Jai Kaur
Sukhmani Kohli as Amar Kaur
Ankush as Kulbir Singh
Karanbir Singh as Kultar Singh
Renu Soni as Baddi Chachi
Anita as Choti Chachi
Gurucharan Channi as Chattar Singh
Mahajan Prashant as Justice Rai Sahib
Hayat Asif as Justice Asaf Ali
Sardar Sohi as Leader at Jallianwala Bagh
Rajesh Tripathi as Veerbhadra Tiwari
Lalit Tiwari as Professor Acharya Balakrishna
Shehzad Khan as Horse-cart driver Khairu
Gil Alon as Viceroy Lord Irwin
Ryan Jonathan as Herbert Emerson, Home Member, His Majesty's Government
Conrad as Assistant Superintendent of Police John P. Saunders
Tim as Superintendent of Police James Alexander Scott
Richard as Colonel Reginald Dyer, who ordered his Nepalese soldiers (Gurkhas) and Indian soldiers (sepoys) to open fire on an unarmed gathering of people at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919
Nakshdeep Singh as young Bhagat

Production

Development

In 1998, the film director Rajkumar Santoshi read several books on the socialist revolutionary, Bhagat Singh, and felt that a biopic would help revive interest in him. Although S. Ram Sharma made a film about Bhagat in 1965, titled Shaheed, Santoshi felt that despite being "a great source of inspiration on the lyrics and music front", it did not "dwell on Bhagat Singh's ideology and vision". In August 2000, the screenwriter Anjum Rajabali mentioned to Santoshi about his work on Har Dayal, whose revolutionary activities inspired Udham Singh (on whom a Punjabi film too had been released earlier that year). Santoshi then persuaded Rajabali to draft a script based on Bhagat's life as he was inspired by Udham Singh.

Santoshi gave Rajabali a copy of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Kuldeep Khullar's biography of the revolutionary. Rajabali said that reading the book "created an intense curiosity in me about the mind of this man. I definitely wanted to know more about him." His interest in Bhagat intensified after he read The Martyr: Bhagat Singh's Experiments in Revolution (2000) by journalist Kuldip Nayar. The following month, Rajabali formally began his research on Bhagat while admitting to Santoshi that it was "a difficult task". Gurpal Singh, a Film and Television Institute of India graduate, and internet blogger Sagar Pandya assisted him.

A. G. Noorani's 1996 book, The Trial of Bhagat Singh: Politics of Justice, provided the basis for the trial sequences. Gurpal obtained additional information from 750 newspaper clippings of The Tribune dated from September 1928 to March 1931, and from Bhagat's prison notebooks. These gave Rajabali "an idea of what had appealed to the man, the literary and intellectual influences that impacted him in that period".

Casting

Sunny Deol was initially cast as Bhagat Singh, but he left the project owing to schedule conflicts and differences with Santoshi. Santoshi then preferred to cast new faces instead of established actors but was not pleased with the performers who auditioned. Aamir Khan was also offered the role, but he declined, saying he wasn't young enough for the part. Ajay Devgn (then known as Ajay Devgan) was finally chosen for the lead character because Santoshi felt he had "the eyes of a revolutionary. His introvert nature conveys loud and clear signals that there is a volcano inside him ready to burst."

Santoshi chose Akhilendra Mishra to play Azad as he also resembled his character. In addition to reading Shiv Verma's Sansmritiyan, Mishra read Bhagwan Das Mahore's and Sadashiv Rao Malkapurkar's accounts of the revolutionary. Because of his astrological beliefs, he even obtained Azad's horoscope to determine his personality. In an interview with Rediff.com's Lata Khubchandani, Mishra mentioned that while informing his father about his role of Azad, he revealed to him that they originally hailed from Kanpur, the same place where Azad's ancestors were from. This piece of information encouraged Mishra to play Azad.

Sushant Singh and D. Santosh (in his cinematic debut) were cast as Bhagat's friends and fellow members of the Hindustan Republican Association, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. Santoshi believed their faces resembled those of the two revolutionaries.

Filming

thumb|Surendra Rajan (right) portraying [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi and Gil Alon (left) as Viceroy Lord Irwin at the film's shooting in the University of Pune.]] Principal photography began in January 2002 and was completed in May. The first schedule of filming took place in Agra and Manali following which the unit moved to the Film City studio in Mumbai.

Additional scenes depicting the massacre of 1919 were filmed at a set constructed to look like the Bagh as it was 83 years ago; some of them were shot between 9 pm and 6 am. The scenes at the Bagh set and other surrounding locations of Amritsar at the beginning of the film feature Nakshdeep Singh as the younger Bhagat. Santoshi selected Nakshdeep after receiving photographs of the boy from his father, Komal Singh, who played Mannewali's father.

Kultar stayed with the production unit for seven days during the outdoor location shooting in Pune. Both Santoshi and Devgn appreciated the interactions they had with Kultar, noting that he provided "deep insights into his brother's life". The song "Pagdi Sambhal Jatta" was the last part to be filmed. A sequence in the song featuring Devgn appearing between two factions of backup Bhangra dancers took three takes to be completed. Shubhra Gupta of Business Line says that 250 million was spent on the film's making.|name=budget

Music

A. R. Rahman composed the soundtrack and score for The Legend of Bhagat Singh, marking his second collaboration with Santoshi after Pukar (2000). Sameer wrote the lyrics for the songs. Rahman recalled that Santhoshi had suggested him to compose slow-paced songs, unlike Shaheed which had fast paced compositions and experimented with Punjabi music more than what he done in his previous films.

Release

The Legend of Bhagat Singh was released on 7 June 2002 coinciding with the release of Sanjay Gadhvi's romance, Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, and another film based on Bhagat, 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, which featured Bobby Deol as the revolutionary.

A week before the film's release, Article 51 A Forum, a non-governmental organisation in Delhi, believed The Legend of Bhagat Singh to be historically inaccurate, criticising the inclusion of Mannewali as Bhagat's widow, and stating the films were made "without any research or devotion" and the filmmakers were just looking at the box-office prospects to "make spicy films based on imaginary episodes". Kumar Taurani defended his film saying that he did not add Rao "for ornamental value", noting he would have opted for an established actress instead if that were the case. A press statement issued by Tips Industries said: "This girl from Manawali village loved Bhagat Singh so totally that she remained unmarried till death and was known as Bhagat Singh's widow." The chief operating officer of Tips Industries, Raju Hingorani, pointed out that Kultar had authenticated the film, stating: "With his backing, why must we be afraid of other allegations?"

On 29 May 2002, a 14-page petition was filed by Paramjit Kaur, the daughter of Bhagat's youngest brother, Rajinder Singh, at the Punjab and Haryana High Court to stay the release of both The Legend of Bhagat Singh and 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, alleging that they "contained distorted versions" of the freedom fighter's life. Kaur's lawyer, Sandeep Bhansal, argued that Bhagat singing a duet with Mannewali and wearing garlands were "untrue and amounted to distortion of historical facts". Two days later, the petition came up for hearing before the Judges Justice Jawaharlal Gupta and Justice Narinder Kumar Sud; both refused to stay the films' release, observing that the petition was moved "too late and it would not be proper to stop the screening of the films".

Reception

Critical response

The Legend of Bhagat Singh received generally positive critical feedback, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, cinematography, production design and the performances of Devgn and Sushant. Chitra Mahesh praised Santoshi's direction, noting in her review for The Hindu that he "shows some restraint in handling the narrative". She appreciated the film's technical aspects and Devgn's rendition, calling his interpretation of Bhagat "powerful, without being strident". A review carried by Sify labelled the film "slick and commendable"; it also termed Devgn's portrayal of Bhagat as "fabulous" but felt he "overrides" the character and that "the supporting characters make more impact than him."

In a comparative analysis of The Legend of Bhagat Singh with 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, Ziya-Us-Salam of The Hindu found the former to be a better film because of the "clearly etched out" supporting characters, while opining Devgn was more "restrained and credible" than Bobby Deol. Salam admired Sushant's performance, opining that he has "a fine screen presence, good timing and an ability to hold his own in front of more celebrated actors". In a more mixed comparison, Rediff.com's Amberish K. Diwanji, despite finding The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Devgn to be the better film and actor like Salam, criticised the "constant shouting and mouthing of dialogues". He responded negatively to the inclusion of Bhagat's fiancée, pointing out the film took liberties in using this "slim" piece of information "just to have a girl sing." Diwanji, however, commended the narrative structure of The Legend of Bhagat Singh, saying that the film captured the revolutionary's life and journey well, thereby making it "worth watching and give[ing] it relevant historical background."

Among overseas reviewers, Dave Kehr of The New York Times complimented the placement of the film's song sequences, especially that of "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" and "Mere Rang De Basanti". Kehr called Devgn's interpretation of Bhagat "glowering" while praising Sushant's "urbane and unpredictable" rendition of Sukhdev. Although Varietys Derek Elley found The Legend of Bhagat Singh to be "drawn with more warmth" and approved of Devgn's and Sushant's performances, he was not pleased with the "choppy" screenplay in the film's first half. He concluded his review by saying that the film "has a stronger lead [thespian] and richer gallery of characters that triumph over often unsubtle direction".

Some of the criticism was also directed towards the treatment of Gandhi. Mahesh notes that he "appears in rather poor light" and was depicted as making "little effort" to secure a pardon for Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru.

Accolades

At the 50th National Film Awards, The Legend of Bhagat Singh won the Best Feature Film in Hindi and Devgn received the Best Actor award. The film received three nominations at the 48th Filmfare Awards and won three—Best Background Score (Rahman), Best Film (Critics) (Kumar Taurani, Ramesh Taurani) and Best Actor (Critics) (Devgn).

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

!scope="col"| Award

!scope="col"| Date of ceremony

!scope="col"| Category

!scope="col"| Recipient(s) and nominee(s)

!scope="col"| Result

! scope="col" class="unsortable"|

! scope="row" rowspan="3" |Filmfare Awards

| rowspan="3" |21 February 2003

| Best Background Score

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3" | Devgan said in December 2014 that The Legend of Bhagat Singh along with Zakhm (1998) were the best films he ever worked on in his career. He also revealed he had not seen such a good script since. In 2016, the film was included in Hindustan Timess list of "Bollywood's Top 5 Biopics". The Legend of Bhagat Singh was added in both the SpotBoyE and The Free Press Journal lists of Bollywood films that can be watched to celebrate India's Independence Day in 2018. The following year, Daily News and Analysis and Zee News also listed it among the films to watch on Republic Day.