Shoojit Sircar, who is gearing up for the release of Sardar Udham on 16 October, announced, “I am extremely happy at this time.” Directed by Vicky Kaushal, the film will release on Amazon Prime Video. Sarkar, which has been behind a few ideas – provocative films over the past decade – Vicky Donor, Madras Cafe, Piku and October – has been nurturing the dream of making a film on the revolutionary freedom fighter for more than two decades. The idea of making a film led to his visit to the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1999.
“I was also very impressed with my journey and started reading about what happened. I went to every library in this country which has a document about Shaheed Udham Singh. I obtained all those documents and got more information from the survivors of Jallianwala Bagh. That’s how the story got inspired. This is not a story but a sacrifice. When I started my journey no one knew me and neither did I know any actor. I wasn’t sure how I would make this film. There was a passion with which I came to Mumbai to make this film. So like Sardar Udham Singh, I have waited 21 years to make this film. Whatever my expression, I have completely put it in this film,” Sarkar tells News18.
Film makers say that people know about Bhagat Singh but not many people know about Sardar Udham. “He is an unsung hero of our freedom struggle. It is very important for today’s generation to know who was Sardar Udham. Very few people know about him so it is quite unfortunate and sad.”
Reading: Vicky Kaushal: Irrfan Khan Was Considered To Play Sardar Udham Singh, No One Can Fill His Shoes
But making this film was not easy as limited information was available about the freedom fighter, “There are not many documents available about Sardar Udham Singh. He was quite elusive in nature and behavior. We went through a lot of research material but the most important thing that helped me was the written accounts of the eyewitnesses of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which they then (Hunter Commission) gave to the Commission of Inquiry.”
The limited availability of information allowed the filmmaker to mold the character the way he wanted. “When you are doing a film and giving cinematic language to a character like Sardar Udham Singh, you will add certain things to the ideologies and principles that you believe in. That is why we have marinated Sardar Udham as much as we do. There’s a fictional part of it but it’s within limits,” says the filmmaker. On the fact that we found out and it was woven around it.”
In recent years, we have seen a flood of patriotic films. Many have proved to be blockbusters, largely due to the themes of chest-thumping linguism. But the filmmaker says that he deliberately tried to stay away from glorifying the character. “Film makers can easily get influenced by linguistic slogans and not be aware of it. So we have made a conscious effort in every frame, costume, dialogues not to go overboard. Sardar Udham is not a linguistic film. We have kept the script real and lived up to the events. I knew I wouldn’t get a second chance so this is the only film I can make. I had to be very responsible while making this film.”
While Kaushal plays the titular character in the film, Sarkar had earlier conceived the film with late actor Irrfan Khan, with whom he collaborated in Piku. Remembering the actor, he says, “I have dedicated the trailer to Irrfan. He will always be with me. I can’t accept that he has left us. He was so alive. His smile and eyes. She was very mesmerizing. She had a charming personality that attracted everyone.”
Last year, the pandemic led to a lockdown in the country, resulting in the closure of cinema halls across the country. Sarkar’s Gulabo Sitabo was the first film to hit the OTT platform.
Calling himself “impatient”, Sarkar says he wants to showcase his work to the audience at the earliest. “What I experienced after Gulabo Sitabo was the reach the film got. I felt that Sardar Udham also needed a huge global platform, apart from our Indian territories. It took me a long time to go ahead and get the film on a streaming platform. There was a reason to release. Yes, the cinematic feel of the theater will certainly be missed, but it does not compromise on the cinematic narrative. It will be ‘as cinematic on the big screen as it is on the small screen,’ he concluded.
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