Director Rajesh Gupta’s The Bose Files — Sach Ya Sazish starts where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s commonly accepted air crash tragedy ends. He speaks to Indulge about the film’s making and why it’s relevant to reiterate Netaji’s story now. Excerpts:
Why did you feel that Netaji needed to be revisited through cinema now?
Around four years ago, I asked my son to tell me five sentences about Netaji. He could barely manage three. I was shocked, but I don’t blame them. Our history books barely give Netaji half a page. I felt that something needed to be done to bring his life, contribution, and legacy back into public discussion. That was when I decided to take the initiative.
Did your understanding of Netaji change during the making of this film?
Whatever I knew about Netaji was not even one per cent of what I discovered during my research. His extraordinary personality, deep spiritual knowledge and remarkable understanding of warfare left me amazed. My biggest challenge was deciding what to include and what to leave out.
How does the movie distinguish itself from earlier cinematic interpretations about the life of Netaji?
There have been two major Hindi films on him; Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero, directed by Shyam Benegal, and Bose: Dead/ Alive, featuring Rajkummar Rao. Both films begin their stories around 1920 and cover events up to the 1945 plane crash. Our film begins where the story of the plane crash ends, in 1945 and explores the questions and events that followed.
How different was the experience of making a historically researched film of this scale?
This is my first attempt at making a film based on such extensive historical research and that too on a personality as extraordinary as Netaji. But throughout this journey, I always believed that I didn’t choose Bose; he chose me.
The Bose Files — Sach Ya Sazish is running in theatres near you
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