Swatantraveer Savarakar - The Movie

Finally got a chance to see #SwatantraveerSavarkar the much awaited movie about one of the greatest sons of Mother India. Ofcourse, capturing the epic life of Savarkar in a three hour movie is almost impossible, but Randeep Hooda has done a good job. It would be better if he or someone else follows it up with a more detailed OTT series on this.

In the history of any nation, never will there be a situation when the entire population thinks and works in a single line of thought. This movie very aptly covers the multiple lines of thought, forms of struggle, differences of opinions, great minds agreeing-to-disagree on ideology but respecting each other at the same time. The myth of "देदी हमे आज़ादी बिना खड्ग बिना ढाल" belies the blood and suffering of hundreds of फ़ासी and कालापानी and much more. If we really want to understand history of that time, this other side of the struggle needs to be understood. No denying that we do remember Shaheed Bhagat singh and Netaji, but truth be told, these names have been more romantised than understood. This movie tries to remind us of the underlying social "समुद्र मंथन" that made them what they were and many many more "Shaheeds" the "Netajis" , most of them forgotten and their stories lost. The narrative of बिना खड्ग बिना ढाल. Savarkar was of course the most maligned and never understood hero of our freedom struggle. Ofcourse, if you disagree with the most powerful leader of the time, the leader may respect your point of view but his followers especially from a different era may not be  intelligent enough to understand and respect you. Nevertheless, this movie gives you a chance to have a sneek peek into the equally strong but never genuinely discussed movement of our freedom struggle. Certain sections of present day India have unfortunately been discriminating such great personalities and freedom fighters based on their religion, caste and sometimes on language. I once had a friend who said, "you see Sandeep our freedom struggle had fighters only from North India, South only enjoys fruits of the struggle of our ancestors, even in today's army we see only punjabis" (sic). Not his fault ! His knowledge was curbed by the rhetoric and bollywood. Similarly, the knowledge of present day India about the life and struggles of Savarakar has been limited to the rhetoric and falsehood that were repeated year over year by "you know who". Not many would remember that he was the first one to

-rewrite the history of 1857 and call it for what it really was,- "the first war of Independence"

-Make the world aware of the sacrifices of the likes of the entire Chapekar Bandhu family

-The one to form the underground revolutionary movement.

-First one to boycott foreign goods and burn the Holi of british goods, way back in 1905.

-First one to oppose the caste system in Hindu religion and advocate for intercaste marriages to eradicate the evil.

-FIrst one to start the Patitapavan mandir, the temple for all castes.

-First political prisoner in history to be given two life terms for a crime never commited.

-First and only freedom fighter whose case became an international dispute between two super powers of that time.

-When the whole of India was was utterly demoralised under the false notion about always being slaves throughout history, he was the one who demolished this falsehood and reminded us of atleast six golden eras भारतीय इतिहासातील सहा सोनेरी पाने  of our own history 

and many many more aspects of the great personalty that have been erased from public memory by denying any discussion on these matters.

This movie succeeds in bringing them to the general public. Now it is upto us to take the discussion further without prejudice. But the poison spread by the leftists and wokes is too thick to even acknowledge that these things did take place. Start any discussion on Savarkar and they start and stop at 'Mercy petition, pension and hindutva' without even undertsanding what these terms mean and what was their purpose. My only request to them is to read beyond that, read Savarkar in detail, freedom struggle is much beyond बिना खड्ग बिना ढाल. 

The sacrifice of Veer Savarkar is not just by Shri Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, but by the entire Savarkar clan. Rremember , the first mob lynching in the post independent India was of Shri Narayan Savarkar, and the reason was that he carried the name Savarkar and was born in a brahmin family and that VD Savarakar had ideological differences with the apostle of peace Mahatma Gandhi , even though they both had mutual respect for each other.

Savarkars various interactions with many greats like Ambedkar, Tilak, Gokhle, Gandhi, Netaji , their agreements and disagreements, mutual respect despite the disagreements, many untold and repressed stories are well captured in this movie despite the time limitation and making sure it does not become a boring documentary.

We booked tickets online for this movie, booked kinder/student discount tickets for Shashank and Sneha, but unfortunately when we went to the theatre the kids were denied entry and we were told that this movie is rated 18+ adults only (sic). 

Looks like the struggles of the great Savarkar are still to be overcome, but I am sure सत्यमेव जयते, if not today soon we will show this to Shashank and Sneha and I am sure as always they both, espcially Sneha will have a tons of questions for me. I better refresh my knowledge soon.