Artistes must value social commitments — Raj Babbar

Deliberating on his role as Shaheed Udham Singh, the veteran actor said the portrayal of this character had given him immense satisfaction.

"It is a big achievement to be asked to live a man who was so wedded to patriotism and who had an absolute conviction in himself and his chosen ideology," said Raj Babbar while talking to the mediapersons at Hotel Mountview after the preview of the film.

The film will release in Punjab on December 17 and all over the country a week later.

Explaining the tone of the film, the veteran actor said: "It is essentially an educational film. We have tried to create reverence for the characters who, we feel, are very relevant to the present times, where one hardly comes across a person who has the grit to lay down his life for a cause."

Babbar added that certain well-known personalities of that era, like Lala Lajpat Rai, have deliberately not been portrayed in the film, to avoid its being dubbed as a docudrama.

Asked if he felt the conflict between a politician and an actor, Raj Babbar said: "As I have said, I try to value my conviction and when I do a certain role, I do it completely. I live every moment of the character’s life."

Expressing concern over the lack of statues of freedom fighters from Punjab in the Parliament House, Babbar said he would raise the issue in the Lok Sabha.

The film assumes importance as it is being released in the centenary year of Shaheed Udham Singh (born in 1899). The much-awaited film also stars, among others, Gurdas Mann, Juhi Chawla, Amrish Puri, Barry John.