Benegal chases the Netaji mystique

The BJP has even claimed recently that Netaji had a strong Hindutva bias in him and he should, therefore, be considered its property. The Congress, which at one stage had ousted him, now wants to project him as having been every inch a Congressman. And the Forward Bloc righteously claims Netaji as their mentor and forerunner.

The reason for this is not far to seek. Netaji is West Bengal’s only rebel hero and his ‘‘disappearance’’ has, to date, been the subject of much animated discussion.

Shyam Benegal’s film Netaji: The Last Hero will attempt to place the leader about petty political squabbles, and is based on his life between 1940 to 1945. Benegal says he would like to avoid all the distortions brought into currency by vested interests.

As he put it,‘‘There is no scope to indulge in bizarre rumours that have been kept afloat for many years. Myths are myths and they hold no importance for me or the film.’’

For Benegal, revisiting the nation’s great personalities cinematically is not new. He has made films and TV serials on towering geniuses like Gandhi (The Making of Mahatma), Nehru (The Discovery of India) and Satyajit Ray (The Portrait of a Director).

It would be interesting to see how Benegal tackles Netaji in these days when his role in the national freedom movement is being interpreted in so many different ways. He has, incidentally, been dreaming of making a tribute film on Netaji since 1980 but could not do so because of the lack of viable financial backing.

Earlier, the late Manju De — eminent Bengali actress and director of Abhishapta Chambal and Sanjarur Kanta — almost embarked on a Rs 5-crore project on Netaji. It was the biggest of its kind envisaged in the seventies. Unfortunately, it never took off — De died while working on it.

Then Biswajit, the hero of the big screen in both Tollygunge and Bollywood, got emotionally involved in the Netaji subject but, again, he could not quite pull it off for various reasons. Benegal is therefore literally attempting to go where many angels have feared to tread.

And while the film is in progress in Tollygunge, with Mumbai’s Sachin Khedekar playing the role of Netaji, there is a great deal of speculation over how Benegal will handle a subject that has caused many a raging disputes in recent times. How will Benegal deal with Netaji’s extremely controversial interaction with Nazi Germany, for instance?

Well, watch this space.