I finally watched Randeep Hooda’s Swatantryaveer Savarkar. I never believed such a movie would come to life this way, on the big screen, with no expense spared, and everything looking amazing and historically accurate. When I started writing India House
Hey! Good write up. I watched the movie two days after it came out and since then, believe me or not, I have been stalking your twitter page to read your thoughts on the movie. I'm happy that you finally wrote a long post on it!
I would mostly agree with you in your criticism of the movie. For one, it was too long. A bit of tight editing would have really helped in making it more impactful. The ending was heartbreaking but maybe it could have been executed better to make a bigger impact. I also noticed that the subtitles and in-movie text had typos which took me out of the movie momentarily. I too found the movie a bit jarring since it kept jumping from one incident to other in Savarkar's long life which made it look like a video collage than a movie. The most charitable way of describing this is that the movie felt like an Amar Chitra Katha comic book on screen.
My SO also complained that parts of the movie looked like stageplay but to me, it seemed like a deliberate choice that did not work. So, in that case, I didn't have too much of a problem because I appreciate the risk Hooda took with those choices.
Althought, when it comes to plot points, I agree with your fellow movie-goers that you are being nitpicky. :P I mean, I understand why you are being nitpicky... You've spent years researching India house and Savarkar. Of course you will have a so much more insight into the whole thing and a certain story beat in your head. So, you have a much better idea on how things could be better. I, on the other hand, had heard stories of Savarkar since childhood (thanks to RSS and my family's affiliation with RSS) but didn't know much about India House or other revolutionaries. So, I didn't have much criticism with plot points. In fact, thanks to you, I know much more about Savarkar and India house from your book excerpts, tweet threads, etc. and could appreciate the movie better because of this. There were times during the movie when I was just awestruck that a Bollywood movie went into such minute details about the man.
As you have written, just the fact that a movie on Savarkar was made is a big deal. I highly appreciate Randeep Hooda for having the guts to make this movie against all odds. When his own movie industry refuses to acknowledge the movie to the extent of not even reviewing it, making this movie would have been HARD. We don't even know much about all the drama behind the screen when Mahesh Manjrekar stepped down from the director chair and the producer too dropped out of the project. To then take over both those major roles to make sure the movie got made is pure passion! And it showed. This movie was a passion project. Like you said about your daughter, when you see the passion in someone's eyes, you don't think much about logic. That way, it was very Savarkaresqe of Hooda to get this project made.
The lack of top quality film making showed in the movie but I don't fault it too much. When there is so much opposition to these kinds of movies (Kashmir Files, Kerala Story, Vaccine war, etc.) from the movie fraternity , the director does not get access to the best of the top talent because the fact that they were making this movie makes them a pariah. So, although I know that a different cast and crew could have made this movie way better, I also know that it would never happen! It blew my mind that Hooda himself had to sit down to create subtitles of the movie during post production when he was also busy promoting the movie. So, I had to temper few of my criticisms of this movie just because of the fact that this movie went against the movie industry to be made.
In any case, loved your review of the movie and loved reading more facts about the story. Good luck with the book and yeah, your fans are waiting for the book. :)
Haven't seen it but sounds from your review that it should be an OTT series.
Hey! Good write up. I watched the movie two days after it came out and since then, believe me or not, I have been stalking your twitter page to read your thoughts on the movie. I'm happy that you finally wrote a long post on it!
I would mostly agree with you in your criticism of the movie. For one, it was too long. A bit of tight editing would have really helped in making it more impactful. The ending was heartbreaking but maybe it could have been executed better to make a bigger impact. I also noticed that the subtitles and in-movie text had typos which took me out of the movie momentarily. I too found the movie a bit jarring since it kept jumping from one incident to other in Savarkar's long life which made it look like a video collage than a movie. The most charitable way of describing this is that the movie felt like an Amar Chitra Katha comic book on screen.
My SO also complained that parts of the movie looked like stageplay but to me, it seemed like a deliberate choice that did not work. So, in that case, I didn't have too much of a problem because I appreciate the risk Hooda took with those choices.
Althought, when it comes to plot points, I agree with your fellow movie-goers that you are being nitpicky. :P I mean, I understand why you are being nitpicky... You've spent years researching India house and Savarkar. Of course you will have a so much more insight into the whole thing and a certain story beat in your head. So, you have a much better idea on how things could be better. I, on the other hand, had heard stories of Savarkar since childhood (thanks to RSS and my family's affiliation with RSS) but didn't know much about India House or other revolutionaries. So, I didn't have much criticism with plot points. In fact, thanks to you, I know much more about Savarkar and India house from your book excerpts, tweet threads, etc. and could appreciate the movie better because of this. There were times during the movie when I was just awestruck that a Bollywood movie went into such minute details about the man.
As you have written, just the fact that a movie on Savarkar was made is a big deal. I highly appreciate Randeep Hooda for having the guts to make this movie against all odds. When his own movie industry refuses to acknowledge the movie to the extent of not even reviewing it, making this movie would have been HARD. We don't even know much about all the drama behind the screen when Mahesh Manjrekar stepped down from the director chair and the producer too dropped out of the project. To then take over both those major roles to make sure the movie got made is pure passion! And it showed. This movie was a passion project. Like you said about your daughter, when you see the passion in someone's eyes, you don't think much about logic. That way, it was very Savarkaresqe of Hooda to get this project made.
The lack of top quality film making showed in the movie but I don't fault it too much. When there is so much opposition to these kinds of movies (Kashmir Files, Kerala Story, Vaccine war, etc.) from the movie fraternity , the director does not get access to the best of the top talent because the fact that they were making this movie makes them a pariah. So, although I know that a different cast and crew could have made this movie way better, I also know that it would never happen! It blew my mind that Hooda himself had to sit down to create subtitles of the movie during post production when he was also busy promoting the movie. So, I had to temper few of my criticisms of this movie just because of the fact that this movie went against the movie industry to be made.
In any case, loved your review of the movie and loved reading more facts about the story. Good luck with the book and yeah, your fans are waiting for the book. :)