Randeep Hooda’s directorial debut Swatantrya Veer Savarkar seeks to unfold the “true story” of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his role in the freedom struggle. Ever since the release of its teaser, the film has been grabbing headlines, but what made it more contentious is the reaction of Chandra Kumar Bose, the grandnephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
The movie introduces Savarkar as the most wanted Indian by the British, the most feared revolutionary and the man who inspired Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose. Responding to this claim, Chandra Kumar Bose tweeted that his granduncle was inspired only by Swami Vivekananda, his spiritual guru, and Deshbandhu Chitranjan Das, his political mentor. He even claimed that Netaji never followed Savarkar's ideology, but was rather opposed to it.
Chandra Kumar Bose further asserted that Savarkar being a communal leader would never be considered an inspiration as both Netaji and his brother Sharad Chandra Bose had strongly opposed communalism.
“It is an offence to project history,” he said, accusing the actor-director of trying to stir up a controversy for the mileage of his film.
Savarkar was born to a Marathi Hindu family in 1883. He founded Abhinav Bharat, India’s first organised secret society, and lead the first ever bonfire of foreign clothes in Pune in 1905. His book on 1857 uprising, in which he termed the revolt as the 'First War of Independence', inspired many other revolutionaries.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar commonly known as Veer savarkar was born into a Marathi hindu family who earned the name veer due to his courage even at a very young age .He was the first revolutionaries to coordinate India’s first organised secret society which was called Abhinav Bharthe and also the first one to lead the first ever student bonfire against foreign clothes on 1905 in Pune.
Vikram Sampath, the popular historian and the author of Savarkar's biography, says that according to the historical documents it was Bose who got Savarkar’s book translated into Tamil, Japanese and many other languages as the book expresses on how revolution needs to be structured.
Hooda released the teaser of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar on Twitter on Savarkar’s 140th birth anniversary on May 28. Despite criticsims, the teaser is being widely shared on social platforms with the hashtag #WhoKilledHisStory.