WB-FILM-AZAD
- Country:
- India
Scholar and freedom fighter
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's firm belief in Hindu-Muslim unity
and his opposition to partition in the pre-Independence days
will be the highlight of a new feature film, which is set to
hit the theatres on January 18.
Rajendra Sanjay, who penned the story and co-directed
the film 'Woh Jo Tha Ek Massiah-Maulana Azad', said the
younger generation should get to know what the freedom fighter
stood for, in times of crisis.
"The film talks about Azad's principles, his belief in
communal harmony, secularist views which was not coloured by
any religion and faith in humanity," Sanjay, who visited the
city along with lead actor Linesh Fanse and co-director Sanjay
Singh Negi, said at a press meet Saturday.
The film will show the events that shaped Azad's life,
turning him into a "true mass leader", he said.
"As someone who believed in united India and Hindu-
Muslim unity, he had fervently hoped the partition can be
avoided. But that wasn't the case," the director-script writer
told PTi after the press meet.
'Woh Jo Tha Ek Massiah-Maulana Azad' will also dwell
on the phase Azad came into contact with Mahatma Gandhi in
1920 in Delhi, his house arrest for publication of two
magazines which propagated nationalist ideas in Kolkata and
other defining moments, he stated.
The film will also have references to post-
Independence period, following Gandhiji's assassination,
Sanjay added.
Co-director Negi said "very few remember Azad as
education minister had introduced science and technology as
subject in our education system".
The censor board has passed the two-hour-long Hindi
film, mostly shot in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, without a
single cut, he claimed.
Sharing his experience, Fanse, who plays the titular
role, said he had auditioned for Muhammad Ali Jinnah's role,
but the directors insisted he played Azad.
"The directors suggested that I would be suitable for
the role of Azad. I had to learn Hindu and Urdu for the role,"
he added.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)