The filmmaker talks about how a visit to Jallianwala Bagh 20 years ago prompted consideration for his upcoming film starring Vicky Kaushal.
Born and brought up in Bengal, Shoojit Sircar has a distinct connection with Punjab. Many of his friends are from Chandigarh and Patiala. That program went to a college in Delhi University named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh. his breakout movie Vicky donor revolves around a Punjabi family. And now, Punjab is also the place that gave Shoojit the idea for his upcoming film Udham Singh Starring Vicky Kaushal.
Read also | Get ‘First Day First Show’ our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema delivered to your inbox. You can subscribe for free here
About 20 years ago, right after college, Shoojit went to Jallianwala Bagh. Hundreds of protesters were shot dead by British soldiers there on 13 April 1919. It is one of the famous sad places of India. “It is a place with a vibration. If you are familiar with what happened there, it touches you. It touched me during my first visit. I could never get out of it,” recalls Shoojit. For a few years, I visited the place on the anniversary of the massacre. On those occasions it reminded me of Auschwitz. A lot of people used to sit and cry by the wall. Most of them were elderly… I didn’t know That’s who they were. But those scenes stayed with me.”
He didn’t have a story, he didn’t have the money, and he didn’t have the actors. But the young bachelor somehow knew that he wanted to make a film on Jallianwala Bagh. Little did he know that it would take him two decades to build it.
Now, the idea that Shoojit has been nurturing for so many years has finally sprouted Sardar Udham. Udham Singh was one of the few who survived this tragedy. 21 years later, he went to London to assassinate General O’Dwyer, who had sanctioned the killings as lieutenant governor of Punjab. Shoojit’s film traces the journey of this relatively little known revolutionary.
There are quite a few films on Udham’s more famous contemporary of Punjab: Bhagat Singh. This is also one of the reasons why Shoojit wanted to make a film on Udham; To shed more light on this man, who, they say, is seen as a vindictive, folkloric hero, revolutionary and a philosopher.
Sardar Udham Shoojit’s first biopic. He says it was difficult to make a film on real people and events. His fictional characters are based on people he has met or known. In a way they are more accessible to him than the hustle he has never met and may never meet. “Getting to know the character, interacting with it, breaking it was difficult,” he says.
Not much information was available about Udham. He had to piece together his story from excerpts found in the Hunter Committee report (on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre), news articles, essays and documentaries. After gathering as much information as possible, Shoojit had to weave his imagination around it.
“Since he is a martyr, we must also be careful about how we are going to project him. For example, what she wore on a particular day may be different. But his sensibilities, his morals and values, his philosophy should not be mistaken.”
His writers, Ritesh Shah and Shubhendu Bhattacharya, were very helpful in this regard. “We jammed well. They’re my college friends. We’ve done theater together. So, we had a comprehension.”
Another challenge was to recreate places and times. But he told his art directors Mansi Mehta and Dimitri Malik and costume designer Veera Kapoor that “nothing should be screaming.” Shoojit likes to keep his films realistic and restrained. It also means that Sardar Udham, the biopic of an Indian martyr will not have chest-beating fanaticism scenes or shots.
Irrfan Khan was supposed to play Udham. “I wanted a cerebral actor to play him. Who else besides Irrfan?” But after his death last year, the role went to Vicky Kaushal. “I liked Vicky Masan. I needed someone who was receptive to my idea of this character. And after listening, he adds his own touch to the illustration. He seemed convincing even in the different eras of the character.”
Sardar Udham, in a way, is Shoojit’s debut film. How has it changed over the years?
“I’ve grown as a person. A lot of people complain that my movies have slowed down. It’s because I’ve slowed down. But this slowness gives me more control over that character or subject or subject Which I am doing. This whole time has helped me nurture the film in a better way.”
It also makes a nice parallel. Shoojit had to wait for two decades before making the film, on a man who waited two decades to get his revenge.
‘Sardar Udham’ to be aired on Amazon Prime Video from October 16
.