'Swatantrya Veer Savarkar' Review: More hero worship than facts in Randeep Hooda film

During my class 8 exams, we were asked to write a 'fictional story'. The liberty to tap on my imagination made me write a hooking horror story. But when the results came in, while I did score well, my teacher wrote on the paper, “Please write short essays.” The statement continues to still haunt me, as I felt heartbroken about my creativity not being respected. I managed to find redemption as I sat through the three-hour-long ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’. As much as I tried to put my heart into Randeep Hooda's efforts as an actor, and as a first-time director, the length killed my enthusiasm and I walked out feeling drained rather than enlightened by this biopic.

The film is a bid to highlight the untold story of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the freedom fighter, who is being deemed as the real hero in our fight against the British. It almost walks the path of worship as we are told about his passion and his struggles to achieve 'Akhand Bharat'. It addresses the alleged conspiracy of how he was denied his rightful place in India's history and in the list of celebrated freedom fighters.

Furthermore, it also showcases Savarkar’s clash of ideas with Mahatma Gandhi, even questioning the title bestowed upon him. It also hints at Savarkar being the force behind most of our national heroes - from Khudiram Bose, and Bhagat Singh to even Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This is a fact that is still challenged by many.

Watch the trailer here:

Despite some impressive performances, ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ leaves you unimpressed for its sheer lack of depth. Losing his child while he's away studying in London is wasted as a montage. His dialogues with his comrades are portrayed as them reading oaths and chanting ‘Vande Mataram’.

We never get to feel their passion and love for the country. We wish the material was as honest as Randeep’s drastic weight loss journey for the part. Unfortunately, the wafer-thin screenplay does not support his efforts as it fails to evoke any emotions. It eventually turns out to be an attempt to whitewash and give audiences a single-dimensional perspective on Savarkar’s story.

Randeep Hooda tries his best to become Savarkar, with his bespectacled piercing look and curled lips. He shines in the scenes, where he breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. However, the performance is not as consistent as we hoped for.

We understand it was a mammoth job for the actor to helm a film like this, and even put up a performance that required his sweat and blood, quite literally. In an ambitious move, he tried to juggle both duties and sadly faltered quite a bit. This week's other release also has another actor Kunal Kemmu making his debut as a director. However, he ditched the temptation to cast himself to focus only on direction and the results are for all to see.

Moving on, Amit Sial shines as Damodar's elder brother Ganesh, who was the wind beneath his wings. Randeep and Amit's scenes together are a delight to watch and even leave you emotional, especially when they reunite after nine years during their jail term. Ankita Lokhande gives an honest performance even though she doesn't have much to do, and the same goes for Mrinal Dutt, who essays the role of Madan Lal Dhingra.

Coming to Rajesh Khera's performance as MK Gandhi, you would be reminded of his Onida commercials that ran on TV years back. Given the political leader is portrayed from Savarkar's perspective, the character has negative undertones, which becomes unsavoury after a point. Also, when Savarkar smirks, 'Gandhi, itna bada hogaya', you feel the contempt stemmed from not just their contrasting belief towards violence, but there must be much more.

The Congress is portrayed as the villain and the reason behind the partition. It even subtly accuses the party of aiding Gandhi's assassination as Savarkar questions why he wasn't provided security.

‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ adds to the list of propaganda films just before the election season begins. There are quite a few moments where Randeep Hooda talks about Hindus and Hindutva, a burning topic in today's time. At one point, he even equates Muslims to Hindus, if they believe the country to be theirs. He also goes on to legitimise the pain of the majority that has always been ignored for years. In a bid to whitewash him, Savarkar's numerous mercy petitions to the British, and promises to stand by them have been painted as an act of necessity to evoke sympathy.

The film opens with the text that even though we have been told that non-violence gave India its freedom, this is not the story. But the film is reduced to the story of a man rather than India's path to freedom, through a different course of action than claimed. There have been numerous films earlier that dismissed the non-violence act and the 'josh' was infectious.

There were moments while watching the film when I felt like going back home and watching 'The Legend of Bhagat Singh' to quench my patriotic fervour. And that's where the problem lies. ‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ turned out to be a shallow attempt. It can be only passed off as a very long, often one-sided history lesson on the 'neglected' freedom fighter.