Reel change: Hindutva’s widening film catalogue Premium

Filmmakers are no longer pursuing straightforward propaganda movies and looking instead for a more nuanced narrative that aligns with BJP’s narrative of nationalism

Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar’s security detail was in for a surprise last week when actor Annu Kapoor, along with the producer and the director of the upcoming film  Main Deendayal Hoon, reached his house in Delhi’s Paharganj to seek his blessings.

“We are seeking his inputs for the script, but I am putting my own money,” says Ranjeet Sharma, the producer of the film based on the life of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, an ideologue of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh — the forerunner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He says the new generation should know about Pandit Upadhyaya as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies are mostly rooted in his ideas. It is directed by Pawan Nagpal who last year helmed  Bal Naren. The story of a 14-year-old is inspired by Mr. Modi’s pet Swachch Bharat Scheme and how the young Naren uses the cleanliness drive to stop the spread of Coronavirus in his village. Incidentally, Naren draws his name from Swami Vivekananda and sells tea when he is not in school.    

Main Deendayal Hoon is among several productions in the works that align with the ruling dispensation’s narrative of Hindutva nationalism. SwatantryaVeer Savarkar, a biopic on Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar, which marks the directorial debut of actor Randeep Hooda, also playing the titular role, is in the production stage, while  Main Atal Hoon, starring Pankaj Tripathi as BJP stalwart and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be released in theatres in December.

Dr. Hedgewar, a biopic on RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar, whose  muhurat clap was given by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, is scheduled to hit theatres this Dasara and then screened in villages to prepare the ground for the beginning of the centenary celebrations of the RSS in 2024.

Among the most talked about projects is  Bhagwa Dhwaj, a big-budget period drama tracing the roots of the RSS, penned by director S.S. Rajamouli’s father and screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, who has worked on blockbusters like  Baahubali and the Oscar-nominated  RRR, and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the current BJP regime . Mr. Rajamouli had recently said he was moved to tears after reading the script.

Filmmakers are no longer pursuing straightforward propaganda movies like  PM Narendra Modi (2019), which traced Mr. Modi’s journey from  chaiwala to Prime Minister, but are looking for a more nuanced narrative as witnessed in director Rajkumar Santoshi’s recent film,  Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh, which explored an imagined reality in which Mahatma Gandhi survives the assassination attempt by Nathuram Godse and engages in a discussion with him in jail.

Sunny Mandavarra, director of  Dr. Hedgewar, says the film will answer the oft-asked question: what was the role of the RSS and Dr. Hedgewar in the freedom movement? “The film will capture Dr. Hedgewar’s days in the Anushilan Samiti [an early 20th-century underground revolutionary organisation], his tryst with the Congress, disillusionment with the party after the Khilafat Movement and the formation of the RSS. We have depicted his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi and how the top RSS leadership helped [freedom fighter Shivaram] Rajguru when he went into hiding in Nagpur.”