Jul 12, 2002 07:18 PM
2646 Views
(Updated Jul 12, 2002 07:18 PM)
After a long time has a real good movie come from the camp of a genius called Raj Kumar Santoshi. A film that is based on the life & times of a real hero who stood against the mighty British Empire is indeed a feast for the audiences to watch. It’s a work that makes you feel the trauma, agony & the pain that the Indians went through during the struggle of independence.
The movie starts with the Britishers stealthily smuggling out the dead bodies of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev from the jail and taking them to an unknown destination. The bodies are chopped & badly mutilated before burning them. But the people come to know about this dastardly act and all the hell breaks loose.
Now we enter the flashback with the young Bhagat Singh who sees the British carrying all sorts of atrocities on the Indians including the Jalianwala Bagh. The young brain is attracted towards the Gandhian philosophy of fighting the Raj. However he is very soon disillusioned by the blunder done by the Mahatma after the Chauri Chaura massacre. He plans to fight it out with the gori sarkar and take his revenge.
As he grows up, he along with Sukhdev and some of his other friends comes in contact with other freedom fighters like Ram Prasad Bismil and joins their revolutionary front. There only he comes in contact with another great freedom fighter Chandrasekhar Azad and along with him rekindles the seemingly dying movement. During this very time the Simon Commission arrives in India for discussing a limited autonomy to the Indian states. It is strongly boycotted by the very famous line SIMON GO BACK. When the commission reaches Lahore its faced with a gathering of non – violent freedom fighters including Bhagat Singh & Sukhdev led by Lala Lajpat Rai. In spite being non – violent, an English officer named Scott orders a lathi charge and starts manhandling Lalaji and beats him mercilessly. Lalaji succumbs to the injuries and now the revolutionaries feel disgusted, as they could not prevent the death of Lajpat Rai. Now Bhagat Singh decides that they will avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai by assassinating Scott. A plan is made and on the day of execution, they reach the spot where they have planned their action. A revolutionary called Jaipal is assigned the duty to identify Scott. As the time approaches, an officer comes out, mounts his bike and Jaipal gives the sign. But as Rajguru & Bhagat Singh approach their target, they find its not Scot but Saunders, a junior officer. Its now too late to turn back as so they shoot Saunders dead.
Meanwhile Gandhi & Nehru denounces the violence and declare them as extremists. This makes everyone feel that the Congress & Gandhi just don’t want a complete independence and are only interested in taking the reigns of power. Gora Saab will be replaced with Bhoora Saab. At this point, Bhagat Singh decides to awaken he desh ki janta. For this he plans to make a blast inside the assembly alongwith Battukeshwar Dutt. They enter the assembly and at a suitable time, hurl a hand grenade in the middle of the hall but take care that no one is injured in the incident. Everything goes as per plan. After this they court arrest and become instant national heroes who even at a point of time rival the popularity of Gandhi himself. Even the young cadres of the Congress start supporting the theory of TOTAL INDEPENDENCE – Purna Swaraj. As the time progresses the Britishers come down hard and all the members of the Hindustan Socialist Republic party are arrested. As already proclaimed by Chandrasekhar Azad, that he will die free, he dies in the shoot out with the British but does not kneel down under the pressure. A lot of torture is done to these real sons of the soil and the British want them to surrender but they prefer death to any kind of compromise. As the Englishmen want to see Bhagat Singh & his comrades dead, a court case is framed whose decision is already known to the freedom fighters.
However as is already known to the freedom fighters, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev are given the capital punishment. But fearing their popularity, they get executed a day before their actual day of carrying out the court orders. And so the life of a great man comes to an end.
Raj Kumar Santoshi seems to be out of the shell after delivering two duds at the Box office like China Gate & Lajja. Though TLBG is a very well made film with good performances, good editing and a taut direction that keeps you bonded to your seats till the end but the usual songs & dance stuff could have been avoided. Still the Asian Mozart i.e. A.R. Rahman delivers some real good patriotic songs like Jatta & Mera Rang de. Ajay comes off with a great performance, as does the rest of the cast - especially Raj Babbar, Akhilendra and Sushant Singh. The film probably suffers due to the absence of well known faces among the revolutionaries, besides Ajay, especially considering that a major part of the film revolves around this group. Coming at a time when tension between India and Pakistan is at an all time high, this historical is sure to whip up patriotic fervor among the audiences. The revolutionaries derogatory dialogues towards the British & the Congress are sure to appeal to the front benchers. The film bears a real authentic look and you really feel as if you have entered those very times of pre 1931. I must say that this film needs a dekho and that too on the 70mm……….Enjoy.
