History Bent as always to suit the needs. Review on Veer Savarkar

*The

Reel Savarkar*

In

the early years of the 20th century, a young Maharashtrian Brahmin from

Ratnagiri goes to London to study law. Coming from a nationalist family,

he is soon in contact with some of the other Indian patriots in London.

The young student, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar(1883-1966), jumps into

this small group of dissenters. Far away from their country, yet nobly

drawn to do something for its freedom, raging at what Britain has done

to India but impotent to punish her, these young men and their academician

mentor, Shyamaji Krisnavarma(another newfound icon of the BJP's effort

to recast history and find freedom struggle heroes with a Saffronite

bent - slim pickings, unfortunately) revel in little, largely inconsequential,

conspiratorial eddies(usually attempted assassination), whose purpose

(unrealized) is to assuage their own egos.

It is at this stage

that we first encounter Savarkar in director Ved Rahi's film about his

life, now doing the rounds in North America.

Savarkar comes across

as an intense person who is able to inspire others to commit acts of

violence. In 1908, one of his acolytes, Madanlal Dhingra, shoots an

English official, for which he is hanged. Gandhi condemned the act unequivocally.

Savarkar's response is unclear - he is shown disrupting a meeting of

Indians to condemn Dhingra's action, but never says anything definitive

to outline his philosophy.

Continued in comments . . . .