Inqilab | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gauhar Raza |
Written by | Gauhar Raza |
Produced by | Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, ANHAD |
Music by | Kaajal |
Running time | 40 min |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Inqilab is a 2008 Indian documentary film directed by Gauhar Raza, about Indian freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh, [1] co-produced by Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) in connection with birth centenary Bhagat Singh. [2] [3]
The 40-minute documentary which contains archival footage and original visuals of locations, is a tribute to the memory and sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, one of the most venerated nationalist figures in contemporary India. The documentary traces the evolution of this revolutionary icon as a political thinker and a visionary in the context of the Indian freedom struggle. The film is an attempt to craft an intellectual biography of Bhagat Singh in an audio-visual format. The documentary is produced as a part of the year-long celebrations organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in connection with the 100th birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh [4]
It begins by tracking the early influences, beginning with Bhagat Singh's family, locating him in the national and international political context and finally tracing the roots of his future ideological formations. Through diverse textual material available at various repositories, it weaves through the biographical turning points to construct Bhagat Singh's dream of an independent, egalitarian, socialist and multicultural India. [5] [6]
Parts of the documentary contain narration by Zohra Sehgal, Suchitra Gupta and Sarah Hashmi. Apart from this renowned social activists, intellectuals and historians, including Swami Agnivesh, Kuldip Nayar, Prof. Bipan Chandra, Prof. V.P. Dutt, Prof. K.N. Panikkar, Jagmohan Singh, Prof. Shantha Sinha, Prof. Chaman Lal, Prof. Urvashi Butalia, Dr S. Irfan Habib, Kamla Bhasin and Arpana Kaur, have also narrated parts of the script.
The documentary was shot in Lahore, Banga, Kolkata, Kanpur, Amritsar and Delhi.
At the end of the documentary 'Bhagat Singh's' Ghodi was used as background song. The song is in Punjabi language. It was composed by students of DAV College, Lahore just after Bhagat Singh's execution and even now is part of folk tradition on both sides of the India-Pak border. [7]
Bhagat Singh was a charismatic Indian revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and after his execution at age 23 into a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, he electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s, and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent but eventually successful campaign for India's independence.
Bipan Chandra was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian independence movement and is considered a leading scholar on Mahatma Gandhi. He authored several books, including The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism.
Chandra Shekhar Tiwari , popularly known as Chandra Shekhar Azad, was an Indian revolutionary who reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under its new name of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) after the death of its founder, Ram Prasad Bismil, and three other prominent party leaders, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri and Ashfaqulla Khan. He hailed from Bardarka village in Unnao district of United Provinces and his parents were Sitaram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi. He often used the pseudonym "Balraj" while signing pamphlets issued as the commander-in-chief of the HSRA.
The Indian Statutory Commission, also known as the Simon Commission, was a group of seven members of the British Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in the Indian subcontinent in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain's largest and most important possession. One of its members was the future leader of the Labour Party, Clement Attlee, who later became committed to self-government for India.
The Legend of Bhagat Singh is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language biographical period film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film is about Bhagat Singh, a revolutionary who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. It features Ajay Devgan as the titular character along with Sushant Singh, D. Santosh and Akhilendra Mishra as the other lead characters. Raj Babbar, Farida Jalal and Amrita Rao play supporting roles. The film chronicles Singh's life from his childhood where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh massacre until the day he was hanged to death before the official trial dated 24 March 1931.
Lala Lajpat Rai was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, generally known as Lala Lajpat Rai. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe head trauma injuries sustained 18 days earlier during a baton charge by police in Lahore, when he led a peaceful protest march against the British Simon Commission Indian constitutional reforms.
Kuldip Nayar was an Indian journalist, syndicated columnist, human rights activist, author and former High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom noted for his long career as a left-wing political commentator. He was also nominated as a member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament in 1997.
Sukhdev Thapar was an Indian revolutionary who fought against the British government for the freedom of India. He was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). He was executed along with Shivaram Rajguru and Bhagat Singh on 23 March 1931.
Jatindra Nath Das, better known as Jatin Das, was an Indian independence activist and revolutionary who worked to make India independent from the British Raj and was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He died in the Lahore Central Jail after a 63-day hunger strike.
Shaheed (transl. Martyr) is a 1965 patriotic film directed by S. Ram Sharma, produced by Kewal Kashyap and starring Manoj Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Pran in lead roles. Iftekhar, Nirupa Roy, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and Anwar Hussain star in supporting roles. It is based on the life of Bhagat Singh. The music was composed by Prem Dhawan, with several songs being penned by freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil. Shaheed was the first of Manoj Kumar's series of patriotic films, followed by the likes of Upkar (1967), Purab Aur Paschim (1970), and Kranti (1981).
Mushirul Hasan was a historian of modern India. He wrote on the partition of India, communalism, and on the history of Islam in South Asia.
Khatkar Kalan is a village just outside Banga town in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. This place is famous for the memorial of Bhagat Singh, an Indian freedom fighter, who was born in Banga, present day village in Pakistan in 1907 and after whom the district is also named. Khurd and Kalan are Persian language word which means small and Big respectively when two villages have same name then it is distinguished as Kalan means Big and Khurd means Small with village name.
Gauhar Raza is an Indian scientist by profession, and a leading Urdu poet, social activist and documentary filmmaker working to popularize the understanding of science among general public, known for his films like Jung-e-Azadi, on the India's First War of Independence, and Inqilab (2008) on Bhagat Singh. He was also the honorary director of Jahangirabad Media Institute.
The Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society previously known as the Nehru Museum and Library Society is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed within the Teen Murti House complex, it is an autonomous institution under the Indian Ministry of Culture, and was founded in 1964 after the death of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. It aims to foster academic research on modern and contemporary history. Today, the Nehru Memorial Library is the world's leading resource centre on India's first prime minister. Its archives contain the bulk of Mahatma Gandhi's writings, as well as private papers of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, C. Rajagopalachari, B. C. Roy, Jayaprakash Narayan, Charan Singh, Sarojini Naidu and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. In March 2010, it launched a digitization project of its archives, and by June 2011, 867,000 pages of manuscripts and 29,807 photographs had been scanned and 500,000 pages had been uploaded on the digital library website. Amongst noted publications of the NMML are Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Man of Destiny by Ruskin Bond, and Nehru Anthology (1980).
Madhavan Kezhkepat Palat is an Indian historian, scholar of modern world, and political commentator. He is an expert on European and Russian history. In an academic career extending over nearly five decades, he has played a seminal role in promoting understanding of Russian history, culture, literature, and society in India.
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi was a political activist from Bihar, prominent in the Indian independence movement.
Yudhvir Singh was an Indian freedom fighter, politician and homeopathic doctor.
Mridula Mukherjee is an Indian historian known for her work on the role of peasants in the Indian independence movement. She is an ex-chairperson of the Centre for Historical Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and former director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.
Prithvi Singh Azad (1892–1989) was an Indian independence activist, socialist revolutionary and one of the founder members of Ghadar Party. He suffered incarceration several times during the pre-independence period, including a term in the Cellular Jail. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1977, for his contributions to society.
Hari Kishan Talwar was an Indian revolutionary from North-West Frontier Province. He is known mainly for his attempt to assassinate the Governor of Punjab, Sir Geoffrey de Montmorency. He was a young disciple of Bhagat Singh. He was hanged on 9 June 1931 in Mianwali Jail.