23rd March 1931: Shaheed
Sunny Super Sound Pvt Ltd's 23rd March 1931 Shaheed, as the title suggests, is the story of the legendary Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. The film that traces how, as a child, Bhagat Singh got influenced by the freedom struggle, goes on to narrate the revolutionary's ideas and philosophy and how they created an awakening among the Indians under British rule.
Bhagat Singh, who was hanged to death when he was only 23 years old, joined the Hindustan Socialist Republician Party of Chandrashekhar Azad and soon graduated to the forefront of the Party. He threw a bomb in the Assembly to shock the ruling Britishers in India and, thereafter, courted arrest. His aim was to be produced in court from where he could spread his ideology through the print media which would report the court proceedings. In jail, Bhagat, along with his two close accomplices - Sukhdev and Rajguru - who were framed (along with Bhagat also) for killing a British police officer, Saunders - created a stir when they went on a fast unto death to protest the inhuman conditions in which prisoners were kept and the unhygienic food they were served. As planned by Bhagat Singh, his revolt created a nationwide stir. But the court verdict was manipulated before more harm to the Britishers could be done - and Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were awarded the death sentence. Fearing a national upheaval, the British authorities played a trick and ordered the hanging of the three freedom fighters a day before the court's date set for the execution. The national heroes were, therefore, hanged a day earlier.
While the story has inherent emotions and drama, the screenplay (written by Sutanu Gupta) hardly does justice to the life and philosophy of Bhagat Singh. If Sutanu Gupta's screenplay is weak, Sanjay S. Masoom's dialogues are no better. For a film like Shaheed, which has a patriotic flavour as its base, clapworthy dialogues that arouse patriotic emotions are a must. But unfortunately, there are no more than a couple of such dialogues in the entire film, the rest being routine. Yet another drawback of the film is that while the first few reels (after Bhagat Singh attains adulthood) are devoted to Chandrashekhar Azad (Sunny Deol), the reels thereafter concentrate on only Bhagat Singh and, occasionally Azad, to the almost complete exclusion of Sukhdev and Rajguru. This appears strange, especially because Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru are together in jail and still, the two have been sidetracked. What's more, rather than a naturally flowing drama, the film appears to be an assemblage of chapters and incidents from Bhagat Singh's life, which seem not to have been woven together. Rather than showing how Bhagat Singh stirred a revolution that had millions of commoners across the length and breadth of India participating in it, the film establishes that mainly through dialogues only - and instead, concentrates visually on the jail and courtroom episodes which also are not too exciting. The hair-raising and soul-stirring drama of laymen rising in support of Bhagat Singh is, therefore, missing.
Bobby Deol lacks the fire both, in his voice and his performance, so essential in the character of Bhagat Singh. He does an average job. Sunny Deol plays to the gallery as Chandrashekhar Azad and has some clapworthy scenes. Amrita Singh, as Bhagat's mother, is good but could have been far more effective in emotional scenes. Rahul Dev gets very limited scope in the role of Sukhdev. Vicky Ahuja, as Rajguru, gets no scope. Suresh Oberoi acts ably. Shakti Kapoor does a fine job. Sachin Khedekar is alright. Aishwarya Rai, in a special appearance, has just one song. Divya Dutta leaves a mark. Akshay Anand, Rana Jung Bahadur, Vivek Shauq, Deepak Sharma, Ishrat Ali, Garry and the rest lend average support. The child artistes playing young Bhagat, are cute. Director Guddu Dhanoa, let down completely by his writers, has not been able to evoke the patriotic emotions among the audience. The sets (Nitish Roy) and period atmosphere are well created, though. Music (Anand Raaj Anand) is predominantly Punjabi, but the lack of hit and hair-raising patriotic numbers is sorely felt.Rang de basanti, Des nu challo' and Jogiya ve jogiya are the better songs. Action (Tinnu Verma) is good but not memorable. Camerawork (Thiru) is excellent. Editing is loose and the lengthy drama bores at several places.
On the whole, 23rd March 1931 Shaheed is a disappointment. It may do a little better in North India which is the stronghold of the Deols, but not good enough. In the rest of the world, its chances are too dim.
