Titled 'Who Killed DeenDayal', the plot traces the mysterious death of Upadhyay in 1968, and the political circumstances surrounding his assassination
After Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, it is the turn of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) icon, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay to be glorified on screen. Delhi-based filmmaker Atul Gangwar is scripting the movie based on a seven-part anthology on the national leader written by Dr Mahesh Sharma, president, Ekatma Manav Darshan Anusandhan Evam Vikash Pratishthan. It is slated to be released in February next year.
itled 'Who Killed DeenDayal', the plot traces the mysterious death of Upadhyay in 1968, and the political circumstances surrounding his assassination. Through the film, says Gangwar, he has tried to arrive at a possible reason behind his death since national politics during the mid-60s was going through major changes. "The popularity of Jan Sangh, which is now the BJP, was rising continuously, while the Congress was declining on major turfs, losing major elections. Upadhyay was a force to reckon with and his political rivals knew that. Jan Sangh always believed that it was a political murder," he says.
National Award winning director Ujjawal Chatterjee, who has movies like Escape to Taliban, to his credit will direct as well as co-write the movie, which is being produced by Sameer Shah of Lotus Magic Works. The cast of the film which is pre-production stage is yet to be finalised. The team is hoping to start shooting from September this year.
Why a movie on Upadhyay when most of the movies are made on other famous historical figures like Bhagat Singh and Indira Gandhi? "Upadhyay played a major role in helping the country attain sampurna swaraj in 1961 with the liberation of Goa, Pondicherry etc. His social and political contributions towards the country need to be told to a wider audience. His ideology even after so many decades, remains relevant. Unfortunately, India is Congress-oriented which is the reason history on screen has always been shown from its point of view. We must glorify other unsung national heroes too," he states. Gangwar, though was associated with the ABVP during his college days, denies that the inception of the film has been influenced by his political allegiance. "As I have stated earlier, we need to make more movies on other leaders as well. History should not reflect a particular set of principles and dogma," he says.
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