Lesser known facts - 'Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero'

Shyam Benegal's biopic on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose endeavours to capture the freedom fighter's life and magnetism on screen. Given the adventure-packed life of Netaji, the task of encompassing the legendary freedom fighter's life in a 222-mintue film was a task in itself. And then there is the eternal mystery over his death, which the director wisely dodges.

Click on the next slide to take a look at some of the lesser known facts about the movie...

For those of you, who are wondering why Shyam chose the title 'The Forgotten Hero' despite Netaji being known as one of the pillars of the Freedom Movement, we have an interesting revelation by the maker himself. According to Benegal, apart from paying a ritual tribute to the national hero, people have overlooked his real contribution, reported The Tribune. Netaji was the one who came up with the slogan 'Jai Hind' and he was the one who chose Rabindranath Tagore’s 'Jana gana mana' as his preferred national anthem for the free India he was fighting for, and wanted Hindustani to be the national language. In an interview, Shyam mentioned that everyone only remembers Netaji as one of the freedom fighters but no one remembers him for what he did. And hence, 'The Forgotten Hero' seemed apt.

A year and a half worth's of research had gone into the film. From wading through the available material and meeting people, like Netaji's Japanese interpreter, Benegal made sure he covered everything he could. An interesting fact that many are not aware of is that when people heard he was making a film on Subhas Chandra Bose, he started receiving letters, papers and information material from strangers, reported The Tribune.

Shyam Benegal was initially asked to work on a mini-series on Netaji by Sahara. Shyam was quoted in an interview saying that he thought of making a series on Netaji from the time he escaped from India, from 1941 – 1945, as very little is known of him, much of it being a myth. However, that plan was shelved. Fortunately, when the plan came up again, Benegal suggested a feature film and as luck would have it, the idea was approved by Sahara chief Subroto Roy.

Netaji reportedly stayed in Germany from April 1941 to February 1943. These Berlin years of Netaji are still a puzzle for most of his objective and biased biographers. Apparently Netaji was allowed to leave India only after the German surrendered in Stalingrad, and Hitler's secret plan for India fell apart. Netaji boarded a German submarine (U-Boat) on February 8, 1943, from Kiel leaving behind his wife and only child in Germany. Shyam Benegal managed to shoot in the one U-Boat left in the world out of the 10000 produced by Hitler. The model of the U-Boat happened to be the same as the one in which Netaji had travelled which was very accidental for Benegal.

Shyam had auditioned a large number of people, including two of Netaji's nephew to play his part, but unfortunately, they didn't seem fitting. The role ultimately went to actor Sachin Khedekar. Khedekar reportedly worked for months with Shernaz Patel (English theatre actress, who played Rani Mukherji’s mother in Black) to get rid of his Marathi accent and improve his English. He also listened to tapes of Bose’s speeches and worked on his posture. The late Amrish Puri also played a small part which had to be edited out for reasons of length the first cut was five and a half hours long, reported The Tribune.