For me, Sardar is the most defining patriotic film: Paresh Rawal

When I think of Hindi films based on these subjects after independence, there’s only one film that comes to my mind and I can’t immediately think of any other names. Yes, there are a few films that I must be missing out on but at the cost of modesty, I have to say that (starring him in the lead role and directed by Ketan Mehta, released in 1994) remains my all-time favourite film.It remains very close to my heart because it was an extremely well-made film. It is among the most important characters that I have played in my career and in my humble opinion, our nation has two fathers-Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. I feel we didn’t know much about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel but now, there is more awareness about his contribution. , Sardar our nation would have disintegrated. . While I was preparing for my character, I read a lot of books about him and our freedom struggle. -I got to know in detail about several of our tall leaders from that era, and so on. Unfortunately, when we were in school and college, we weren’t taught about them. So, while preparing for the film, perspective , about Sardar and our other inspirational leaders. and that was my biggest takeaway from that film.
(As told to Soumitra Das)