‘Satyagraha is not just about Anna movement’

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Though they are portrayed as a fiery bunch taking on the corrupt system in their film Satyagraha, the cast of the movie was at its polite best when they addressed the audience at the launch of Satyagraha: The Story Behind the Revolution, a book published by Om International at Shiro, Samrat Hotel. While the concept of satyagraha remained the dominant topic through the evening moderated by film critic Anna Vetticad, the team including actors Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Rao, as well as director Prakash Jha shared their ‘apolitical views’ about the political scenario in the country.
Rejecting that the film is based solely on Anna Hazare movement, director Prakash Jha maintained that it is inspired by the slew of protests that youth of today staged in the recent past. “The movie aims to showcase the process of protests by the country’s middle-class citizens against injustice. Since social media is a big driving force for youth’s voice today, it forms an intrinsic part of the movie,” explained Jha.
Arjun Rampal, who was a part of the Mandal Commission protest in 90s, says he can perfectly connect with the theme of the film and clearly see the change with the emergence of social media. “When I was a part of the protests against Mandal Commission, I didn’t know why and what I was protesting for. It was all chaos then — people running helter-skelter, students putting themselves on fire and nobody knew why. But today if there is a problem, you get to know. There is awareness, thanks to social media! With this film, Prakashji is giving Gandhi’s message — be the change that you want to see,” says the actor.
Kareena Kapoor said she loved playing a journalist. “After playing this character, my respect for this profession has gone up. I was nervous about playing one as I was used to holding the mike and giving answers to the press, but not used to summing up the entire story no matter what the situation is. By the end, I completely enjoyed playing the part,” she says.
Praising Prakash Jha for being vocal about the political situation in the country, actor Manoj Bajpai said he enjoys doing this kind of cinema.
“Prakashji has been vocal and passionate about social issues and he has been observing the changes taking place in the society over time. There are other directors like Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap who are also making a statement. These filmmakers are upfront about what they think is right. As an actor I feel very comfortable working in a film like this. I enjoyed playing a contemporary character, who is a part of our time and era,” says Manoj.
Author Pooja Verma, who penned this book besides writing a book on Raajneeti, explains that it is not really ‘serious literature’. “The book is tracing the hard work, fun on the sets, costume crises, art direction accidents and how a team of people came together to tell a story of a revolution. But as the film raises some questions, the book translates some of those questions in print,” she ends.