'What About Savarkar?' is inspired from real incident

Confirming the news, presenter Rohit K Shetty said, “Yes, the film is based on an incident that had taken place in 2004. Back then, a minister had called Vir Savarkar an extremist, which had created quite an uproar at the time and we have based our story around a similar incident without naming any politician. In the film, the protagonist decides to teach one politician a lesson for calling Savarkar a terrorist and what follows later, forms the rest of the plot.”

Nitin Gawde, the co-director of ‘What About Savarkar?’ adds, “In mid-2004, a Central Minister had insulted ‘Vir Savarkar’ by calling him an extremist and the uproar across the country following this comment led to the plot of this film. The day the minister removed a veteran patriot poet’s ‘Kamlakavya’  lines inscribed on the island of Andaman  gave me sleepless nights and nobody responded to the shameful and mindless act except Shiv Sena Supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, who called a rally at Shivaji  Park to put a garland of chappals around the minister’s statue."

"The protagonist of this film takes his revenge in Delhi because he wants to teach a lesson to the minister and like-minded people in front of the whole nation. This demanded his journey to Delhi and to connect the whole nation to this incident, included Punjab and Manipur.  Today the most relevant problem before us is casteism and Savarkar strongly condemned casteism throughout his life but unfortunately, till date the situation has not changed.  This story not only avenges the insult suffered by followers of Vir Savarkar but also talks about unification of Maharashtra and the Nation.”

Scripted by Nitin Gawade, ‘What About Savarkar?’, which has been directed by Rupesh Katare and Nitin Gawde, stars Shrikant Bhide, Avinash Narkar, Atul Todankar and Sara Shravan in prominent roles. The film is slated to release on April 17.