More than forty years ago, in 1982 the film director Richard Attenborough made a film called ‘Gandhi’. The film garnered multiple Oscars for itself besides being a huge success at the global box office. Indians were proud that one of their own great leaders had been showcased, but they also felt a twinge of sadness that it was a Britisher who had made the film, not an Indian.
The actor Naseeruddin Shah, understanding how securing the lead role could be the opportunity of a lifetime and could set his career on a different trajectory altogether, auditioned for it. Unfortunately for him, that role went to the British actor Ben Kingsley who, as it happened, performed brilliantly and received the Oscar that year for best actor.
Sixteen years later, in 1998, India had cinematic revenge when an Indian film maker Shekhar Kapur directed ‘Elizabeth’ which secured multiple nominations and awards at the Academy Awards including an Oscar for its lead actress Cate Blanchett. Indians could now console themselves by saying that if a British film director had made a film on an Indian icon, Shekhar Kapur, an Indian film director had made a brilliant, award-winning film on a British queen.
How did Shekhar Kapur get the opportunity to direct Elizabeth in the first place? It was because four years previously, in 1994, he directed a film called ‘Bandit Queen’ based on the life story of Phoolan Devi. It caught the imagination of people across the world. A female bandit, taking revenge against landlords that had paraded her naked, gripped the public imagination. That the bandit happened to be from India made it all the more fascinating.
The New York Times described it as ‘an action-adventure film that defied credibility despite its truth.’ The film garnered multiple awards and cemented Shekhar Kapoor’s reputation as a film maker.
Despite the accolades, Bandit Queen did not, however, set the box office on fire in India although it did excellent business in the US and Canada. This was not entirely unexpected. Furthermore, as a bandit, the character Phoolan Devi could not serve as a role model for Indian girls. This did not, however, mean that role models for girls did not exist in India. Possibly the biggest role model was Indira Gandhi a female prime minister of one of the most populous nations in the world. Across South Asia there were other female leaders who served as role models: Benazir Bhutto as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and both Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia as prime ministers of Bangladesh during different periods in that troubled nation’s life.
While all the aforesaid distinguished prime ministers deserve plaudits for making their way to the very top in a patriarchal society there is one problem in their becoming a role model for ordinary girls from humble background. What is the problem? The problem is that all four women came from elite backgrounds. The women were all daughters of powerful men.
Could we not have an inspiring film that would feature a woman who came from a humble, modest background? There was the film ‘Mary Kom’ played by Priyanka Chopra, but such a film did not really have the possibility of resonating across the globe. Is there material in South Asia on inspiring women who can serve as role models not only for South Asian girls but for girls across the world?
There is in fact a story that is waiting to be told. It is the story of the brave women of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment that was part of the Indian National Army led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
These were women who fought for the INA, without any prior military experience whatsoever. No woman soldier in the INA’s Rani of Jhansi regiment (named after the legendary heroine of the 1857 rebellion) ever fought a war before but they were drawn to the cause by Bose’s stirring words. This was heroism at another level altogether, rarely surpassed anywhere in the world. How did these female warriors get enlisted?
Numerous moving testimonies exist of parents in Singapore and Malaysia giving permission to their daughters, upon Netaji’s request, to fight in the great Indian cause of freedom. Filmmaker and writer Sagari Chhabra journeyed across India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Burma seeking out the men and women of the INA. In her book ‘In Search of Freedom’ she chronicles the many quiet acts of courage that, regrettably, may not have been featured in school and university history textbooks.
A film can and must be made to honour not only the women who died fighting, the women who survived, but also their beloved parents and families who consented to have their daughters risk their lives. Girls even fought with their parents in order to get their consent. For instance, Janaki Nahappan who subsequently became a Commander of the Rani Jhansi regiment, was only sixteen years when she was stirred by Bose’s appeal for Indian women to join a ‘death defying’ regiment. She is reported to have immediately taken off her gold earrings and donated them. Her troubled parents resisted their daughter’s appeal but eventually she managed to convince them.
These are important tales of heroism that the world needs to hear. The film that will be made must draw upon the lives not only of leaders of the regiment such as Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan and Janaki Nahappan but many others as well. Archival material available with Ms Chhabra and others may be put to use here.
A well-made film mounted on a budget assuring decent production values could not only be a success at the global box office, it would be an inspiration to girls across the country, if not the world. It will provide an indication to overseas visitors that India respects the women who fought for its independence.
Shekhar Kapur – are you listening?
Rajesh Talwar, the author of forty-two books spanning multiple genres, has served the United Nations for over two decades across three continents. His most recent book published by Om Books International is titled ‘The Mahatma’s Manifesto: A Critique of Hind Swaraj’
