Randeep Hooda: Savarkar is the most misunderstood hero

Randeep Hooda steps into Veer Savarkar’s shoes for biopic that traces his role in India’s freedom; director Manjrekar to take film on floors in June

After playing 19th century painter Raja Ravi Varma in Rang Rasiya (2014) and an innocent Indian farmer hanged for allegedly spying in Pakistan in Sarbjit (2016), Randeep Hooda is ready for his third biopic. The actor will bring alive the story of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his next, Swatantra Veer Savarkar. We hear Hooda signed on the dotted line on Monday evening.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Sources say the film will revisit Savarkar’s early association with a revolutionary group in the UK, his imprisonment at the Cellular Jail and the later years where he advocated social unity, thus highlighting his contribution in India’s fight for freedom. Hooda is eager to bring his interpretation to the revolutionary. “There are many heroes who have played their part in getting us our independence. However, not everyone has got their due. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is the most misunderstood, debated and influential among these unsung heroes,” he states. The actor is delighted to reunite with Sarbjit producer Sandeep Singh for the venture.

The period drama, to be helmed by Mahesh Manjrekar and produced by Anand Pandit, will roll in June. The story will take the cast and crew to London, Maharashtra and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Keen to see India’s freedom movement from a different prism, Manjrekar feels this is the “right time to tell stories which we had ignored.” “It will be an edgy narrative that will force us to revisit our history,” he says.  

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