Pratik Gandhi, on the set of Anant Mahadevan ‘Phule’. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“This is an essential film to make,” Anant Mahadevan says that social reformer Jyotiro Phule amidst an intensive conversation on his upcoming biopic. As an actor, Anant often plays the role of a gentle person, but as a filmmaker, his choice of subjects is anything but soft. From Gaur Hari Dastan To Me Sindhutai Sapkal, He has raised many pressure issues through biopics of people who have made a difference in society, but often reduce footnotes in history. Vipul and pointed, his last film, Storyist, There was a funny on literary theft. ,Fule There is not just a biopic. It is a reflection of a quiet social revolution that Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai began in 1850 to remove caste and gender discrimination and provide dignity to widows. The Progressive Mission, which started 175 years ago, is still not completed. ,
“Phule knew that it would not be complete during his lifetime and wanted someone to pick up the baton,” he says.
Anant finds it strange that Jyotiba, who inspired Bhimrao Ambedkar and was the first to address the oppressed exclusion as Dalits, was not celebrated enough in popular culture. He propagated the concept of non -violence before talking about Gandhi. It is strange that apart from Acharya Atre’s Kali and White Marathi film made in 1954, Shyam Babu (Benegal) in Phule in a 23 -minute episode Bharat a searchThere is not a lot of reliable work on social reformer. “Ambedkar was present at the launch and attended the premiere of Atre’s film. It pushed me to mount a 70 mm screen sketch in Hindi, which not only talks about his Pan-Indian effect, but also keeps it in the context of global leaders like Martin Luther King and also takes equality between his missions and abandonment and opponents. He was a visionary.
Pratik Gandhi Jyotiba Phule and Patilekha as Savitribai
Unfortunately, the ground reality is that some Brahmin groups have expressed reservation about the depiction of the community, and the Central Film Certification Board has asked to dilute the contexts of the caste. Anant felt those who have objected to “jumping gun” after seeing the trailer.
“Many Brahmins stood by Phule and were part of Satyashodak Samaj. His schools had many Brahmin teachers.” Interestingly, some Ambedkaris have shown displeasure over Anant, which forwards their Brahmin identity to protect themselves.
“The big picture is that all the Brahmins did not throw cow dung at the Phule. They faced resistance from the marginalized sections because the years of caste discrimination and poverty cautioned them from change, such as sending girls to school. What I wanted to express what I wanted to express, was that we need to commit self-criticism. If your child is spoiling him, you will spoil him?
In the CBFC episode, Anant says that while the body agreed that caste and gender discrimination were facts, and did not question their research, they wanted them to remove mention of specific caste groups and statements like ‘3000 years’ slavery’ like a more common expression like slavery. “I think what was said in the film was not national or harmful for the society in any way, but we did not argue beyond one point.”
There is a section that questions Phule’s protecting the colonial rule. Anant looks as a competent strategist, who was a great reformer, also a businessman. “He could portray positive and negative aspects of British rule. After studying in an English-middle school, he saw the value in English education and wanted to use it for the upliftment of marginalized classes. At the same time, he could see through the British agenda and was experiencing housing before his house. To take away the housing.” As a trader, the Phullah, as a businessman, the British, as a trader, the British called the British. Used resources and channels for the underprivileged to open schools.
Focusing on the statement of a Maharashtra minister that the period of discrimination has passed, Anant asks, if it is, then why does the government still need to raise the slogan ‘Save BT, Beti Adhiko’? “Why do we still have women empowerment programs? Of course, due to the works of social reformers like Jyotiba and Savitribai, women are no longer limited to the kitchen, and gradual governments have tried to bridge the gaps in the society, but this is a fact that caste and gender discrimination exists a lot. We cannot close the past. Saying that, he informs that the deck has been cleaned, and all the sides have come back Fule,
In Hindi cinema, biopics are in trend, but sometimes, creative license kills credibility, and on others, the storyteller decreases in a dull documentation of life. Anant says that he does not take a dramatic license. “There is so much drama in these lives that you do not need to take creative freedom. Bravery does not necessarily come with shots. Phule’s life is so accused that it is bound to have a difficult effect. Sindhutai’s life was so dramatic that if I had shown it, people called it a hurry. My work is to report honesty.”
It was during shooting Scam 1992, Where Anant shared screen space with Pratik Gandhi that he first realized the ability of the young actor. “I usually do not write a character keeping an actor in mind, but in this case, the vibes were so strong that Pratik gets out of the pages. He is so comfortable that does not look like performing acting.”
After working with some of the biggest names in the film industry, Anant says that after Sanjeev Kumar, Pratik is an actor that needs to look at the industry. “He converts beautifully to become a part. He not only listens, but also contributes to this process. Acting demands social awareness and high level of IQ. In our society, people often feel that it is a task for young people who are not good in anything else. But acting is the second most difficult task for me, actress is the second most difficult task after a scientist.”
For his location in the film industry, Anant says that he is still strange. “Serious cinema flag bearers do not want to accept my appearance and close an eye for me. However, I seem to continue to deal with impossible subjects.”
Published – 18 April, 2025 01:28 pm IST
