In GUMNAMI Baba, Prosenjit Plays Titular Role

UPCOMING Gumnaami Baba in Hindi and Bangla movie on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose based on the Mukherjee Commission’s hearings is scheduled to hit the screen on October 2. The 137- minute   film shows the three theories trying to explain the death or disappearance of Subhas Chandra post defeat of Japan ending the 11nd World War.   There is no consensus among the Netaji scholars on his whereabouts after Japan had to surrender to the allied powers comprising Great Britain, The United States, China, and the Soviet Union. The leaders of the Allies were Franklin Roosevelt (the United States), Winston Churchill (Great Britain), and Joseph Stalin (the Soviet Union).In February this year, some relatives of the iconic Indian freedom fighter had raised objections to the venture. The movie is based on legends that Bose did not die in the plane crash on August 18, 1945, but continued living under the guise of a monk with the name ‘Gumnami Baba’ in Uttar Pradesh. The teaser opens with a voiceover proclaiming that history taught us Bose died in an airplane crash near Taiwan in 1945. However, there were many speculations that he was captured by Russia where he was tortured to death. The teaser also shows a glimpse of Mahatma Gandhi who sent a telegram to Bose’s family requesting them to stop Bose’s funeral ceremony further instigating that maybe Bose is alive. Towards the end, the voiceover explains that many also theorised Bose did return to India but started living as a monk. The combination of these two incidents inspires the film into a present-day courtroom drama as they as try to decode the legend of Gumnami Baba. The Indian government constituted as many as three probe commissions to reveal the truth behind Netaji’s disappearance. In 1999, the Mukherjee Commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge MK Mukherjee, initiated an exhaustive six-year-long probe into the Netaji’s “alleged disappearance”. Though Justice Mukherjee in the report, nixed the air crash theory, he did not conclude that the ‘Gumnanmi Baba was Bose in disguise for lack of   any clinching evidence. Despite Mukherjee Commission debunking the claim that a sadhu from Faizabad was actually the freedom fighter living under an assumed identity, the myth continues. The selfi- claimed saint passed away in 1985. The Narendra Modi-led government has   made public a series of files revealing many sensational facts about the iconic revolutionary. In June 2016, the Uttar Pradesh government set up a judicial commission to probe the identity of Gumnami Baba, reigniting the debate on whether the ascetic who lived till 1985 was Netaji.The mystery film is written and directed by Srijit Mukherjee  and produced by Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. There are   three theories trying to explain the death or disappearance of subhas Chandra Bose. In the movie, Prosenjit Chatterjee is portraying Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose / Gumnaami Baba along with Anirban Bhattacharya as Chandrachur Dhar,Tanusree Chakraborty,  Biplab Dasgupta,Shyamal Chakravarty ,Surendra Rajan as Mahatma Gandhi,Sanjay Gurbaxani as Jawaharlal Nehru.Meanwhile,BJP leader Chandra Bose, close relative of Netaji, has slammed the movie maker for trying to prove  the controversial religious leader as the iconic freedom fighter. Former  Union  Minister and  Professor  at Delhi IIT and  Harvard  Dr  Subramaniam Swamy ,MP, has  gone on record on Twitter  saying : Gumnami Baba  was projected as Netaji Subhas Chandra  Bose by Jawaharlal Nehru with the help of his IB Chief Malik. The purpose was to hide the fact Nehru, Attlee and Stalin plotted to kill Netaji after he had arrived in the Soviet Union on August 24,1945 or thereabouts  seeking refuge. The film therefore will create an ending controversary about the illustrious   freedom fighter.