02 hours 58 minutes

Synopsis

The film portrays the life journey of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, his struggles, sacrifices for the country, the creator of Hindutva ideology. He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society. When he went to the United Kingdom for his law studies, he involved himself with organizations such as India House.  He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. In 1910, Savarkar was arrested by the British government and was ordered to be extradited to India for his connections with India House. On the voyage back to India, Savarkar staged an attempt to escape from the steamship SS Morea and seek asylum in France while the ship was docked in the port of Marseilles. The French port officials however handed him back to the British government. On return to India, Savarkar was sentenced to life terms of imprisonment totaling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Island. He was released in 1924 by the British officials after he wrote a series of mercy petitions to the British. After being released from his restriction to Ratnagiri district in 1937, Savarkar started traveling widely, becoming a forceful orator and writer, advocating Hindu political and social unity. In his Ahmedabad addressal, he supported Two-nation theory. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar’s leadership endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra \ (Hindu Nation). Savarkar assured the Sikhs that “when the Muslims woke from their daydreams of Pakistan, they would see established instead a Sikhistan in the Punjab.” Savarkar not only talked of Hindudom, Hindu Nation and Hindu Raj, but he wanted to depend upon the Sikhs in the Punjab to establish a Sikhistan. In 1939, the ruling Indian National Congress resigned en masse over Britain declaring India a belligerent in World War 2 . The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar formed alliances with the Muslim League and other non-Congress parties to form government in many states. Subsequently, Congress under Gandhi’s leadership launched the Quit India movement. Savarkar boycotted the movement, writing a letter titled “Stick to your Posts” and recruiting Indians for the British war effort. In 1948, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence. On 8 November 1963, Savarkar’s wife, Yamuna Bái, died. On 1 February 1966, condition was described to have become as “extremely serious” before his death on 26 February 1966 at his residence in Mumbai, and that he faced difficulty in breathing; efforts to revive him failed, and was declared dead at 11:10 a.m.