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FILM INTERVIEW: ABHISHEK BACHCHAN

New Bollywood Movie 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey' Pays Tribute to Chittagong Uprising

By: Simran Mody
December 1, 2010

Do not expect a lengthy badminton match to play out on-screen. Unlike Lagaan, Ashutosh Gorwariker’s period piece in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey focuses less on a sporting event and more on the uprising behind the gaming. To be sure, Mr. Gorwariker's Lagaan, too, focused on how a political struggle between colonial British leaders and regional Indian villagers sparked an epic cricket match. Yet, in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which stars Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone opposite Abhishek Bachchan, the focus of the story is the revolution itself and the freedom fighters who made it happen. In paying tribute to the Chittagong Uprising, Mr. Bachchan said he is all about honoring those who stood up for Mother India during British rule.

 
khelein hum jee jaan sey“The film is an attempt to pay tribute to those involved in the Chittagong Uprising. I did this film because I wanted to pay tribute to freedom fighters of our country,” Mr. Bachchan told members of the press during a promotional event of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey last week. “Our film isn’t a biopic on Suryada--it’s a tribute to the Chittagong Uprising. It just so happens that Surya Sen was the mastermind behind this uprising. We have tried to pay equal tribute to all those involved.”
 
In order to pay tribute to the freedom fighters who participated in the Chittagong uprising in then-undivided Bengal between 1930 and 1934, Mr. Bachchan had to take the time to read the book Mr. Gorwariker set his film--Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34.
 
“(Masterda Surya Sen is) an intriguing man. He was a schoolteacher by day and, on the other hand, he took part in activities leading to the Uprising. It needs a man of great strength and focus to inculcate such qualities,” he said of the character he portrays in the film, which is essentially a true story of the prolonged revolution in Bengal. “Even in Indian history, very little is known about the Chittagong Uprising. When I got to know about it, I felt it was a story worth telling.”
 
Sure, the story was worthy of being told, but the telling was no easy task. As Mr. Bachchan pointed out, there was very little information handily available to portray the characters and story as accurately as possible.
 
“It was difficult because there was no ready reference. There is no video footage, and few photographs of Surjya Da are available to post his arrest and the uprising,” Mr. Bachchan told reporters. “It was challenging for me to prepare for a man like him in terms of physicality. It became easy because Ashu was well-prepared. He did extensive research. Everyone had read the book, so all this made our job much easier.”
 
Hopefully such ease will be on display this weekend and audiences are transported back to the 1930s as Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey hits theaters worldwide on December 3rd.