FILM INTERVIEW: ANUPAM KHER

Ruthless dictators have always been featured in films before. In 2007, Genghis Khan was the heart of the fictional biopic Mongol, while Napolean Bonaparte had a role in The Count of Monte Cristo and Kim Jong-Il was mockingly featured in Team America: World Police. Even Adolf Hitler found his likeness plastered on the silver screen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Inglourious Basterds. Yet when Anupam was invited to play the lead role opposite Neha Dhulia (as Eva Braun) in Rajesh Ranjan Kumar's Dear Friend Hitler (now renamed Gandhi To Hitler), a biopic about the notorious German chancellor himself, a large segment of Bollywood fans - as well as the international Jewish community - were not to happy about the veteran actor considering portraying the Fuhrer. Even the Indian Jewish Federation protested the film.

 

However, according to the film’s producers, Dear Friend Hitler is less about the former German leader and is instead based upon a pair of letters written by Mahatma Gandhi in the 1930s to Adolf Hitler, where the Indian activist referred to the German leader as “Dear Friend” and pleaded with him not to go to war.

 

Alas, the 55-year-old Kher, who runs a Bollywood film school in India and London, told the press he is seriously reconsidering whether he wants to be associated with the controversial film, mostly out of concern that his fans are not to thrilled about the production, which is being produced by Anil Kumar Sharma and Nalin Singh.

 

“Sometimes human emotions are much more important than cinema. When I signed the film, I did not expect that it will make so many people unhappy,” Anupam told the press about his decision that was driven less by cinematic art and more by his respect to his fans.

 

Anupam went so far to explain the rationale of his decision on Twitter, adding “After 400 films in 26 years, I have the right to be wrong and still be happy.”

 

As Anupam places his happiness on a high pedestal, Dear Friend Hitler portrays the leader of Nazi Germany as a man who was quite the opposite, someone who ultimately lost everything during the collapse of the Third Reich. Just how Mongol portrayed the more personal side of Genghis Khan’s rise to power, Dear Friend Hitler apparently gets into the aspect of Adolf Hitler’s life that is not told in history books, such as his romantic relationship with Eva Braun (played by Neha Dhupia) and interactions with his professional colleagues.

 

While Anupam expressed his reservations of the film, its producers were still hopeful that one of Bollywood’s most beloved actors can still be persuaded to take on portraying Adolf Hitler without enduring a black eye to his otherwise pristine resume. Specifically, producer Nalin Singh said the film in no way glorifies the notorious former German chancellor, but instead portrays another perspective of his story. In fact, he went so far as to make a public assurance to the Indian Jewish Federation that Dear Friend Hitler does not in anyway portray the Nazi leader as a hero.

 

“If there is any hero in our movie it is Gandhiji,” the producer told the press. “How can anyone appreciate an eccentric monstrous character like Hitler responsible for so many deaths show him as a hero.”

 

In response to public backlash surrounding the project, Nalin Singh, who spent two years developing the story, said the entire situation has fallen victim to Western bias.

 

“They (the Westerners) come and make a Gandhi here, and make our slumdogs speak in English and we don’t object but when we decide to make a film on Hitler, they have a problem,” the producer told the press.

 

Of course, Nalin Singh does not question Anupam’s decision, but the producer is still hopeful the Bollywood actor will reconsider his decision to not be a part of Dear Friend Hitler.

 

“Kher has said that he has a ‘right to be wrong’ because he has read the script and knows that we have no plans to twist history. We respect his feelings,” he stated to the press. “I would have done the same thing if I was in his shoes but we want to clear the misconception about the film and are hopeful that Kher will return. We have not given up hope.”

 

Even more, the producers are hopeful that people both in India and around the world will be able to come to terms with the film’s ultimate message, which is anti-Hitler and anti-Nazism.