[Reader-list] 22 June 1897:The true story of the first martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

PRESS RELEASE


 
The true story of the first martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle
 
DVD of the film at your Door Step!!
 
To celebrate the 30th year of this landmark film, Rudraa Home Video is proud to announce the release of this film in its ‘Rare and contemporary  Classic’ series! The film will be released on DVDs with English subtitles and each original DVD is priced at Rs.199/-.
 
A historic film and winner of two National and two State awards, 22nd June 1897 has an illustrious crew behind its making. With dialogues by Vijay Tendulkar and screenplay co-written by Shankar Nag, the film was the directorial debut of the husband-wife duo of Nachiket and Jayoo Patwardhan.
 
The film was shot entirely on location in Pune, Wai and Mumbai and is a brilliant reconstruction of the events of the time. The film has been hailed for its convincing portrayal of the period and characters, making the film a true ‘Modern Classic’.
 
The DVDs has been made available at all leading stores. 
Film is available on www.induna.com and also 
www.flipcart.com (Cash on Delivery is available PAN INDIA)
 
 
 
SANKET/F.F.C. presents
 
22 June 1897
 
A film by Nachiket & Jayoo
 
Marathi / Eastmancolor / 1:1.33 / 120 min.
 


Script:

Nachiket


Screenplay:

Shankar Nag, Nachiket


Dialogues:

Vijay Tendulkar


Production Team:

Sadanand Borse, Dilip Limaye, Gangaram, Makrand More and Prasad Purandare


Assistants:

Rekha Sabnis (Script, Continuity)
Dinesh Mehta (Camera)
Kalshikar (Sound)
Karekar (Make-up, Costumes)
Islam (Editing) and
Bhalekar (Equipment)


Sound Recodist:

Vinay Shrivastav


Music Director:

Anand Modak


Editor:

Madhu Sinha


Art Direction, Costumes:

Jayoo


Cameraman:

Navroze Contractor


Direction:

Nachiket and Jayoo


 
16 mm processing – 35 mm blow up by Adlabs, Bombay
 
Re-recording: Mangesh Desai at Rajkamal Kalamandir
 
Produced by Sanket
c/o Nachiket Patwardhan, 55/14 Erandwana, Poona 411 004
 
Financed by the Film Finance Corporation, Bombay.
 
Cast:
 


Damodar Chapekar

Prabhakar Patankar


Balkrishna Chapekar

Ravindra Mankani


Vasudev Chapekar

Udayan Dixit


Father

Vasudev Palande


Mother

Shanta Jog


Daughters-in-law

Arundhatti Rao, Sujal Watve, Dipali Kulkarni


Govindmama

Satish Khare


Ranade

Sadanand Borse


Apte

Shrikant Gadre


Dutta Bhuskute

Suresh Bhasale


Ganesh Dravid

Jairam Hardikar


Ramchandra Dravid

Sanjiv Ambike


Nilu Dravid

Vikas Deshpande


Havaldar Rama Pandu

Mukund Chitale


Water Rand

John Irving


Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Sadashiv Amrapurkar


Inspector Brewin

Rod Gilbert


 
Supported by: Ulrich Merkel, Mervin Popplstone, Mihir Thatte, Shri Pendse, Pramod Kale, Harry Falk, Father Lederle, Mathew Manning, Shirish More, Suhas Kulkarni, Kishore Joshi, Shirish Bodhani, Subhash Awchat, Zareer Reporter, Robert Manning, Anand Hagir, Peter Saylas, Frank and Dipa Handrich, Shaila Joshi, Dilip Limaye, Bali Awasthee, Priti Limaye, Jim Benson, Guy de la Chevalerie and others.
 
Synopsis:
 
On the 22nd of June in 1897, British officer Walter Rand was assassinated on the Ganeshkhind road, Poona, on his way back from a Government house party celebrating the Coronation anniversary of Queen Victoria. The film is based on the events leading up to, and the consequences of, this murder.
 
Walter Rand of the ICS was appointed to take charge of the Plague control measures and had successfully contained the epidemic; but his methods of evacuating the people, of fumigating their dwellings and burning the contaminated articles evoked tremendous hatred amongst certain sections of the society.
 
Damodar and Balkrishna Chapekar were the two elder sons of a Brahmin preacher-singer and had formed a club of idealistic youths who indulged in fanatical acts of terrorism in the name of religion and nationalism. Their youthful energies and their romantic idealism was further inspired by Tilak’s militant views and resulted in an intense hatred for the British rule, their religion and their language. The excesses of the plague administration and the untimely death of a close friend drove Damodar into a conspiracy leading to the night of the 22nd of June. The murderers escaped without a trace. Inspector Brewin of the CID, with the help of the Dravid brothers, traced Damodar and was able to extract a complete confession of the crime. When the Sessions court passed a death sentence, Tilak assisted Damodar in an appeal claiming innocence but the verdict was confirmed by the High Court and Damodar was executed.
 
Balkrishna Chapekar was subsequently arrested in Hyderabad but he too claimed to be innocent. Finally, Inspector Brewin persuaded Vasudev Chapekar (the youngest brother) to testify against Balkrishna but in an outburst of violence there occurred two more murders, two attempted murders and finally the trials and executions of all the three assassins – Balkrishna, Vasudev and (his friend) Ranade.
 
The Chapekar brothers and Ranade created one of the most eventful periods in the history of Poona city and their executions enthused the spirit of freedom into a whole generation of Indians who considered these four to be the first martyrs of the nations freedom struggle.
 
All characters and events are real and based on available historical material. The film was shot entirely on locations in Poona, Wai and Bombay in March and April 1979.
 
“…a remarkably successful first film; the period and characters convincingly portrayed. Historical films exploit one of cinema’s greatest assets, the ability to create a convincing illusion of reality. It is possible to give an audience the sense that they have seen something of their past. 22nd June 1897 is in that sense an honest attempt at liberating history from the printed page and restoring a sense of the actual human experience.”
Sacha Braddel, Financial Express
 
First Screening: Bangalore Filmotsav, January 1980
 
First Public Release: Prabhat Theatre, Poona, March 1980
 
Winner of Two National Awards: March 1980
 
Silver Lotus: Best Feature Film on National Integration
“a brilliantly analytical reconstruction… combining an eye for color, locale, customs and lifelike characters, for powerfully communicating the patriotic fervor… for using silence in the film as significantly as the few spoken words.”
 
Silver Lotus: Best Art Direction (Jayoo)
“for combining well chosen locations and orchestrated use of muted colors and an eye for period detail, for giving the film a totally integrated visual style and proving that, with the increasing flexibility of the film medium, art direction has become more than mere set-building.”
 
Winner of Two Maharashtra State Awards: March 1980
 
Best Film of the Year : Dadasaheb Phalke award
Best Director of the Year: Nachiket and Jayoo
 
Festival Participation:
Calcutta ’80: Regional Film Festival, April 1980
Trivandrum, Kerala: Regional Film Festival, October 1980
International Film Festivals at:
La Rochelle, France, June 1980
Montreal, Canada, August 1980
Mannheim, West Germany,October 1980


-- 
Subhash Chheda
Rudraa Entertainment Private Limited
www.rudraa.com
+91 98202 22776