[Photo Credit: Screenshot via YouTube]
Biopics are taking over Bollywood—and in most cases, that is a good thing. Movies like “Mary Kom” and “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” told the stories of boxing champion Mary Kom (played by Priyanka Chopra) and fantastic runner Milkha Singh (played by Farhan Akhtar), and helped shed light on these prominent personalities and their life stories. “Neerja” took us through the brave life of air hostess Neerja Bhanot who gave up her life trying to save the passengers when her flight was hijacked in Karachi.
[Read Related: “Sonam Kapoor Shines in ‘Neerja’: A Powerful, Heroic, Must-See Film“]
For audiences, these stories and movies become more than just a source of entertainment—they teach us about real life heroes. Similarly, the upcoming Aishwarya Rai-Randeep Hooda starrer, “Sarbjit,” whose trailer released recently, brings to light an important story—a story which has escaped the public eye for far too long.
The movie is based on the real-life events that took place after Indian farmer Sarbjit Singh (portrayed by Hooda) was arrested after he strayed into Pakistan from his local village and was accused of spying for the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He was tried and convicted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for a series of bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad in 1990, which proved fatal for 14 people. Singh died in 2013 when he was notoriously attacked by inmates and succumbed to his injuries almost a week later in a Lahore hospital.
The movie will be told from the point of view of Dalbir Kaur (played by Rai), Singh’s sister who fought endlessly for her brother’s life from the time he was arrested. The trailer for the film looks gripping, intense, and completely heartbreaking. It focuses greatly on the India versus Pakistan issue and tells the story of a sister who gave up everything in order to bring her brother back from the grizzly prison he was in.
Rai, whose comeback film “Jazbaa” failed to impress audiences last year, delivers a stunning performance as a helpless and grief-stricken fighter. Hooda exudes his brilliance as a captive who eventually seems to be losing his mind and heart after being behind bars for so long. Both of their deglamorized looks are visually wonderful to watch. Rai looks powerful in scenes which require her to give her all, as does Hooda, who has undergone a dramatic transformation physically to look the part. Clearly, both actors want to do justice to the vital roles they are playing.
Singh, who many believe was falsely convicted due to pressure from the Pakistani government and public, became an apparent scapegoat for the bomb blasts. His family believed he was missing for the first year or so after he was captured in Pakistan and did not know of his plight until they received a letter from him in 1991. The letter informed them that he was arrested as Manjit Singh, because he had no identification papers on him, and was charged and given the death penalty for the Lahore bombings. The movie’s trailer gives us a glimpse into his shoddy treatment and unfortunate circumstances as well as Dalbir’s journey to free him.
The movie promises to be a story about hardship and freedom, and will be emotional and heavy on the heart, as it should be. Directed by Omung Kumar and also starring Richa Chaddha and Darshan Kumar, “Sarbjit” releases on May 20.
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