Gumnaami: Poster of Srijit Mukherji's film featuring Prosenjit Chatterjee as Subhash Chandra Bose released

The first look poster of Srijit Mukherji’s film _Gumnaami_ was released on 18 August (Sunday), which happens to be the death anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The film is based on a legend, ‘Gumnami Baba’, an ascetic spotted in Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s who many believed was Bose in disguise. The film stars veteran Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee in the titular role. The poster features Chatterjee as Bose and a crashed aircraft with smoke billowing out of it. The poster asks, “Did he die in the plane crash? Did he die in Russia? Did he die as ascetic?” Here is the poster for Gumnaami.

On the 74th anniversary of His 'death', presenting the official poster of #Gumnaami, a film by @srijitspeaketh | Releasing on #Puja2019. pic.twitter.com/x9izdkGU9g

— Prosenjit Chatterjee (@prosenjitbumba) August 18, 2019

The teaser was shared by the makers on 15 August, which opened with a voice-over proclaiming that history taught us Bose died in an airplane crash near Taiwan in 1945. However, there were many speculations that he was captured by Russia where he was tortured to death. The teaser also shows a glimpse of Mahatma Gandhi, who sent a telegram to Bose’s family requesting them to stop Bose’s funeral ceremony, further creating doubt that Bose was perhaps alive. Towards the end, the voiceover explains that many also theorised Bose did return to India but started living as a monk. The combination of these two incidents inspires Mukherji’s film into a present-day courtroom drama as they try to decode the legend of Gumnami Baba. According to Indian-Asian News Service (IANS), a man from Kolkata sent a legal notice to the makers of Gumnaami, urging them to stall the project. In his notice, the man claimed that the film would promote manipulation and misrepresentation of facts regarding the hero of India’s freedom struggle. Gumnaami will release in Hindi and Bengali on 2 October this year.