Gumnaami: Subhas Chandra Bose's kin claims Srijit Mukherji's film has no connection with freedom fighter

Chandra Kumar Bose, kin of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, on 29 August, claimed that there is no connection between the legendary freedom fighter and filmmaker Srijit Mukherji’s latest flick _Gumnaami_ . [caption id=“attachment_7167981” align=“alignnone” width=“747”]  A still from Gumnaami trailer | Twitter[/caption] “There is no evidence to connect Gumnami Baba with Netaji. Film director Srijit has said that his movie is based on Justice Mukherjee’s findings. After testing the DNA of Gumnami Baba’s teeth with Bose family members, Justice Mukherjee came to the conclusion that ‘Gumnami Baba’ has nothing to do with Netaji,” he told Asian News International. The film Gumnaami is based on ‘Gumnami Baba’, who many believed was freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in disguise. However, Chandra Kumar claimed Srijit made the film based on Conundrum which states that ‘Gumnami Baba’ was Netaji. “Srijit is not telling the truth and he made a film based on Conundrum which states that Gumnami Baba was Netaji. If his film is based on Conundrum then why is he not mentioning it? Why is hiding and trying to take the protection and using Mukerjee Commission’s report which would backfire? We don’t consider it a probability at all,” he said. Chandra Kumar said that theories about Netaji’s death in the plane crash may be considered. “The plane crash or the Russian angle may be considered but Gumnami angle is no angle to consider it a probable theory of Netaji’s disappearance,” he said. Director Srijit rejected Chandra Kumar’s claim that his film is based on Conundrum and said that the movie is not based on any particular book. “A lot of Bose family does not believe in the plane crash theory. But they are united that ‘Gumnabi baba’ theory is rubbish… There are various opinions about how Netaji died. It has been 74 years and people of India deserve to know. My film Gumnami opens up discussions and debate on that. The film is not based on any particular book,” he said. Srijit said that CBFC has given the clearance for the film and it will be released as per its schedule in October. Chandra Kumar also said that a committee should be formed to revisit the classified documents about Netaji released by the NDA government. “Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose has also written to the Prime Minister on August 22 requesting him to conduct the DNA test of the Renko-ji remains in Japan. That would give a very clear picture as to what happened to Subash Chandra Bose after August 18, 1945,” he said. “A committee should be formed to revisit the classified documents released by the NDA government. We feel that a proper analysis has not been done. We also come to that Japanese government has three files belonging to the late freedom fighter, the committee should look into them as well,” he added. Earlier in the day, the authors of Conundrum: Subhas Bose’s Life After Death, Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar have refuted allegations levelled against them by ‘majority members of the Bose family’ while terming them as ‘uninformed’ and ‘malicious’. In a statement issued on Thursday, the authors said they have noted a press statement issued by Chandra Kumar Bose on behalf of ‘majority members of the Bose family’ in which they have alleged that “we are running a ‘misleading and defamatory campaign to malign the image and legacy’ of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.” Giving a point-by-point rebuttal of allegations leveled against them by the Bose family, the authors said, “We would like to state that members of the Bose family have not only been aware for more than a decade of our research and campaign to resolve the unending mystery surrounding Netaji’s disappearance but extended their support and expressed their gratitude publicly. While doing so, they were fully aware of our views on the Gumnami Baba issue.”