Swatantrya Veer Savarkar movie review: Randeep Hooda packs an impeccable punch in this hard-hitting & eye-opening biographical drama

Star cast:  Randeep Hooda, Ankita Lokhande, Mark Bennington, Amit Sial, Richard Bhakti Klein, Ed Robinson, Russell Geoffrey Banks, David Michael Harrison, Hella Stichlmair, Apinderdeep Singh, Sal Yusuf

Director: Randeep Hooda

‘I don’t hate the British, I hate slavery,’ when Vinayak Damodar Savarkar aka Swatantrya Veer Savarkar played by Randeep Hooda says this to a jailer during his imprisonment in Kala Pani, we see thousands of emotions coming out of the freedom fighter, who has polarising views among the people today.

_Swatantrya Veer Savarkar_, which marks the directorial debut of actor Randeep Hooda, revolves around the life of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who chooses the path of violence unlike Mahatma Gandhi for freedom and how his ideologies turn out to be a threat for Britishers.

Savarkar, who takes the baton of being a freedom fighter at a very early age, is a university topper and starts showing signs of a reformer. He forms Abhinav Bharat and accomplishes the mission of boycotting British clothes, which impresses Lokmanya Tilak, who sponsors his travel and education in law at Great Britain.

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His ideology of violence for freedom starts a revolution across the globe. Right from Madanlal Dhingra to Kudiram Bose, we see young revolutionaries making a big impact on Britishers by assassinating their high officials before turning martyrs.

However, despite all this Savarkar feels the news of the Indian revolution is not spreading as there is no discussion about it in newspapers. He gets himself arrested and is sent to Kala Pani, which undoubtedly turns out to be the worst phase of his life. However, he meets his elder brother there and we see some secret communication between them.

His struggle for the country’s freedom to face accusations in free India weaves the storytelling of this biographical drama. Randeep Hooda goes into the detailing of the story and makes sure to showcase the tiniest events of Savarkar’s life. However, sometimes the scenes are quite slow and long which could have easily been trimmed by 20 minutes, especially the Kala Pani sequences.

While we can’t claim the authenticity of the historical facts shown in the movie, the direct attack on the Indian National Congress and dig at Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence are the major highlights of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar.

Other sequences like the meeting of Bhagat Singh and Savarkar and Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse add solid punch to the narrative.

Talking about the performances, Randeep Hooda delivered the performance of his life and brought out his best in the role of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Ankita Lokhande Jain as Yamuna Bai has a very brief time but she makes it memorable with her powerful presence. Other cast members including Amit Sial and Mark Bennington make their strong presence in the movie.

On the whole, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is Randeep Hooda’s show, which shines because of its fearless approach and star performances.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is playing in cinemas