Veer Savarkar

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A shorter version of the biographical film on India's revolutionary freedom fighter, Veer Savarkar spanning the period from his birth until India's independence

Transcript

00:00Saturday, the 26th of February 1966, Veer Savarkar passes into history, immortal in

00:24the eternal glow of his fiery patriotism. In Bombay, the last journey reflects the deep

00:30sorrow of a nation in mourning. The militant spirit of the 1857 War of Independence reverberates

00:44through the life of Veer Savarkar. History produces the man for the period. The nation

00:55doomed to a long period of darkness under colonial rule needed a reformer and a rebel.

01:03Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the reformist, and Vasudev Balwan Phadke, the rebel,

01:08passed away in 1883. It was in that year that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

01:15was born on 28th May at Bagudi, a village near Nasik, Maharashtra.

01:29Uttering the name of Lord Ganesh, young Savarkar began his early education.

01:34The keenness he showed in his studies then never deserted him all his life.

01:44Life had its own lessons to teach at the other end. Disease and deprivation were the lot of

01:49the people and Savarkar in his boyhood witnessed many a tragedy caused by famine and a devastating

01:56plague. Even in the midst of the gloom of such calamities, the rulers were celebrating the

02:02diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign in 1897.

02:11The callousness of the authorities roused the anger of the people to a flaming point.

02:21At Pune, Damodar Panchathekar assassinated the plague commissioner, Mr. Ram.

02:26Other killings followed and injustice was creeped in the name of justice.

02:32Savarkar had just turned 15 when he took a solemn pledge to dedicate his life for the freedom of his country.

02:51To arouse the people, Savarkar composed a stirring ballad

02:55hailing the martyrdom of the Chafikar brother.

03:06By now, Savarkar's life had taken a firm course.

03:12He was at school at Nasik, but all his activities had a set goal. The goal of independence of his

03:19motherland. Even as a schoolboy, Savarkar formed a patriotic group

03:26which was eventually to sprout into the famed Abhinav Bharat society.

03:40Independence was the watchword that would light the torch of liberty

03:44and wrest freedom from the imperialist crown.

03:49Burning with nationalist zeal, Savarkar came to Pune to study at Ferguson College.

03:55Staying at the college hostel, he was soon to form a group of his own to further the freedom movement.

04:02At the library, Savarkar reached out to the heritage of the land,

04:06but his religious fervor never forsook the rationalist approach.

04:20Emerging as a student leader, Savarkar widened his contacts.

04:25On important occasions, Savarkar called on Lokmanya Tilak while in Pune.

04:32In 1905, the partition of Bengal created a national issue, adding to the general unrest.

04:39To spur the people onto a greater political awareness, Savarkar, with Tilak's support,

04:45organised the Swadeshi campaign in Pune through staging a bonfire of foreign cloth.

04:52Savarkar's anti-imperialist campaign was frowned upon by his college authorities,

04:57who imposed on him a fine of 10 rupees.

05:10Savarkar was also expelled from the hostel.

05:16The close association with Tilak brought an important turn to the direction of Savarkar's life.

05:22It was Tilak's blessings and recommendation that made Pandit Shanji Krishna Verma

05:27offer the Swadeshi scholarship to Savarkar for studying law in Britain.

05:339th June, 1906, Savarkar sailed for London from Bombay.

05:38If Savarkar had not gone to London, remains a big if in the story of his life.

05:46He had to study law to learn, as he said, the accurate base from which to strike at an advantage.

05:56Lodging at India House, founded by the same person who had extended the scholarship,

06:00Savarkar studied law at Grey's Inn.

06:09In London, Savarkar formed the Indian Society that brought several bright minds to work for the Abhinav Bharat.

06:17Britain celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Indian mutiny of 1857 in a thanksgiving fashion,

06:24more so to condemn the revolt.

06:27In protest, Savarkar organized a solemn function to observe the golden jubilee of the Indian War

06:33of Independence and to pay homage to the martyrs.

06:39Savarkar had designed a flag of independence for India.

06:43At Savarkar's behest, the flag was unfurled by Madam Kama

06:46at the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart.

06:53Meanwhile, India was in agony of brutal repression.

06:57The entire country was in turmoil. The nationalist press was silent.

07:02The news of the atrocities committed by the imperialists

07:05stung the hearts of patriotic Indians abroad.

07:11Madanlal Dhingra, a member of the Abhinav Bharat, chose to accept martyrdom

07:16by assassinating Sir Curzon Wiley in London.

07:19That was on the 1st of July, 1909.

07:24Dhingra's death was not an accident.

07:26That was on the 1st of July, 1909.

07:31Dhingra's last words were,

07:33My wish is that I should be born again to the same mother

07:37and that I should die the same death for her again.

07:42In London, Savarkar was seeking through all available sources

07:46the accurate base from which to strike at an advantage.

07:51The British libraries were better stocked with books dealing with India.

07:56The India Office Library had a vast collection of original letters,

08:00secret parliamentary papers and confidential documents

08:03concerning Indian affairs of the times and earlier.

08:07Savarkar had gained permission to study all available material.

08:12Finally, Savarkar completed his monumental work in Marathi

08:15on the First Indian War of Independence, 1857.

08:20The book was proscribed even before it was published.

08:24A great tribute to its contents.

08:28The English translation was circulated under the guise of classic fiction.

08:34Dhingra's martyrdom resounded with a mighty echo at a Nasik theatre

08:38where a drama was being staged in honour of the outgoing collector, A.M.T. Jackson.

08:44A young patriot, Anand Kanhale shot dead the representative of the British Raj.

08:54The link was found and on the 13th of March, 1910, at Victoria Station, London,

09:00Savarkar was arrested on various charges,

09:02including abetting the murder of Jackson.

09:11Britain conveniently forgot that it had sheltered great revolutionaries,

09:15Mazzini, Karl Marx, Garibaldi, Kosuth and Lennon.

09:20Savarkar was sent back to India to stand trial.

09:24The 7th of July, 1910, the ship anchors at Marseilles Port.

09:31Early next morning, Savarkar finds a way of escape.

09:51But freedom is short-lived.

09:53Bombay High Court, the 15th of September, 1910.

09:59A special tribunal without a jury hears the case.

10:03Savarkar, denied the right of appeal, declines to produce any evidence in his defence.

10:09Savarkar is framed under two sets of different charges

10:12and receives a double sentence of transportation for life.

10:15In addition, his property is forfeited.

10:25The 4th of July, 1911, Savarkar is brought to Port Blair.

10:37He stands condemned to spend 50 years in the military.

10:40He stands condemned to spend 50 years in the most dreaded jail of the time.

11:11At the cellular jail, the entire Yard No. 7 is isolated

11:15to heighten the agony of Veer Savarkar.

11:41Savarkar is lodged in a detached cell on the 3rd floor,

11:54class 3 convict, classified as dangerous.

12:01Savarkar receives the first punishment of six months solitary confinement

12:05until further orders.

12:10The Delhi Darbar of 1911 brought some relief by way of release or remission

12:28to even hardened criminals.

12:40But Savarkar was still in solitary confinement.

12:54Jailer Barry kept a close and constant watch on the activities of Veer Savarkar,

12:59helpless behind bars and in fetters.

13:08All the inhuman flogging was carried on in direct view of Savarkar's cell.

13:14Those sent to the gallows were marched within Savarkar's sight

13:18to instill fear in his mind.

13:20But Savarkar kept his courage till the end.

13:24A seven-day standing handcuffs punishment was imposed on Savarkar for possessing a letter.

13:32Such cruelties were to be a common feature

13:35while Savarkar suffered imprisonment at the Cellular Jail.

13:40Again, a month's separate confinement, Savarkar now embarked on a glorious adventure of the mind.

13:47Poems after poems he wrote on the walls and memorized them as treasures for the future.

14:05Savarkar's refusal to work enraged the jailer, who had invented special forms of punishment

14:11and did not hesitate to treat a political prisoner as a criminal.

14:34The strain of all these sufferings of body and mind finally told on Savarkar's health.

15:05Often, he was close to death on the sickbed, but with indomitable will he carried on.

15:11He had to see India independent.

15:17The 1st of August, 1920, the death of Lokmanya Tillak plunged the nation in grief.

15:27When the news reached Andaman, Savarkar was taken to the hospital.

15:32When the news reached Andaman, Savarkar observed a total farce.

15:40All other prisoners followed his example to pay homage to a great patriot.

15:48The demand for Savarkar's release was voiced by many leaders and gained tremendous public support.

15:53At long last, on the 2nd of May, 1921, the imperialists agreed to the transfer of Savarkar from Andamans to Ratnagiri Jail.

16:03Here Savarkar recalled to memory the poems he had written on the cellular jail walls.

17:04The 6th of January, 1924, Savarkar is released conditionally.

17:12He shall reside in Ratnagiri and not go beyond the district limits.

17:16He will not engage himself in any political activity.

17:20He will not engage himself in any political activity.

17:22He shall remain in his own country and not go beyond the district limits.

17:26He shall remain in his own country and not go beyond the district limits.

17:29He will not engage himself in any political activity.

17:55The reformist zeal in him now came to the forefront.

17:58The upliftment of Hindu society, ridden by the caste system, was an unfinished work.

18:04At the Paratwane school, Savarkar got the low caste children to sit alongside the upper caste.

18:14Savarkar set an example by asking his wife to invite women of the neighbourhood

18:18and offer the traditional haldi kumkum irrespective of any caste distinction.

18:28Temple entry was another of such programs to promote oneness among the masses.

18:42Inter-caste dinners.

18:50In March, 1927, Gandhiji came to Ratnagiri.

18:55In March, 1927, Gandhiji came to Ratnagiri.

18:57The birthplace of Lokmanya Tilak.

19:01Now, opposite Tilak's home, Savarkar had his residence.

19:07Gandhiji called on Savarkar to renew their acquaintance of London days.

19:15Savarkar was granted an unconditional release.

19:17The 10th of May, 1937.

19:2080 years to the day on which the First Indian War of Independence started.

19:26The first task was to understand the prevailing political climate in the country,

19:30even as the war clouds were gathering in Europe.

19:36Hitler unleashed the Second World War on the 3rd of September, 1939.

19:46Savarkar found a blessing in the war.

19:48For Indians who now had a grand opportunity to receive military training.

19:56A war of independence was also in the mind of Subhash Chandra Bose,

20:00who was in course of time to form the Indian National Army.

20:08The Second World War compelled the son to set in the British Empire.

20:12The goal Veer Savarkar had set himself was realized in his lifetime.

20:42The End

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