Will and a Way

“Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey is now forgotten and we don’t have to release under its shadow,” points out Pain. “That apart,the recent successes of Paan Singh Tomar and Kahaani prove that both the industry as well as the audiences are now more open to films that are not larger-than-life,” he adds. It also helps that one of his film’s key characters,Nirmal Sen,is being portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui,who recently shot to fame for his role of an intelligence sleuth in Kahaani. “Unlike any of his earlier notable characters,Nawaz plays a rather romantic role in Chittagong,” Pain adds.

The unprecedented delay also gave the NASA scientist-turned-filmmaker the opportunity to rework parts of his film. The background score was changed extensively and Academy Award-winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty stepped in later for this. “I re-shot a few portions with Manoj (Bajpayee) who plays Master-da Surya Sen,and Nawaz,to open the film in a grand style,” explains the 49-year-old,who feels the film is looking much better now.

However,the legendary Master Sen,who led the Uprising,is not the film’s protagonist in Chittagong. And this is where the film differs from Gowariker’s narrative of the same event. “Master Sen was indeed heroic. But his character does not have an arc; he knew all along what he wanted to do,” he asserts.

Pain found his protagonist in Jhunku Roy — the youngest of the freedom fighters in that group of school children led by Master Sen — when the filmmaker met him while researching for the plot. “All of 14 years,Jhunku came from a wealthy family. His father was close to the British government and he was supposed to travel to London and study at Oxford University. But then one day,while playing football,Jhunku’s life took a different turn,” elaborates the director,who shot the film in Lataguri’s Chittagong Kundli,Chittagong’s twin town in West Bengal. The film thus uses the

Uprising as backdrop to explore how Jhunku (played by Delzad Hiwale) overcame his self-doubts to take part in Master Sen’s revolutionary activities.

Not only has Master Sen’s character in the film been underplayed,Chittagong ends on a high note as well. Pain explains that rarely do people view the Uprising as an event where we triumphed. “Barring a few freedom fighters from the group,most of them survived and went on to play larger roles in India’s freedom movement. For most people,the story ends with Master Sen’s death,but in my film,it falls halfway through,” says Pain.