Divya Kaushik and Abhimanyu Mathur (BOMBAY TIMES; August 15, 2019)

Though it is the Red Fort where the Prime Minister unfurls the tricolour every Independence Day, curiously enough, it is the India Gate that has come to signify patriotism in most films and TV shows. Tigmanshu Dhulia is one of those rare filmmakers who have shot inside the Red Fort, an opportunity he got while making Raag Desh, a film based on the famous Indian National Army (INA) trials.

According to Tigmanshu, the Red Fort does not feature so prominently on the screen because of Bollywood’s laziness when it comes to research. “This has happened recently. I think it is basically ignorance. Not many filmmakers are inclined towards history because more research is needed there. Research is a recent discipline in Hindi films, it wasn’t there earlier,” says the director.

A student of history before he became a filmmaker, Tigmanshu delves into how before the India Gate was even constructed, it was the Red Fort that stood tall as the symbol of India’s freedom struggle. “India Gate is publicised in a certain way in popular culture. Maybe it is because of that that whenever we speak of freedom or anything nationalistic, we show the India Gate. But when Netaji was at Bahadur Shah Zafar’s grave in Rangoon, he pledged that aapko main Hindustan wapas leke chalunga. Hum aapko Red Fort mein baithayenge. This is a fact. It was always the Red Fort. Dilli Chalo was Lal Qila Chalo,” says Tigmanshu.

The director-actor has had a strong bond with the Indian freedom struggle. His grandfather was a freedom fighter. “During the Quit India Movement, he was in prison for four years. The legacy of that period is the eczema that he contracted there, which has stayed in the family. I also have it,” the filmmaker says with a smile. It was only natural for someone who grew up with that background to look for stories associated with the freedom struggle to show on the silver screen, and this quest culminated in Raag Desh, which brought him to the Red Fort.

The director admits that though he lived in Delhi for years, it was Raag Desh that introduced him to the history of the monument. He shares, “When I went for the recce, it was very overwhelming. Uske pehle main saat saal Delhi raha hoon, three of them with NSD, but Red Fort kabhi gaya nahin tha. I had gone as a tourist but I hadn’t seen that side (the barracks) even once. But when I had to make the film, then I went there. The uniforms of Prem Sehgal, Shahnawaz Khan, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon are all kept there. It was overwhelming to see that, to think that they must have walked there at one time. It was a great experience.”

Inside the Red Fort, Tigmanshu shot at the very place where the barracks that housed the INA officers once existed. That is when he learnt about the significance of the monument for the British. He tells us, “The Britishers had this idea that these guys are trying to challenge us, so let’s set an example, let’s have the trial at the Red Fort as it was an iconic place. Bahadur Shah Zafar ko unhone dethrone kiya. They wanted to set an example by putting all INA prisoners inside the Red Fort and decided that the trials will happen there. They were so foolish that they chose these three officers – one Sikh, one Hindu and one Muslim – which was kind of representing the entire country. That went completely against the Britishers.”

Tigmanshu says the INA Trials were the final nail in the coffin for the British Raj. He recounts an incident from then to prove his point. “When the trials were taking place at the Red Fort, the three officers used to live there. Red Fort had barracks where the museum stands now. From the barracks, the officers were taken to the room where the trials took place in a truck. This one time, a British officer and his Gorkha soldiers were leading the officers. This scene is in the film too. The British officer pushes the INA officers. Gurbaksh palat ke ek maarta hai usko. Aur koi bhi Gorkha soldier uss officer ki madad ke liye nahin aata. Uss din inko lagta hai ki yeh kya ho gaya! That was a big setback. Even Nehru ji spoke about it. That triggered the thought among British that if soldiers are not with us, who will save us? We need to get out of here. Otherwise, Churchill had openly said during World War II ki woh India nahin chhodne wale. Woh toh Labour party jeet gayi wahan aur INA hua yahan and that changed everything,” he says.

Tigmanshu further says that even Clement Attlee, who was the British Prime Minister when India became independent, attributed the independence to the INA. He shares, “Clement Attlee, who was the British Prime Minister for one term (from 1945-51), had come to India on an unofficial visit once. The Governor of Bengal (P B Chakraborthy, the then Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and the acting Governor of Bengal) invited him for tea. There, he was asked, ‘What do you think was the role of the Indian National Congress in independence?’ He just smiled and said, ‘It was not the Indian National Congress but the INA that sort of propelled us to leave India.’”

The director feels that the Red Fort and the history of freedom struggle associated with it symbolise religious harmony. He elaborates, “Red Fort stands as a symbol of an India that was there before the Britishers arrived and 1857 symbolises the Hindu-Muslim unity in this country. Woh jo mutiny hui thi, woh soldiers Hindu thay, Muslim thay, sabko East India Company ke khilaf ladna tha aur unhone bola Badadur Shah Zafar humara raja hai, toh sabne bola, Dilli chalo, Red Fort pahuncho. Red Fort humare Hindustan ki integrity, secular nature ko represent karta hai.”

In fact, during his research for Raag Desh, Tigmanshu came across several incidents related to the freedom struggle and the INA, which showed the secular fabric of the movement. He shares his favourite, “Burma had many south Indians at that time. There were Sikhs also. Netaji went to one south Indian temple. He was accompanied by some Muslim soldiers and the temple priest refused to let them enter. Netaji ne kaha mujhe toh yahan poore Hindustan ke liye puja karni hai. When he said that, the temple priest called them aur tika lagaya sabko. When they all came out of the temple, Netaji asked everyone to wipe off the tika from their foreheads and said the day we would start wearing religion on our faces, India will be divided. It was such a big thing. Don’t flaunt your religion. Religion is a very personal thing, aur aaj dekho kya haal hai.”

It was at the Red Fort during the INA Trials that the Hindu Mahasabha, Muslim League, and the Indian National Congress came together for the first time in support of one cause. The director sees certain lessons in this for the current populace in this fragmented climate. He tells us, “The right history was taught to us and we are a product of that era, but if that history is changed then there won’t be any meaning left in icons like Red Fort. People will forget 1857. In earlier days, roti and lotus flower had certain significance. Roti symbolises the moon or crescent and lotus flower has been Lord Vishnu’s symbol. So if one village wanted to convey it to the other that they are united, then one man from the village would carry a roti and a lotus flower. Even if that person would get caught, no one would realise what it was. So they started a system with these elements that were religious symbols, but the motivation was not religious. Kamaal ka daur tha 1857!”