A vivid reimagining

Title: The Revolutionaries

Director: Nikkhil Advani

Cast: Bhuvan Bam, Rohit Saraf, Pratibha Ranta, Gurfateh Pirzada, Jason Shah, Paoli Dam

Where: Prime Video

Rating: HHH

Kabir Singh Bhandari

The Revolutionaries is about young Indian freedom fighters who used armed resistance against the  British. 

Actors’ performances

You can see the earnestness in Bhuvan’s acting and portrayal of Rash Behari Bose. He also captures Bose’s eccentricities in some of his mannerisms. 

Rohit Saraf shows restraint throughout, an essential trait of his character Sachindra Nath Sanyal, while Gurfateh 

Pirzada’s hot headed freedom fighter Bagha Jatin adds flavour to the trio.

Jason Shah plays General Dyer, and astoundingly, a fact that has not been depicted in any portrayal of Dyer that I know is that he used to stutter, as his knowledge is basically limited to the Jalliawala Bagh massacre. But here we get to know what was he before that and his backstory. 

While in the beginning you feel Jason maybe going overboard in the stammering, by the end of the fifth episode he proves himself as the best actor for this role. 

Pratibha Ranta continues to show that she is a solid actor. She shows the irreverence of a young woman during the freedom struggle who will go to any lengths both for her lover and her country. 

Tota Roy Chowdhury’s expressions and erect posture help project him as the symbol of discipline and process, and it so good to see Paoli Dam is such a significant role.

Direction

It is the first time one can hear Tagore’s Ekla Chalo Rei being used as a fun poem recited between friends or to tease one another. And how Sherlock Holmes played a part in our freedom struggle. 

And should we stop crediting the Wright Brothers as inventors of the aeroplane? It is actually Shivkar Bapuji Talpade who made and successfully flew the Pushpak Viman in 1895. So did the British simply bury this fact? In other words, the Koh-I-Noor is not the only thing which the British need to give to us, and it would seem as if their museums names should be changed to international chor bazaars.

While Advani depicted his attention to detail before in Freedom At Midnight (2024),  and here too, there is a certain aspect I would like to point it towards the portrayal of the Sikh community. While a youngster in a patka sporting a mustache whose beard has not fully grown out is shown, at the same time in a congregation of about 20 Sikhs in 1912, you would also notice the varied turban styles at that time. 

FPJ verdict

Watch it for the vivid portrayal of a chapter of the Indian freedom struggle which has hardly been explored.