‘Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’ movie review: Randeep Hooda roars in this puff piece on the Hindutva ideologue

One of the most polarising figures in modern Indian history, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar gets a new lease of life in the election season as Randeep Hooda mounts a sharply-slanted biopic on the Hindutva ideologue. Drawing from half-truths, perceptions, and opinions that the right-wing ecosystem has been peddling for almost a century, the 178-minute reductive exercise unravels like a series of conspiracy theories to present Savarkar as the father figure for the freedom fighters who believed an armed rebellion would usher in Indian independence sooner than following the non-violent path. Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Director: Randeep Hooda Cast: Randeep Hooda, Ankita Lokhande, Amit Sial, Rajesh Khera Run-time: 176 minutes Storyline: The life story of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the Hindutva ideologue and reformer who inspired young revolutionaries into an armed rebellion against the British In his idea of India, there is no space for communities who don’t consider India as their holy land and it continues to echo the present day India where political representation for Muslims is shrinking. He finds good support from Ankita Lokhande who plays Savarkar’s strong wife Yamuna Bai and Amit Sial who essays his elder brother Ganesh.