Mumbai: Amid all the speculations about the portrayal of India's greatest hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Srijit Mukherjee's upcoming film 'Gumnaami' has sparked anger among the members of Netaji's family.
Deeply incensed over the prominent Bengali filmmaker, the family have collectively put out a statement saying that the 'Begum Jaan' director is trying to malign Netaji by propagating the theory that he masqueraded as an anonymous baba during his last days.
When asked about Netaji's family hitting back at his bilingual biopic, the 41-year-old director said that they doth protest "too much, too soon."
"Have they seen Gumnaami? I've in no way maligned Netaji. You see, there are three theories put out about his last days and his death. One is the Russian theory. The other is the plane-crash theory. And the third is the 'Baba Gumnaami' theory," he said.
"I have not gone by any of the three theories. Instead, I've taken an ambiguous stand. Let the audience decide on the mystery of his final days," he added.
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Srijit, who is eager to see the audiences' reaction, earlier said that it has been his long-cherished dream to make a film on Netaji. "I've tried to be as objective as humanly possible. Given the budget constraints of non-Bollywood cinema, I think I've done what I could," he added.
When asked how does he compare his biopic on Bose with Shyam Benegal's 2005 motion picture "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero," Srijit observed: "I thought the war scenes could've been done better. But Sachin Khedekar as Netaji was a revelation. He transformed himself physically and emotionally to become the character. Let us see how the audience reacts to Prosenjeet Chatterjee as Netaji."
Speaking about his first bi-lingual film, Srijit said, "It has been made simultaneously in Hindi and Bengali. And it is being released on October 2. Irony can go no further."
