Jallian Wala Bagh

The year of this film shows as 1977, but cannot see any release date for the same, as it may not have been found worthy of a commercial release by any film distributor or exhibitor and this film seems to have been made especially for patriotic reasons, by its producer.

The production of this movie seems to coincide with the repatriation of Udham singh's remains in July 1974 to India, after they were exhumed and repatriated to India from Britain. Udham singh a/s Mohammad Singh Azad, was the one who had killed Michael O'Dwyer, who had ordered the massacre at Jallian wala bagh on April 13, 1919. He killed O'Dwyer after 21 years in London on 13 March 1940. The whole film mostly revolves around Udham Singh's life, with Jallianwala bagh as its background. As the film seems to be made for personal patriotic reasons, there is a lack in the direction of this film; the Producer, Director and the writer of this films is the same person Balraj Tah, who has not made or directed any other film, besides this one. Nevertheless, all his efforts need to be applauded on trying to preserve and perpetuate this important piece of Indian history, which remains the only reason to see this picture.

I have worked on the story of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre for the last three years and when I saw this movie, I was extremely disappointed since this film could not capture the enormity of the sacrifice of this city and the role of this massacre in changing the national and international discourse. I have all the respect for Gulzar for his movies like Mausam, Mere Apne etc, movies that deal with challenging social subjects, but when it comes to historical narratives like Maachis and Jallianwala Bagh, his narratives display a woeful lack of research. The plot of Jallianwala Bagh is a confused one. Gulzar seems unsure if he wants to tell the story of the massacre or the story of revenge carried out by Shaheed Udham Singh. As a result, he is unable to do justice to either. Jallianwala Bagh is the story of thousands of people of this city and nearby villages who paid the ultimate price for challenging the might of the British Empire. This film does not have a consistent narrative, the characters are two-dimensional and Gulzar has completely ignored the role of local leadership. The production value of this film is extremely low. Seems as if some government grant was received and patchy film was created. It had great actors like Vinod Khanna, Parikshit Sahni, and Deepti Naval (who grew up in Amritsar!) What stupendous waste of talent! No wonder the film did not get many takers! I am trying to find a producer for a film on this subject but what chance do I have when Gulzar's name has been associated with this failed project. But his story needs to be told in a better way and it has potential to be a commercial success.