The Revolutionaries never draws you into its world nor explains the mind and motivation of its heroes or even the mood within a nation they’re going through so much trouble for, observes Sukanya Verma.
IMAGE: Gurfateh Pirzada, Pratibha Ranta, Rohit Saraf and Bhuvan Shome in The Revolutionaries
Key Points
- Nikkhil Advani’s The Revolutionaries aims to depict the armed resistance against British rule, contrasting with Mahatma Gandhi’s pacifism.
- Despite a strong premise and inspiration from Sanjeev Sanyal’s book, the series is criticised for an ‘overkill’ of style and a lack of genuine emotion.
- Performances by lead actors, including Bhuvan Shome and Rohit Saraf, are deemed unconvincing, failing to convey the gravitas of their historical figures.
The idea of The Revolutionaries came about with filmmaker Nikkhil Advani’s desire to bring a young generation’s underground movement to focus.
Though committed to India’s fight for freedom, these headstrong men and women employed methods in complete contrast to Mahatma Gandhi’s pacifist philosophy. Expressing disappointment at the latter’s criticism of their ways, it’s the armed side of India’s independence struggle, inspiring the likes of Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh in the future, that finds favour in the eight-part series.
Ambitious Premise, Flawed Execution
Series like Freedom at Midnight and Rocket Boys render Advani a perfect fit to adapt Sanjeev Sanyal’s Revolutionaries: The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom.
The filmmaker proved himself to be solid at the long format, period drama gig but there are just too many things going on and going wrong to invest in the events leading to its goals of Ghadar.
Set in the 1910s, The Revolutionaries picks its key figures in Rash Behari Bose (Bhuvan Shome), Sachindra Nath Sanyal (Rohit Saraf), Bagha Jatin (Gurfateh Pirzad) and Pratibha Lahiri (Pratibha Ranta) as the plot skims to and fro between Benares, Dehradun, Delhi and Kolkata.
A bomb attack on Viceroy Lord Hardinge in Chandni Chowk kicks off an investigation by the brutal British officer General Dyer (Jason Shah) while fanning the feeling of revolution among like-minded rebels led by Bose.
For a long time, he passes off as a prim and proper British loyalist but when the facade drops and turns him into a most wanted ‘anarchist’ by the same people he hobnobbed with, Bose uses his ‘master of disguise’ prowess to hoodwink them at every juncture.
Sachin juggles between his dream to join him as well as settle down with his betrothed Pratibha.
Smart, spirited Pratibha wants to be by her beloved’s side for better and worse.
Bagha Jatin pops up much later and shows off his horse riding swagger and devil-may-care persona before martyrdom beckons.
Style Over Substance
Between highlighting Bengal’s significance in freedom fighting, remembering the Sikh community’s contribution, how networking between Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Calcutta was made possible in the absence of technology and schemes to steal weapons in a bid to strengthen themselves on the combative front, The Revolutionaries stirs up a lot of action but no emotion.
Caught up in a cosmetic exhibition of gritty reality for the sake of scale, Advani and his battery of writers — Akshita Wadhwana, Shobhit Narang, Rutvi Mehta and Sanyukta Chawla Shaikh — introduce elements of song and dance as well as slow-motion stunts across chapters of horse and bike chases, cryptic messages slipped inside letters, notes and books, secret passages and parkour proficient youngsters.
Bhansali-style Dev-Paro terrace rendezvous, colour-coordinated Durga Pooja revelry on the streets, Instagram ready food thali boasting of symmetrical portions and perfectly plated rice garnished with a single coriander leaf, krantikari heists put on a gangster shootout tone, freedom fighters hang out like bratty cowboys exuding a brand of danger and daredevilry evoking Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Pancholi’s in Baba and Nawab mode, lightening, thunder and rain for dramatic effect, you get the picture…
Contemporary take of a bygone era is only meaningful if it takes the storytelling forward.
But Advani’s style overkill only stunts The Revolutionaries and dumbs down reality into make-believe. Unlike Bhansali whose cinematic language is his signature opulence, Advani’s confused mix is neither here nor there.
Clichés And Unconvincing Portrayals
It’s interesting how weddings and religious ceremonies were used as a front to carry on anti-British activities wherein the danger of getting caught is typically teased but never finds any consequence. Bose and co go on and on about lying low and not coming in public eye but their stagy disposition is designed to grab attention.
Bose’s disguises of fake beards and extra-large moles convey little discretion and much drama. Every cliche in the book — pregnant belly trope, burkha escape trope, afterthought of a mole trope, any shocking development is only a character imagining the scenario trope, every British character is evil trope — finds a spot in The Revolutionaries.
Planes are flown, burned and crashed while fight scenes resembling the video game Fortnite are played out between the always-on-the-hunt Brits and always-on-the-run Indians.
Eight episodes, of which only a couple clock less than an hour, of this monotony turns it into a complete slog.
As always, the British are cardboard cut meanies with no nuance or context to their cruelty. General Dyer stutters, General Egert (Edward Lorimer Barnabas Robinson) limps and both strut around like a pair of gora Gabbars feigning an air of exaggerated menace and superiority. Perhaps The Revolutionaries still had some chance if the actors at the forefront showed irresistible charisma and histrionic muscle.
Bhuvan Shome as the leader of the pack is a casting misfire. He just doesn’t have the gravitas to embody the face of revolution.
The rest are no better.
Though he is essaying author Sanjeev Sanyal’s real-life grand uncle, Rohit Saraf’s omnipresent pained smile never leaves his face while romcom partner Pratibha Ranta’s coquettish charms convey more FOMO than feminism as she uses her Sherlock Holmes fandom to squeeze a place in the revolution.
Gurfateh Pirzada’s thuggish portrayal of Bagha inspires little confidence, which leaves Tota Roy Chowdhury (as Abani Sanyal) and Paoli Dam (as Nanibala Devi) as the only believable acts in the mess.
For all its pomp and passion, The Revolutionaries never draws you into its world nor explains the mind and motivation of its heroes or even the mood within a nation they’re going through so much trouble for.
When unexpected figures extend their support as friends of the movement, they’re reduced to another face in a sea of unsung contributors, which The Revolutionaries, clearly, seems to care about but doesn’t quite know how to honour.
The Revolutionaries streams on Prime Video.
The Revolutionaries Review Rediff Rating:
