Mumbai: The film Sardar Udham won Thursday the National Award in five categories. The film’s director Shoojit Sircar said the team, including lead actor Vicky Kaushal, were dedicating the honour to late actor Irrfan Khan, who was originally set to portray the central character.
Shoojit Sircar and Irrfan collaborated in the 2015 film Piku. The actor passed away in April 2020 after a two year-long battle with a rare form of cancer. Hence Irrfan had to leave the project Sardar Udham as he was ailing.
“Me, my team, my producer Ronnie Lahiri, Sheel, Vicky Kaushal and the entire team (of Sardar Udham) want to dedicate this National award to the late Irrfan Khan,” Sircar said after the awards were announced.
“I miss him every day. I missed him in this film but Vicky (Kaushal) gave one of his finest performances. He also dedicated his performance to Irrfan Khan. Irrfan has created a vacuum in this industry and we are unable to digest the fact that he is not there. He is missed, that calibre of actor we need in the industry,” Sircar stated.
The biopic released on ‘Prime Video’ last year. Sardar Udham tracks the life of the freedom fighter, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
At the 69th National Film Awards, Sardar Udham won ‘Best Hindi Film’, ‘Best Cinematography’ (Avik Mukhopadhayay), ‘Best Costume Designer’ (Veera Kapur), ‘Best Production Design’ (Dmitri Malich & Mansi Dhruv Mehta), and ‘Best Audiography: Re-Recording’ (Final Mixing) (Sinoy Joseph).
Sircar said he is thrilled that his team has received recognition in several categories and thanked everyone for supporting the movie’s mission.
“When you get multiple awards, it proves that cinema is a collaborative art, and you collaborate with people, with an artist, and different creative minds. These five awards that we have got shows that everybody was focusing on the vision of the film and we were together on the same path,” Sircar said.
Known for films like Vicky Donor, Piku, and Gulabo Sitabo, Sircar said it is essential to tell stories about the revolutionaries, who sacrificed their lives for India’s independence.
“There were many unsung heroes, revolutionaries, martyrs, who gave up their lives and sacrificed for our independence. Apart from people in Punjab, others were unaware of Sardar Udham, what were his thoughts as a revolutionary, how he was associated with Bhagat Singh, and the ways in which he protested against the British,” Sircar stated.
“I hope many more films are being made on these unsung revolutionaries, and present their point of view, and what do you think a revolutionary should do,” added the director.
Sircar said the recognition that Sardar Udham received reaffirmed his faith that movies based on unsung heroes have an audience.
Sircar’s films including Vicky Donor, Piku and Pink also won National honours in several categories. Sircar claimed that this type of acknowledgment is significant.
“A national recognition is really prestigious. The National Award gives you a lot of courage that possibly what you are trying to do with a film, the vision that you had, has somehow reached, like it has reached the jury also. It is like coming full circle,” Sircar said.
Up next for Sircar is a slice-of-drama with Abhishek Bachchan and the director said the movie is currently in pre-production stage.
