‘Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero’ biopic of an iconoclast

Nana Patekar,Sonal KulkarniWhen a few idealistic and dedicated people come together to make a movie on an iconoclast, the canvas becomes extremely larger than life. National award winning actors, Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, and National award winning director Samruddhi Porey have assembled together to make a biopic on the life of, Magsaysay Award winner, Dr. Prakash Baba Aamte, who has presented India & the world an example of sheer courage, strength, and selfless service.

Dr. Prakash Aamte, son of legendary Dr. Baba Aamte, graduated from Nagpur Government College as a Bachelorette in Medicine, instead of accepting an obvious life of comfort and affluence, decided to dedicate his life for betterment of Tribals of ‘Hemalkasa’. His wife Dr. Mandakini, joined his hands for the cause from day one of their marriage without an iota of guilt to give up the life of comfort and luxury. Both together heralded on a journey of selfless service to the downtrodden in backward and remote part of Central India, ‘Hemalkasa’, a Naxalites prone area in ‘Gadchiroli’ district, sidelined from the mainstream and modern amenities, where the tribals used to live in inhuman conditions. They both faced umpteen number of challenges like Naxalites threat, Government apathy, fiscal difficulties, but the grit and determination always kept them going. Dr. Prakash Aamte even returned prestigious civilian award ‘Padmashree’ to the government due to its insensitive attitude.

On 11th sept’14 team of a movie ‘Dr. Prakash Baba Aamte‘ met media people to reveal the real journey of a real hero, Dr. Prakash Aamte. Sampada Joglekar Kulkarni was the intermediator, cleverly managed the show. Nana Patekar who portrays Dr Prakash Aamte in the movie was talking very passionately. He has been associated with Aamte family for the last 40 years (Dr Baba Aamte used to call him his third son, other two real ones being Dr Vikas & Dr Prakash) and even wanted to be the part of this movement. He said, straight from the heart,’No amount of words can gauge and determine the selfless ongoing life journey of Dr Prakash Aamte. It’s a proud moment for all us Indians that a foreign country ‘MONACO’ has paid tribute to his work by issuing a Postage Stamp in his name’.

The real hero Dr Prakash along with his wife Dr Mandakini was present shared his thoughts, ’till some years back there was no electricity, and major problem was difficulty in diagnosing because we did not understand there language nor they ours.’ Director of this movie Advocate Samruddhi Porey is of the opinion that younger generation should watch this film wherein they can derive inspiration. She said ‘It’s an experience to learn from these devoted people. I am blessed to be associated with this movie’. Sonali Kulkarni who plays Dr Mandakini in this movie said that the whole experience of working in this movie has changed her psyche from within. Dr. Mohan Agashe will be seen as Dr. Baba Aamte in this film.

Director of photography Mahesh Ane ( Swades fame) has captivated the mood of the subject to perfection. Guru Thakur’s lyrics are set in musical notes by talented music composer Rahul Ranade. Presented by Essel vision and produced by Samruddhi Cineworld and Golden Globe, ‘Dr. Prakash Baba Aamte‘, which received a great response as the Closing Film at the London Indian Film Festival, and also being part of all major film festivals, is ready for release on 10th of October’14