Rating: ★★★ ½ Studio: Shree Venkateshwara Movies International Producers: Ajay Kambli, Abhay Kambli Writer: Abhay Kambli Director: Abhay Kambli Cinematographer: Raam Allam, Imtiyaz Bargeer Music: Pradeep Vaidya Cast: Akshay Shimpi, Shrikant Bhide, Rohan Pednekar, Shreeniwas Joshi, Shubhankar Ekbote, Chetan Sharma, Amit Vaze, Sunil Inamdar Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Through our history books, we have only heard of few freedom fighters from India, like Martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thaper, Shiram Rajguru and Madanlal Dhingra, who during the period of 1920s and 30s fought with the Britishers; like real soldiers and willingly went into the gallows, after they were declared death sentence. But, there are few other unsung heroes from Maharashtra, way back in 1909, who were also hanged for assassinating the British Collector Jackson, from Nashik.

New Marathi film ‘1909’ is set on the backdrop of India’s pre independence struggle, during the same year in Nashik district of Maharashtra. Already oppressed by the rule of District Collector Nashik, there was already a movement initiated by Babarao Savarkar, elder brother of India’s Great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and Anna alias Krishnaji Gopal karve, under the organisation Abhinav Bharat . The film shows in detail, how the youth from surrounding districts got attracted to this freedom movement .

‘1909’ actually talks about the sacrifice of a young collegian Anant Kanhere, who jumps into India’s freedom movement, inspired by the editorials of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak through his newspaper ‘Kesari’ and Veer Savarkar’s translated version of Giuseppe Mazzini’s ‘Young Italy’ a political movement in Italy. He moves to Nashik, to take the revenge of the arrest and punishment given to Babarao alias Ganesh Damodar Savarkar,. He makes up his mind to eliminate Jackson, the collector of Nashik, the man behind suppressing the pre independence movement in Nashik.

When young Anant manages to join the group, through his friend from college, he comes close to the leader Krishnaji Gopal Karve and his young associate Vinayak Narayan Deshpande, a disciple of Savarkar brothers. They plan to assassinate Jackson, with their proper planning, during a play staged at a theatre, especially to honour Jackson. They do succeed in their mission; but, three of them are served death sentence. They willingly go to the gallows, turning martyrs.

There are no big stars in this film. All those who have performed, are debutants. But, they have performed their roles like experienced artistes, with perfect understanding of the situation in the story. It is a very good effort by director Abhay kambli, who is also the producer of this film along with Ajay Kambli. They have managed to rebuild that historical period on the screen. Very cleverly they have recreated the atmosphere of that period, selecting proper locations and using the right costumes for the characters.

Instead of making it a loud film, the director has paid more attention on the dialogues and actual situation arising out of a happening of an event, be it, the arrest of respectable people from the district and attaching their properties or the oppression of the rulers . In short, it is all about the youth being inspired to take part in the freedom struggle. And, he has succeeded in presenting that pre independence movement ,when the actual preparations had begun to raise the funds and import of arms.

In the role of young martyr Anant Kanhere, Akshay Shimpi has given a good performance, while Rohan Pednekar and Shrikant Bhide have given fitting performances in the roles of Vinayak Deshpande and Krishnaji Gopal karve. Others in the supporting cast, like Amit Vaze, Shrinivas Joshi, Chetan Sharma & Shubhankar Ekbote have also done well as a team. Raam Allam’s cinematography and Ashwin Vanjare’s art direction are noteworthy. ‘1909’ has turned out to be a real tribute to Unsung heroes from Maharashtra. It is a pity that this film could not find sufficient theatres in Maharashtra. Thanks to the already occupied theatres by hit film ‘Time Pass’ and those blocked by Bollywood film ‘Dedh Ishquiya’. Never Mind ! Good work is always appreciated, with a ‘word of mouth’. And, this one is from Marathi Movie World.

Last but not the least, the maker of this film, should seriously consider presenting the same theme by staging a Marathi drama with same artistes.