'Raag Desh': Tigmanshu Dhulia, Kunal Kapoor, Mohit Marwah get candid about their war film

Renowned filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia has created a buzz in the tinselvile as he is all set to make a comeback as a director with his upcoming movie 'Raag Desh'. The movie, which happens to be a war film reopens the 1945 Red Fort trials, features Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh and Mohit Marwah in key roles.

'Raag Desh' is based on the Indian National Army set up by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the war to liberate India from the British Government which was fought on the shores of the Irrawaddy in Burma. It focuses on the court martial of the three INA officers who were caught by the British Government and their much publicised trial which played an important role in India's fight for independence.

Indeed, Tigmanshu Dhulia is all set to paint the Bollywood with patriotic color ahead of the Independence Day 'Raag Desh'. As the movie is all set to hit the theatres this month, we got in touch with the team of 'Raag Desh', who got candid about the war movie, their experience of shooting together and much more.

Here are the excerpts of the interview:

Tigmanshu Sir, please tell us something about your movie?

Raag Desh is on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the army he raised the Indian National Army and eventually the Indian National Army was defeated by the British and they lost the war and then trials happened. They were put on trials, they were accused of 'deshdroh', of treason and murder. So this film is on Netaji, the army and the trials which happened at the Red Fort here in Delhi. Kunal, Mohit and Amit Sadh are the three main characters, the three officers who were tried at the Red Fort- Prem Sehgal, Shahnawaz Khan and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon. So this film is about them.

Kunal, you are donning the army uniform for the first time. How was the experience?

It was amazing. When I read the script I couldn't believe that it was a true story because it is such a fascinating part of our history. I mean imagine this is a story where you have soldiers that worked for British Indian Army, joined the Indian National Army to fight against the British Indian Army are tried at the Red Fort and bring the whole nation together because of that trail. How often do you get a chance to be a part of a film which is a courtroom drama which meets a war film. It's been amazing and challenging. It's been fun and at the same time what I was feel was really important that it is a really incredible part of our history which very few people know about, which is really sad. In fact, when I read this film, I felt really bad it is something so important that happened and i didn't know enough about it. So hopefully, through this film, we'll be able to take it to a lot of people and tell them about the contribution of INA in our freedom.

Did you do any special preparation for your role?

There was a lot that we had to do. But what Tigmanshu Sir told us is really important when we spoke to him about the characters, he said that what I want you in the characters is that when you look at you grandparents or you look at your parents or you look at the old photographs, there was certain honesty in them in their faces. Even the bad guys in the past, they stood for something, they had values, where is today we all are a little corrupt and that corruption shows up on our face. So he said that most importantly I want you guys to do is to bring that honesty for which we had to understand the mindset of the people in that time. People really valued things like idealism, honesty, people thought more of things like the country and the cause, while in today's time we just think of ourselves. So it was important to make that shift in our mind, to bring that sort of honesty in the character. Besides that there was also kind of preparation in understanding Shahnawaz Khan, his life, understanding the body language of the people in the 40s, getting the accent right. Those were obviously the external things, but the most important thing was the internal thing of shifting you mindset and looking at the world with different glasses.

Mohit, you are still a newcomer in the industry and this is a really serious kind of movie, so what was your preparation?

It's a war based movie and it's actually very interesting story, a socially relevant film. It's got a backdrop of World War II and a fight for independence is shown in the film. It's a very entertaining film, it's actually like a filmi story but its part of a history because there is so much drama, there was so much which was happening in this real chapter of history that we had just sort of not do anything with it, we are showing it as it is. It is a very entertaining film and glad to be a part of it. in fact my character is very happy-go-lucky, charming kind of guy. He is not overly intense. I wouldn't call it a serious film because there is so much happening in the movie. And like Kunal said, the combination of a courtroom drama coming with a war backdrop, it is so interesting.

How was to experience woring with Tigmanshu Sir and Kunal?

It was wonderful. Like you said that I am fairly new compared to the stalwarts sitting next to me and my very senior actor Kunal, so it was a big learning experience for me to be on the set and with people coming in with so much of experience, watching them, observing them. i would call it a big learning experience which will help me in my future.

What was the most memorable moment while shooting this movie?

Kunal - I don't think there was nay one such moment where I can look back. IT's been such a fun film to do, it was so much fun to work with Tigmanshu sir. He is somebody who is really relaxed and easy and when you walk on to the sets you are really relaxed and easy. The other scene that I felt was really good about the film was, there were lot of challenges that we faced during the film, but what I felt was that when you have a great story to tell and you have people who are really convinced about the story and excited about the story, so no matter what challenges you face, you really have a good time making the movie. So it wasn't about one moment but it was about series of moment that we had during the making of this film.

And what about the most difficult scene?

Kunal - There was a scene where I was supposed to do stunt which went a little wrong and I ended up with some injuries. So it was not meant to be a difficult scene but it ended up being the the most difficult scene. I hurt my hands a lot, but I wore gloves and I ended up doing the scene again. So, it was little challenging eventually.

Mohit - I have always felt that the first few days that you are shooting for the film are sort of difficut because you are still trying to catch the character and trying to get into the character. So the first two-three days were sort of difficult.

Tigmanshu - It's not just for the actor but it's for everybody, because there is so much happening, you have to sort the look, performance, the set and you have to finish it on time. So the difficult part is when you start shooting for the film.

'Raag Desh' is clashing with Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Indu Sarkar', is there any kind of pressure regarding box office collections?

No I don't feel any pressure. Some films are beyond box office numbers and this is one such film.