The Revolutionaries review: Series on ‘forgotten’ freedom fighters is too long and predictable
Nikkhil Advani show, based on Sanjeev Sanyal's book, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, suffers from lack of narrative tautness and dodgy politics.
The cast of The Revolutionaries.
With the shows he has mounted over the past few years on chapters from the history of India’s independence from British rule, it would seem as though writer-director Nikkhil Advani is going further back in time. While Rocket Boys was the story of scientific advancements in a Nehruvian India, his Freedom at Midnight — set around ’47 — showed the backroom manoeuvring that went into Partition. His new series, The Revolutionaries, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, is set in the years leading up to the Ghadar uprising of 1915, and is ostensibly about a quartet of lesser-celebrated figures from our freedom struggle: Rashbehari Bose (Bhuvan Bam), Bagha Jatin (Gurfateh Pirzada), Sachindranath Sanyal (Rohit Saraf) and Pratibha Lahiri (Pratibha Ranta, modelled on Pritalalata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta). India’s independence, it seems to argue, wasn’t achieved solely because of Gandhi’s non-violent movement; armed rebellion also contributed to it, which has received lesser space in history so far.
There is a revisionism in this premise that aligns with what many have interpreted to be the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s stance on history and academics. That feeling is bolstered by the fact that the series is based on a book written by Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.
The subtle ‘othering’
The first thing that draws attention is the seeming othering of Muslims in the show. A Muslim mohalla — the scene of an act that sets the ball rolling with Bose’s assassination attempt on then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge — is shown as largely compliant to British rule, with images of women waving flags of Great Britain and later, a man from the neighbourhood, albeit under pressure, outing our heroes. When the audience is told about a CID officer who the British rewarded for busting a band of revolutionaries, he is, unsurprisingly, Muslim.
Also read: Haiwaan review: Priyadarshan film marking Akshay-Saif reunion falls short of hype
In contrast, Banaras’ Bangali Tola — full of temple bells and kirtans, where a large chunk of the story is set — is shown as the hotbed of revolutionary activity. The Hindu imagery in the show is so pronounced — the ‘Jai Bhavani’ battle cry, the akhadas with the Hindu goddesses — that it appears to paint the freedom struggle in religious colours.
It is true that in colonial India, many freedom fighters and organisations did turn to religion for inspiration and a sense of purpose and by that logic it is historically accurate to be true to that spirit. But equally important is the time a piece of work is made in and in that regard, The Revolutionaries is guilty of indulging in a kind of majoritarian chauvinism.
As the show progresses, however, it grows into a more inclusive idea of India with the participation of the Sikhs, the mention of Muslim freedom fighters (although kept to a minimum), and even the involvement of a minor Indian-Chinese character.
Long and predictable
It’s possible to set aside the dodgy politics and enjoy a show for what it is — but even as a sprawling, swashbuckling story of the unsung heroes of India’s freedom struggle, The Revolutionaries is too long and too predictable to sustain interest for eight episodes (clocking about 50 minutes each). It lacks the narrative tautness that makes a show bingeable and the world-building and attention to detail that makes the long format sing. (The show has six writers, including Advani, who’s also the director).
For a series set in large parts in Calcutta featuring Bengali characters, it cares little for authenticity — the depiction of a Durga Puja celebration could just as well have been Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, and actors say lines like “Chhotey, shorey ja” [Chhotey, move], a bizarre mix of Hindi nicknames and Bengali words that just sounds wrong. In a genre such as this, where underground networks of freedom fighters correspond to each other through coded messages, get into disguises and pull off heists, there simply isn’t enough guile and intrigue. The action scenes, important for the genre, lack spatial clarity; you don’t follow what’s going on.
What redeems the show somewhat are the performances. Bam is a natural on screen and he gives Bose a certain lightness, while also being able to bring in the intensity. Saraf, with his likeable presence and rookie energy, fits the role of his sidekick. Tota Roychowdhury as Abani, the patriarch of the Sanyal family, brings a physicality to the character that Bengali cinema often fails to tap into.
Also read: Ghamaasan review: Tigmanshu Dhulia returns to the badlands in new film showing on Zee 5
The villains are marginally more fun. Jason Shah as Colonel Dyer gets to ham it up, complete with a tic, a stutter and a supervillain-style origin story, while Ed Robinson as DCP Tegart gets his own set of weird mannerisms too. Special mention for Pratik Motwani as Maan Singh, Dyer’s loyal servant, whose efforts to please his master are almost impressive.
You almost wish you saw more of the bickering within the British establishment and their internal politics. For a show called The Revolutionaries, its most interesting characters turn out to be the ones trying to stop them.
