India Today Conclave 2021: Vicky Kaushal says shooting Sardar Udham’s Jallianwala Bagh scene was numbing

Vicky Kaushal and Shoojit Sircar are waiting for the release of Sardar Udham, a biographical film about Udham Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter who avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 in Amritsar, by assassinating Michael O'Dwyer in London.

In a session titled, The Extraordinary Men Who Brought Revolutionary Light To India at India Today Conclave 2021, Shoojit Sircar and Vicky Kaushal spoke about their upcoming film, the idea of patriotism, how Shoojit hasn't watched Vicky's film Uri yet, and much more.

Excerpts from the conversation:

How did you chance upon this film and why did you decide to make a film on Sardar Udham?

Shoojit: After school, when I was about to go to college, I was a big fan of Bhagat Singh. In Delhi (University), you get to choose between the colleges of North Campus and South Campus. Since I am a fan of Bhagat Singh, I chose Bhagat Singh College in South Campus. My perspective towards the freedom movement changed when I visited the Jallianwala Bagh site. That site will hit you hard. I have been visiting the site since my college days. Then I read things about Udham Singh. Very little is mentioned about him in history. While reading and researching about him, I realised he was not a killing machine, he had a larger purpose. Beyond Punjab, only a few people know about him. I kept studying him, I matured in the art of filmmaking, and then I thought why not make a film about him?

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People talk about Sardar Udham killing Michael O'Dwyer, and then his death, but they don't know about his childhood - whether he was at the Jallianwala Bagh on that day. Basically, he was a globetrotter who was deeply affected by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. I tried to go into Sardar Udham’s mind. What he must be carrying with him for 21 years, what changed him. While researching, we found out that he visited many countries, he found oppressive governments and inequality in many countries, and he came to London with that thought. Why he shot Michael O'Dwyer was one thing, but what was the compulsion on that day and was it revenge, a protest or a message to the world? That is what this film explores.

How did you flesh out your character?

Vicky: I belong to a Punjabi family, born and raised in Mumbai. My ancestral home is two hours away from the Jallianwala Bagh massacre site. I have grown up listening to the stories of Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh but once we started discussing the film, I realised how little we knew. Our history tells us so little. The way Shoojit wanted to show him was not as a superhero, he wanted to show him as a common man, as one of us who was affected by that one incident. For me, the quest was to find out the thing inside him that changed, that stirred him so much - that pain, that angst that he kept within himself for 21 years. He was a globetrotter whose understanding of world politics kept changing. His journey from the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) to the Ghadar party, his camaraderie with Bhagat Singh - all these factors make him so fascinating. We finished shooting Sardar Udham, but my quest to find who he was, still continues.

Since we know so little about Sardar Udham, could you tell us something about his life?

Vicky: He was born in Sunam, Punjab in 1899. He lost his mother early on and then, in some time, his father too. He and his elder brother lived in an orphanage. He was actually named Sher Singh, but the orphanage named him Udham. At the age of 20, after the Jallianwala Bagh incident happened, he left the orphanage and that’s where his personal journey started. While in London, he also worked as a background artist in the British film, The Elephant Man. He was a carpenter, a voyager. It is just fascinating to know. At the same time, he was planning to get people to rebuild the HSRA movement. He was trotting around the globe to get support for the movement. Finally, in 1940, he avenged the 1919 bloodshed that changed him forever.

When he was in jail, he identified himself as Ram Mohammad Singh Udham. Is it true?

Shoojit: Yes, he called himself Ram Mohammad Singh Azad. He was trying to give that kind of message.

How did your thinking evolve through your research?

Shoojit: We always see revolutionaries as heroic symbols. But I see heroism differently. For me, heroism is doing the right thing at the right time and sometimes, not doing it. At that time, we called these people rebels, but they were actually building a movement for the youth. Their idea was not that of a limited India, they wanted to liberate the entire world. That fascinated me.

One scene that had the most impact on you?

Vicky: The portions where we were trying to recreate the Jallianwala Bagh incident. As an actor, I knew what I was getting into, but I still was not prepared for how numbing that experience would be for me as an individual. The way Shoojit shoots, his scenes are so realistic that you are thrown into that world. After finishing that shoot, there would be times when I wouldn’t sleep because I would just keep wondering that if only the re-enactment of that incident was so numbing for me, what impact would it have had on the people who had actually witnessed it. This thought made me shiver.

How was the shooting experience for you?

Shoojit: I have no experience in creating an era. Most of the film was shot in London. It is funny that I had never visited London before this. So, everything was based on archaic footage, documentaries from the BBC films, national archive photos. I only remember Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. So, in the Jallianwala Bagh scene, you will see a resemblance.

Recreating Jallianwala Bagh is a huge affair. We couldn’t shoot at the very site, so we were hunting for a place for the same. But in Amritsar, we found people who helped us. The London scenes were mostly shot in Russia. We found the right location. I didn’t have a large budget, I found the right places to shoot. This film was not about big sets, it was about Udham, it is a very character-driven film. So, I needed very small sections on the streets and, with the help of the VFX team, we tried to create this world. I think if I create the world right, 50 per cent of my work is done [of capturing the audience’s mind]. So, this was the basic preparation.

Why did you choose Vicky for the role?

Shoojit: Sorry Vicky, I have not watched Uri: The Surgical Strike. I am thankful to Neeraj Ghaywan (director of Masaan) for choosing Vicky for Masaan. I am also glad Vicky chose Masaan as his first film. Otherwise, I don't think he would have been doing Sardar Udham now. Also, Vicky has a little bit of 'Punjabiat' (a Punjabi touch) in him and I wanted that. It helped him get the nuances of the role right. I needed somebody who could really understand the part. With Vicky, there was passion and focus.

What is your idea of India?

Vicky: I am just a medium for the director to tell his/her story. Be it playing an army official or a freedom fighter, I surrender to that world. That is my duty, that is the task that I take up. I play by the rules of the director.

My idea of patriotism is very simple. I have grown up reading the pledge in school. That is how my day started. It was about celebrating diversity, secularism and brotherhood. As an Indian, one of the things I am proudest about is that in every 100 km, the culture, language and food change. We are living in a land where we have black people, white people, brown people - every shade of people. We are living together in this piece of land called India. For me, together we make it India, and I am very proud of the fact that we represent a whole range of cultures, of diversity. That, for me, is India.

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