Are The Allegations About Netaji's Portrait Unveiled By The President Being Of Actor Prosenjit Correct?
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-01-25 15:18:08
About the Author
A debate is raging on social media whether the portrait of Netaji unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind is actually of the freedom fighter or of actor Prosenjit who played him in the Bengali film Gumnaani. Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra said that "After donating Rs 5 lakh to the Ram temple the President honours Netaji by unveiling a portrait of Prosenjit, the actor who played him in biopic." She added "God Save India (because this government certainly can't)." Jawahar Sircar, who was India's cultural secretary and also CEO of Doordarshan wrote that "This is not Netaji that President unveiled. It's a terrible error, as expected from an ignorant regime! It is actor Prasenjit Chatterjee who played his role in a film. How stupid!" Others said that the government would next use Ben Kingsley's picture as Gandhiji, Roshan Seth's as Nehru and Ajay Devgan's as Bhagat Singh.
But are these people correct?
This correspondent is not a historian. Neither can he claim to be an authority on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. But as a person who retains some common sense, one can study the pictures in detail and see that the picture unveiled by the President does not in any way resemble that of the actor in the film.
How and why does one say this?
For this, one has to be grateful to filmmakers for the cinematic liberties they take. The uniform, and more specifically the collar, is a dead giveaway. In the picture of Prosenjit in the movie Gumnaami, the collar is not pointed. It is of a different style. But in the portrait unveiled in Rashtrapati Bhawan, the collar is pointed, as was originally worn by soldiers of Azad Hind Fauj and by Netaji when he wore the uniform. Also, if one watches more closely, the lips are also totally different.
Now who is stupid and who will save India? People should not criticize just for the sake of criticism but do their homework properly before lashing out at anyone. But one has to say that the actor does bear a striking resemblance to Netaji and many can be fooled. Still, people have to do proper research before making such serious allegations. One hopes that these people would have learnt their lesson.
