Fighting fire with fire 23 March 1931--Shaheed marches at breakneck speed

Vickey Lalwani

Recently, a huge fire gutted the sets of director Guddu Dhanoa's 23 March 1931 - Shaheed, starring Bobby Deol.

The sets included two courtrooms and an assembly hall. Produced by Dharmendra, the film suffered a huge setback as goods worth over Rs 10 million were destroyed.

Today, an air of caution and suspicion pervades the set. Members of the unit look suspiciously at every unknown person around the premises. Even friends of the artistes working in the film are subjected to a thorough frisk before they are let in. Guards with menacing guns stroll around with a watchful eye. Attendants carry fire extinguishers strapped to their belt.

Tension is palpable, since unit members don't seem to rule out the possibility of sabotage.

The show, as they say, goes on. The film is one of four to be released this summer on India's famous revolutionary Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The crew is ready to can the famous gallows scene --- where Bhagat Singh is executed along with his fiery companions Rajguru and Sukhdev.

23 March 1931 - Shaheed is slated for release on June 7, on the same day as Raj Kumar Santoshi's The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, starring Ajay Devgan.

"The film has shaped out very well," says Rahul Dev, who plays Sukhdev. Apparently, he was chosen for the part because of his uncanny resemblance to the freedom fighter, and his impressive performances in Sunny Deol's Indian and Santosh Sivan's Asoka.

"If you cried while watching Manoj Kumar's Shaheed, you will cry again!" claims Dev.

The urgency gripping the Deols to release the film with Santoshi's means they cannot recreate the gutted sets. The sets now remain sealed.

Not so long ago, Santoshi is said to have mocked Sunny's desire to cast Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh. The director, whose association with the Deols spans critically acclaimed films like Ghayal and Damini, broke away from the Deols to make his own film on the subject with Devgan.