Chauri Chaura spate of events to don the silver screen for the first time

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), India: What happened in Chauri Chaura 100-years ago was seen as a simple incident of arsoning of a police station and thus not given due place in the pages of history. 

Writer-director Abhik Bhanu for the first time is all geared up to bring those real incidents of Chauri Chaura (a town nearGorakhpur and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh) on the silver screen. The film titled as “1922 Pratikar Chauri Chaura”, is produced bySarayu Vision with Anju Khare as its co-producer; Dileep Bhosale as the creative producer; Atul Kumar Pandey as the executive producer; Sumit Kumar as the line producer and Vishal Shrivastava as the production designer.

The first look of the film was launched this month in Gorakhpur and coinciding with the centenary year celebrations of Chauri Chaura incident, which took place on February 4, 1922. The year-long celebration was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this February 4, 2021 after the initiative of the Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his state administration to give it the deserved importance and celebrate the history as it should have been.

On the launching presenter Ravi Shankar Khare said, “The UP government has planned a year of celebrations through February 4, 2022 in all 75 districts of the state in the memory of the common people who laid down their lives in their fight for freedom struggle. We will be unfolding real untold facts on the screen.” 

On the occasion filmmaker Abhik Bhanu revealed, “1922 Pratikar Chauri Chaura is the first periodic Hindi feature film ever made on Chauri Chaura incident. It may be recalled that in the year 1922, in British-India and during the non-cooperation movement (a part of the Indian freedom struggle) led by Mahatma Gandhi, the protesters set fire to a police station and killed at least 22 policemen in protest against the police firing on large group of demonstrators. 19 arrested freedom fighters were sentenced to death and 14 to imprisonment for life by the British colonial authorities.” 

The director further adds, “The film is in the memory of the martyrs in this incident and their fight for Independence. It is surprising and unfortunate that this event in the freedom struggle have been omitted in the history books. When I learnt about this, I have filmed a documentary on this issue. I am really glad that the CM of UP Yogi Adityanath giving the incident the deserved substance and our PM Narendra Modi supporting his program and in his inaugural speech had proudly quoted:1922 Pratikar Chauri Chaura…. Ek Kaand Nahi….Sangram Hai… With few sources from books penned by well-known authors and a team of 20-research writers, it took us more than 8-months to zero-down the bounded script covering all facts and figures. We have shortlisted prime locations here in Uttar Pradesh like Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Allahabad, Lucknow and Varanasi.”

A post graduate in political science from Allahabad University and armed with a media course from Symbiosis College (Pune) and Internship from Film and Television Institute of India (Pune), Abhik Bhanu began his career from Gorakhpur Doordarshan from a television show called “Safar”.  His subjects for story-telling have always been the soul which encapsulates all aspects of life since the last two decades be it films, shorts, documentaries, music videos, commercials. He had made his debut feature film “Sab Kuch Hai Kuch Bhi Nahin” on the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. “Gun Pe Done” featuring Jimmy Sheirgill was his latest release. He bagged the Best Director Award for “A Nice Cute Guy” at the Konark Film Festival. His other short films like “Astitva” on female foeticide, “Be The Change” amongst others received acclaims and laurels. The filmmaker has also tabled award winning books like‘Honcho’, ‘A Dark Rainbow’, ‘Stool Pigeon’ and ‘Blind Faith’. 

Apart from this film, “1922 Pratikar Chaura Chaura” he has bagged two Hollywood films in his kitty titled as “A Pencil In God’s Hand” (a film on Mother Theresa) and “Taj” which are in the pre-production stages.