Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (film)

Plot

A man is beaten by the upper caste people because he entered in their temple to take shelter, as it was raining outside he was beaten to death by upper caste people. A mob in aggression marching towards police to protest against the killing of innocent man the police backfires on the angry mobs

Bhimrao Ambedkar studying in Columbia University library and is approached by Lala Lajpat Rai to join his home rule league but ambedkar refuses to do so as he came here on the scholarship of his highness Sayaji Rao Gaikwad of Baroda state. Ambedkar is unable to afford studying in America so he also do part time jobs washing plates and cleaning. One night ambedkar is reading the manusmriti which reminds him about his childhood days as the way upper caste treat the lower caste people. The first incident is the way shopkeeper sell saree to his mother by first putting water on the ground and then rubbing the saree on muddy water and then thrown towards his mother. When ambedkar approaches to a barber to cut his hair, Ambedkar argue with the barber if you can cut the buffaloes hair why not mine , the barber replies him that you people are more filthy and dirty then buffaloes, dogs and cats. In school days ambedkar was keen to learn Sanskrit but Brahman teacher dont want to teach him Sanskrit because if a untouchable person learns it, It will pollute Sanskrit language and after getting insulted by teacher when ambedkar comes crying from school as he is insulted by his teacher his father console him and tell him not to cry as Goats are sacrificed for the rituals and not lions.

He passed his M.A. exam in June 1915, majoring in economics, and other subjects of sociology, History, philosophy and anthropology. He presented a thesis, Ancient Indian Commerce. Ambedkar was influenced by John Dewey and his work on democracy.In 1916 he completed his second thesis, National Dividend of India-A Historic and Analytical Study for another M.A.In October 1916, he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray's Inn, and at the same time enrolled at the London School of Economics where he started working on a doctoral thesis. 1917 The term of his scholarship from Baroda ended, so that he was obliged to go back to India in June with his work unfinished; he was, however, given permission to return and finish within four years. He sent his precious and much-loved collection of books back on a steamer--but it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine Ambedkar went to Baroda state to work as a probationer in the Accountant General's Office . A scholarship of 11.50 British pounds a month, for three years, was awarded to the young Ambedkar and per the agreement he has to serve baroda for 10 years after the completion of his studies However, upon arriving in Baroda, he realized that none of the Hindu hotels would allow his to stay due to his lower caste. However, He found a Parsi inn, but here, non-Parsis were not allowed to stay. He and the Parsi inn-keeper reached a compromise, where by Ambedkar gave his name as a Parsi, and was allowed to stay.After joining the new office as a new senior officer (Probationary officer) being a untouchable the peon of the office doesn't give him file in his hand he throw files on his table, Ambedkar feel thirsty and ask for a glass of water, the peon says there is no water when he goes to drink water from the pot, Upper caste people finds this very uncomfortable and insults him as he is not allowed to drink water from that pot as they think by his touch it will pollute the water so they tell him to bring his own water and calls him dirty untouchable . after few days of stay in baroda it is discovered by other Parsis, that he is not parsi and on the eleventh day of his stay, a group of angry Parsi men, armed with sticks, arrived to remove him from the inn. He had to leave the inn that very day, and not having a place to stay, was forced to leave Baroda and return to Bombay to find work elsewhere.

In Bombay, Ambedkar applies for the post of professorship as professor of political economy in Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. On the first day of his job the students makes fun of him thinking what this untouchable will teach them does he know how to speak English. In the staff room when ambedkar approaches towards water pot to drink water a professor name Trivedi doesn't likes it and insults him. Ambedkar is approached by Shri Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur and ambedkar starts a newspaper called mooknayak in the year 1920. Ambedkar took a conference in Mangaon in kolhapur it was attended by Shri Shahu Maharaj. The Maharaj declared in a prophetic vein "You have found your saviour in Ambedkar and I am confident that he will break your shackles".

Production

The director Mr jabbar patel was interviewed by pritish nandy The research took over three years. The Director of the movie consulted everyone as he could. The director of the movie travelled all over and met anybody and everybody who had known him or knew anything about him that could contribute to the film. Casting was also an arduous task. After that, the making of the film began and that took another three years. The government said they wanted a film on the scale of Richard Attenborough's Gandhi and that is exactly what director have attempted to do.

The Director of the movie said that it took us so long to complete the film. The cost was also high. We spent a lot of time, effort and money on creating authentic sets, shooting in authentic locations. The main set which we put up in Film City, Bombay, in the early half of the last century alone cost us over Rs 2 crore.

How mammotty got this role in spite of having so many great actors. The director jabbar patel said that "it happened by chance. I was actually looking for an actor from any part of the world to play the role of Dr Ambedkar. That was my brief to the casting director who showed me hundreds of actors including Robert de Niro, who was very keen on the role but backed off when he was told that he had to drop his American accent and speak the way Ambedkar did -- in his typically clipped Indo-British accent" .Mammootty as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Finally, "I chanced upon Mammootty's photographs in a magazine and it struck me that, minus his moustache and his dark glasses, he had an uncanny resemblance to Dr Ambedkar. I scanned the picture, put it on a computer, made the necessary changes and then contacted the actor. But he laughed me away".

To begin with, he was most reluctant to shave off his moustache. Then he was worried about the time schedule. In Kerala they work on a film for three months, finish it off and then go on to make the next film. On top of that, he was a very highly paid, very popular star. He had no time. Come back later, year, and we will make some other film together, he told me.

I did not have to. As I have mentioned earlier, he has this uncanny resemblance to Dr Ambedkar and we had to use only minimum makeup. You are right. In the second half of the film he looked so much like Dr Ambedkar that, when I showed it to Dr Ambedkar's wife, she gasped in disbelief. Even the thousands of people who participated in the crowd scenes were so carried away when Mammootty came onstage that I instantly realised how close we were to the real thing. You should ask Ashok (Mehta) who wielded the camera. The empathy was total. For the crowds, he was Dr Ambedkar all over again. We had to present all our research before the censors. Asha Parekh, who heads the Censor Board, was of great help. She said: 'Nothing will be cut if you can back it up with facts.' And that is what we did. Pages and pages of facts helped me restore every single cut that was proposed. Finally, the film was cleared as it is. We proved to the censors that everything -- every point of confrontation, every dialogue -- shown was historically accurate. After all, you must remember that this was the early Gandhi. He became a saint later. He was much more intolerant, much more difficult during this phase and that is why he made things so difficult for Dr Ambedkar.

Cast

Although Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was certified in (1998), it was released commercially in 2000. It was considered for Indian National Awards for best film in 1998.

Awards

The film won three National Film Awards (India) in 1999.