FC Disruptors: Shoojit Sircar

Director and producer: Sardar Udham
FC Disruptors: Shoojit Sircar

Hindi cinema has a long tradition of films set in the colonial period that are less about history and more about making audiences feel all the patriotic feels. Sardar Udham is about a freedom fighter and in it, the British are the bad guys, but the film has few of the usual tropes and jingoism associated with this genre. Director Shoojit Sircar’s film fleshes out the story of one of the lesser-known names from India’s struggle. Sardar Udham Singh’s life becomes the lens through which Sircar explores both a government’s misuse of its power and what it means to be a dissident. Among the film’s many bold choices is Sircar’s decision to show the gory, terrifying chaos of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and its aftermath in an unforgettable, extended sequence.

Related Stories

No stories found.
www.filmcompanion.in