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Writer : |
Sagar Sarhadi |
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Director : |
Ramesh Talwar |
Cast : |
Aasif Sheikh, Avtar Gill, Javed Khan |
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 The plays take inspiration from fictional characters as well as from historical characters like Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil. India's freedom may have ultimately been a result of Gandhi's non-violent movement, but the armed struggle is also an important part of its history. From the heroes of 1857, to Bhagat Singh to Subhash Chandra Bose, there are many to whom India owes its freedom.
After sixty years of Independence, India is still plagued by fundamentalism / communalism. The history of India and its freedom struggle is witness to the secular fabric of its society, centering around the composite unity and identity of its people. Ashfaqullah Khan, one of the martyrs of the socialist revolutionary movement, believed that nationhood is not constituted by religious identity. His life and martyrdom is an inspiring example of heroic patriotism.
By looting Government money from a train at Kakori in U.P. Ashfaqullah Khan and his young revolutionary colleagues challenged the sovereignty of the King Emperor of India. For this 'crime' Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri were tried and sentenced to death by hanging in 1927.
All other armed actions launched before the Kakori case were deeply inspired by religious ideology and served to encourage a revivalist tendency. After the martyrdom of Ashfaqullah Khan and his comrades and the subsequent formation of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, the entire outlook on armed revolutionary movements started changing. Ashfaqullah Khan's ideology made a strong impact on his comrades including Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Jatin Das and many others.
This is the first in a series of plays celebrating India’s freedom struggle and its relevance to the very essence of the country’s identity.
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