Dear Friend Hitler
Dear Friend Hitler | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
Directed by | Rakesh Ranjan Kumar[1] |
Produced by | Dr. Anil Kumar Sharma |
Screenplay by | Rakesh Ranjan Kumar |
Story by | Nalin Singh Rakesh Ranjan Kumar |
Starring | Raghubir Yadav Neha Dhupia Aman Verma[1] |
Music by | Arvind-Lyton Background Score: Sanjoy Chowdhury |
Cinematography | Fuwad Khan |
Edited by | Shree Narayan Singh |
Distributed by | Amrapali Media Vision Pvt. Ltd. |
Release dates
|
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Dear Friend Hitler (Hindi: प्रिय मित्र हिटलर), released in India as Gandhi to Hitler,[2] is a multilingual Indian drama film based on letters written by Mohandas Gandhi to the leader of the Nazi Party and Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler. The film, starring Raghubir Yadav as Adolf Hitler and Neha Dhupia as Eva Braun, was directed by Rakesh Ranjan Kumar and produced by Anil Kumar Sharma under the production house Amrapali media vision. It was screened at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival where it received negative reviews.[3][4] Film Business Asia quoted that "despite the provocative title, the film is not a tribute to the murderous Führer".[5] It premiered in India on 29 July 2011.
Contents
Plot
The film is set during World War II and centres upon the letters written by Mohandas Gandhi (Avijit Dutt) to Adolf Hitler (Raghubir Yadav), and around the relationship of Hitler with his long-term lover Eva Braun (Neha Dhupia), whom he married in his final days in the Berlin bunker in which they died. The film depicts the difference between the ideologies of Gandhi and Hitler and claims the superiority of Gandhism over Nazism.
Cast
- Raghubir Yadav as Adolf Hitler
- Neha Dhupia as Eva Braun
- Nalin Singh as Joseph Goebbels
- Nasir Abdullah as Albert Speer
- Lucky Vakharia as Amrita Kaur
- Nikita Anand as Magda Goebbels
- Bhupesh Kumar Pandey as Subhas Chandra Bose
- Avijit Dutt as Mohandas Gandhi
- Hanuman Pd Rai as Gunsche
Production
Anupam Kher had originally agreed to play the role of Hitler, but he backed out after Jewish organisations in India condemned him for playing the part because of Hitler's massacre of millions of Jews.[6][7] The filmmakers accused Kher of not returning the ₹4 lakh(400,000 rupees) he had been paid after signing the contract and consequently sued him for ₹2.5 crore (25 million rupees).[8] However, Kher perceived it as a way of filmmakers to promote their film before the release.[9] It is the only mainstream Bollywood film to refer to Indian Legion.
Criticism and controversies
British newspaper, The Guardian, declared the film to be profoundly misguided and to show a shocking ignorance of history. Noah Massil, president of the Central Organization of Indian Jews in Israel (COIJI) stated that "he would write to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in order to prevent bringing disrepute to Indian entertainment industry", but the filmmakers claimed that the film does not glorify Hitler, but rather juxtaposes him against Gandhi's ideology of peace.[10][11]
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
We clarified that the movie is not about Hitler's ideology, but how his ideology of violence conflicts with Gandhi's ideology of peace. There is no glorification of Hitler's character.
— Anil Kumar Sharma, The Times of India[4]
Reception
The film met with negative reviews. The Times of India gave the film 2 stars out of 5, calling it an "unnecessary play with history".[12] The Daily News and Analysis gave the movie one star.[13] NDTV criticised the movie for using Indian actors to play all non-Indian characters, using India itself as a stand-in to Europe, and for its "strands".[14] Koimoi gave the film 0.5/5; although it praised Yadav's performance as Hitler, it criticised the film's script, direction, technical values, soundtrack, and the performance from other actors.[15]
The film's theatrical poster also used a still from Downfall, specifically the scene where Mohnke's group approaches the square, as pointed out by members of Downfall fan community.[16] So far the producers of the film have not commented on this issue. Several scenes, including the often-parodied scene of Hitler throwing a rage on hearing that Steiner did not attack, were also directly lifted from Downfall.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Use Indian English from November 2014
- All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
- Use dmy dates from November 2014
- 2011 films
- Hindi-language films
- Articles containing Hindi-language text
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Indian films
- Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
- World War II films
- Indian war films
- Media related to Mahatma Gandhi
- Films set in the 1940s
- Films set in Berlin
- Films about the German Resistance
- Films set in the British Empire
- Films based on actual events
- Plagiarism controversies
- 2010s drama films
- Azad Hind