Netaji - An evening well spent

With the mindless fare served by Indian cinema, I had decided sometime ago to take a 'Sanyas' (temporary break) and subject myself to the torture of watching hindi movies only once in a blue moon.
Because of my current flu, I have been forced to stay home and take 'rest'. With nothing better to do and feeling too tired to read a book, I decided to take a chance on watching Bose - The Forgotten Hero. Subas Chandra Bose is one of most misunderstood personalities in Indian History. While much of the credit of India's independence struggle goes (incorrectly, I might add) to Gandhi and Nehru, Bose is often dismissed as an idealist who set out to challenge the 'might' of the British empire with a rag-tag bunch of Indian POWs' and diaspora settled in SouthEast Asia.
While Bose did not (and still does not) trump the kind of passion associated with a leader of the masses, Netaji as he was called, is a legend in his own standards.
The movie itself is a valiant effort to shed some light on Netaji and his life. The movie begins with the Tripura Congree meeting in 1939 where Bose finally had enough of Gandhi and Nehru's stupidity and decided to branch out on his own. The movie itself is quiet on much what happened in the Congress during that time. The movie takes the viewers through Afghanistan (where Bose escapes to after his house arrest), Germany (where Netaji has a meeting with Hitler) and Indonesia (where Germany and Japan place Netaji in command of the Indian National Army, India's first attempt at a pan-Indian fighting force).
The actor playing Netaji, Sachin Khedekar, does a tremendous job, both in the acting department and looks. Supporting actors such as Kulbushan Kharbanda and Rajit Kapoor are first-rate. The film's locales makes one wonder why we are whittling away our life in air-conditioned 'prisons'. the actions is realistic and there are plenty of goose, flesh and lump in the throat moments.
The movie by A R Rahman, is amazing. I had the song album earlier, but now seeing the situational placement of songs, especially, "Azaadi" and "Hum Dilli Dilli Chalenge" was mind boggling. The movie's theme is apt for life, "If no one heeds your call, you march alone".
Sumit Bhattacharya sums it up best when he says on REDIFF, "The film is for the masses, not for the critics. It is set in a time when cynicism and irreverence were not as rampant. When men were not mere mortals. When an idea was worth dying for. The same reason why we write Independence with a capital I"
The movie might have sunk without a trace and would not pick up any of the 'popular' awards, however, this is one Indian movie which needs to be treasured and displayed to the Indian population to remind them, "History forgets those who forget History". Rise India, Remember Bose, Remember what he did for you, without asking for anything in return.