Film – I am steadfast
Producer- Vinod Bhanushali
Director- Ravi Jadhav
Cast- Pankaj Tripathi, Piyush Mishra, Payal Nair, Raja Ramesh, Ekta Kaul, Sachin Parikh and others
Platform- Cinema Theater
Rating- Three
Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee is not a name but an identity, who was a strong orator, a great poet and a good politician. It has been popular about him that he was beloved even by the opposition parties. National Award winning director Ravi Jadhav has brought the life of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the successful Prime Ministers of the country, on the silver screen in the form of the biopic film Main Atal Hoon and National Award winning actor Pankaj Tripathi has portrayed Atal with his acting in this biopic film. Bihari is playing the role of Vajpayee. Pankaj Tripathi has brought Atal Bihari Vajpayee alive on screen with his acting. The brilliant dialogues further strengthen his acting, but in this almost two and a half hour long film, an attempt has been made to cover everything from the long and vast life story of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was thought that we would spend some time with the big events of his transformation from Atala to Atal, but events keep coming and going. Due to which the story has not been revealed effectively, but this film should be watched.
Story from childhood to Kargil victory
The film shows the story from the birth of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the victory of the Kargil war. At home he was fondly called Atla. The journey of Atal becoming Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been brought on screen. The journey of a poet, journalist, speaker, member of the Swayamsevak Sangh, his entry into politics, the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party from the Janata Party and then becoming the Prime Minister and the struggles associated with it are depicted. India had conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. During his tenure, initiatives were also taken to improve relations with Pakistan. India also won the Kargil war. These incidents have also been shown prominently during his tenure as Prime Minister. Apart from this, Golden Quadrilateral Project and Telecom Policy were also implemented during the Vajpayee government. The film also mentions these aspects. Apart from all this, issues like independence, suspicious death of RSS chiefs, defeat from China, emergency have also been included in the story of the film.
Advantages and disadvantages of the film
This is the birth centenary year of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This biopic brings his story to the fore. Everyone should know this story. In the present era where every politician is tarnishing the image of other politicians. Whereas Atal Bihari Vajpayee had not only asked to put up Nehru’s picture again but had also asked his colleagues to come and pay their respects as he was the first Prime Minister of the country. This scene shows that every politician should first be this kind of person. The film also brings out their love story with great beauty and dignity. A separate film can be made on that. It would not be wrong to say this.
What are the flaws in the film
Talking about the shortcomings of the film, the story in the first part gives the feel of a documentary drama. The story picks up pace in the second part. The person on whom the film is based in the biopic. How his personality has been shaped by different events. This thing should come to the fore, but this film remains busy in showing all the incidents. Some scenes have been effective like the speech scene after the emergency, the scene of losing by one vote but most of the scenes just keep coming. He has not been able to give that emotion to the story and characters that you will remember. Many answers to the story and screenplay of the film also remain incomplete. What happened to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s family? He has not even been mentioned. The friendship between Atal and Advani has also not been depicted effectively in the film. There is more focus on Ram Mandir in the film, perhaps there will be political commitment, after all it is a political film. The image of Indira Gandhi has been shown completely black. This is also strange. Talking about other aspects, the camerawork of the film is excellent. Lawrence Dikuha has beautifully captured the period of Atal ji on screen in his cinematography. The song music of the film is in accordance with the story.
Great performance by Pankaj Tripathi
Talking about acting, this is the best performance of Pankaj Tripathi’s career. Looking at Pankaj Tripathi, it seems that he understood the character and then assimilated it. After that he started observing their hand gestures, body language, dialogue delivery and eyes. Ekta Kaul remains memorable even in a small role. The rest of the actors including Piyush Mishra have done justice to their characters. Actors matching the faces of Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi have been associated with the story, which add a different color to the film.