Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti 2023: Must-watch Films, Web Series That Have Kept Netaji Alive

SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE JAYANTI 2023: India celebrates Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 126th birth anniversary today on Monday, January 23. One of the bravest patriots this nation produced, Bose created the Indian National Army (INA) to rid India of British rule. It was announced that Bose died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945.

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However, many chose not to believe this as no DNA test on his ashes was done. The extraordinary life of the firebrand leader continues to evoke a lot of curiosity and many filmmakers have tried to do justice to his ideology and methods by bringing him alive on celluloid. Below, we take a look at five big screen and small screen projects on Bose.

1. Subhas Chandra (1966)
   This film shows us the development of Bose’s ideals and his blossoming into a fierce political activist, ready to fight for India’s independence. It also explores Bose’s childhood, his college years and his experience with the Indian Civil Service exam. The film was directed by Pijush Bose, with Samar Kumar playing the adult Bose.
2. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004)
   Filmmaker Shyam Bengal focuses on Bose’s escape from house arrest, leaving India and formation of INA (also Azad Hind Fauz). It then goes on to dramatise the Azad Hind Fauz’s struggle to liberate India from British rule, Bose’s experience with Nazi Germany, INA’s defeat, Bose’s death and the trial of the INA soldier. The film starred Sachin Khedekar in the title role and received two national film awards.
3. Bose: Dead/Alive (2017)
   Producer Ekta Kapoor created a web series based on author Auj Dhar’s 2012 book India’s Biggest Cover-up. The series tries to address the possibility that Bose did not die in the Taiwan plane crash. Rajkumar Rao plays the title role.
4. Netaji (2019)
   Like the 1966 film, this Bengali-language television series also showcases the childhood and youth of Subhash Chandra Bose. The series explores how Bose, played by Abhishek Bose, developed into the legendary freedom fighter.
5. Gumnami (2019)
   This Srijit Mukherjee venture explores the theory and circumstantial evidence that suggest that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, played by Prosenjit Chatterjee, lived in disguise as an acetic referred to by the media as Gumnami Baba. Another film, Sanyasi Deshonayok, from documentary filmmaker Amlan Kusum Ghosh on the same subject, is scheduled to release this year.