On this day in 1931, Sardar Bhagat Singh was hanged to death along with freedom fighters Rajguru and Sukhdev. Bhagat Singh's revolution motivated Indians and led to India's freedom struggle. After martyrdom, dozens of books were written on Singh, but his thoughts were not limited to books only but were included in every field of art. In the year 1954, people saw Bhagat Singh and his courage for the first time on the silver screen. When we talk about Bhagat Singh films, Ajay Devgn and Bobby Deol starrers come to our minds but do you know who was the first actor who played the freedom fighter's role on the big screen?
When was Bhagat Singh seen on screen for the first time?
Director Jagdish Gautam first made a film on Bhagat Singh's life called 'Shaheed-e-Azam'. This film left such an impression that after this release, more than half a dozen films were made on the freedom fighter. Prem Adib played Shaheed Bhagat Singh's character for the first time. Along with Prem, actors like Smriti Biswas and Aishita Majumdar played lead roles in this film. People liked this film so much that the interest in telling the story of India's freedom struggle on the silver screen also arose. This film not only told the story of Bhagat Singh's life but also inspired other film-makers.
Prem Adib was Jawahar Lal Nehru's brother-in-law
Prem Adib was born on August 10, 1916 in a Kashmiri family. Prem's father was a tax collector in Faizabad. The late actor got inspired to act onscreen after he watched 'Anarbala' in theatres. Very few people would know that Prem was a relative of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. For the unversed, India's first Prime Minister was the brother-in-law of Sheila Kaul, the former Governor of Himachal Pradesh. Prem Adib was also the brother-in-law of Kaul. In this regard, Nehru and Prem were brother-in-laws.
More than half a dozen films have been made on Bhagat Singh
Film-makers of every generation have tried to inspire people by threading Bhagat Singh's life through the lens of the camera. After the film Shaheed-e-Azam, in 1963 Shammi Kapoor made the second Bollywood film on the life of Bhagat Singh and named it 'Shaheed Bhagat Singh'. The film was directed by KN Bansal. This film was also successful in earning well at the box office. After this, in the year 1965, Manoj Kumar made a film named 'Shaheed' which was based on the life of Bhagat Singh and was directed by Ram Sharma.
After this, in the year 2002, Ajay Devgn also won the hearts of the people by playing the character of Bhagat Singh. His film 'The Legends of Bhagat Singh' was made by director Rajkumar Santoshi. After this, in 2002 itself, the story of Bhagat Singh's life was shown in the film named 'Shaheed-e-Azam' which was directed by Sukumar Nair. In the same year, Bobby Deol starrer film 'Shaheed' was released. The story of this film also explores the life of Bhagat Singh and his fellow revolutionaries. After this, in the year 2006, South Indian actor Siddharth, who played the role of Karan in Rang De Basanti had a portrayal of Bhagat Singh, in the Rakesh Omprakash Mehra's directorial.
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