Bhagat Singh got a slew of bio-pics in the year 2002. Ajay Devgan , Sonu Sood and Bobby Deol all played Bhagat Singh during the same years and within weeks of one another. Devgan’s Bhagat act got the best reviews, though it was a boxoffice failure.Some interesting facts on the film.
1. Director Raj Kumar Santoshi’s first choice for Bhagat Singh was Sunny Deol. But Sunny Paji claimed he had date issues. Actually his brother Bobby was already playing Bhagat Singh,so he opted out. Santoshi then approached Devgan who was more than happy to step into the part. It got him the National award for best actor.
2. This was Santoshi’s 9th film as a director and his first historical/bio-pic. The film’s failure disappointed Santoshi. “It could’ve done much better.But nobody lost moneyI am very happy with it, ” Santoshi told me. Be as it may, he eventually dropped plans to direct another historical entitled Jis Lahore Nahin Dekhia Woh Jamia Hi Nahin with Sanjay Dutt in the lead. Come to think of it, Santoshi has not directed anything since 2013.
3. The Legend Of Bhagat Singh was a title that didn’t go down well with the audience. Many thought the film was in the English language. In those days titles in the English language didn’t work. Nonetheless the film worked better at the boxoffice than 23rd March 1931: Shaheed released on the same day as The Legend Of Bhagat Singh.
4. The music by A R Rahman played a big hand in the impact(limited as it was) of the film. A R Rahman , however was not pleased with the way his songs were used in the film. In an interview with me in 2005, he said, “I’m done with period films now. I think Mangal Pandey would be last film of that ilk.I’ve worked hard on each of the themes but the end result hasn’t been worth it. The songs were either pushed into the background or not used at all. Or worse still, used badly. I feel very frustrated by this. But what can I do? Composing tunes is my job. How they are used is not up to me.”
5. 18 years after The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, Ajay Devgan played another historical character Tanaji Malusre in Tanhaji. This was far more successful.