''Raag Desh'' () is a 2017 Indian

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

action drama film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

directed by

Tigmanshu Dhulia Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film ''Dil Se..'', the fir ...

and produced by Gurdeep Singh Sappal and

Rajya Sabha TV Rajya Sabha TV was an Indian public cable television network channel owned and operated by Rajya Sabha that covered the proceedings of Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Parliament of India). It has now been replaced by Sansad TV. Apart from ...

. The film is based on

Indian National Army trials The Indian National Army trials (also known as the INA trials and the Red Fort trials) was the British Indian trial by court-martial of a number of officers of the Indian National Army (INA) between November 1945 and May 1946, on various charges ...

, the joint court martial of

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

officers Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel

Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon (18 March 1914 – 6 February 2006) was an Indian military officer of the Indian National Army (INA). He faced charges of "waging war against His Majesty the King Emperor" due to his pivotal role in the Indian independen ...

, and Major

Shah Nawaz Khan Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

on charges of treason against the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

during

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

. The leading roles in ''Raag Desh'' have been played by Kunal Kapoor,

Amit Sadh Amit Sadh (born 5 June 1979) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in several films and television productions. He is best known for his performances in films like '' Kai Po Che!'' (2013), ''Sultan'' (2016) and ''Gold'' (2018). In recent ...

Mohit Marwah Mohit Marwah is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood films. He is best known for his debut feature film '' Fugly'' (2014) and ''Raag Desh'' (2017). He has also appeared in short films such as ''Strangers in the Night'' produced by Dharma Pro ...

and

Mrudula Murali Mrudula Murali Mangalasseri (born 8 June 1990), credited as Mrudula Murali, is an Indian actress, model, anchor and classical dancer. She appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. Personal life Mrudula was born to Muralidharan Nair, who is worki ...

. The film was released on 28 July 2017. Rishi Punjabi is the cinematographer of the film.

Premises

A period film based on the historic 1945 Indian National Army Red Fort Trials.

Cast

* Kunal Kapoor as

* Hikaru Ito as Japanese Army officer *

as Prem Sahgal *

Vijay Varma Vijay Varma is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Hindi films and series. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, before gaining recognition with the crime drama film ''Pink'' (2016). This was followed by supportin ...

as Jamal Kidwai * Keneth Desai as

Bhulabhai Desai Bhulabhai Desai (13 October 1877 – 6 May 1946) was an Indian independence activist and acclaimed lawyer. He is well-remembered for his defence of the three Indian National Army soldiers accused of treason during World War II, and for attem ...

Kenny Basumatary Kenny Deori Basumatary is an Indian actor and film director. He has appeared in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Assamese cinema, Assamese films as an actor, and as director in Assamese Cinema, Assamese films. He is popularly known for directing the Ass ...

as Netaji

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

as Captain Laxmi Sahgal *

Alexx O'Nell Alexander Leonard O'Neill (born 26 July 1980) is an American actor and musician who works in Indian films. He is best known for his roles in the films '' L2: Empuraan'', '' Ae Watan Mere Watan'', '' Khufiya'', '' Golondaaj'', '' Roohi'', '' Aarya ...

as Col. P. Walsh * Zakir Hussain as Lt. Nag * Kanwaljit Singh as Prem's Father *

Rajesh Khera Rajesh Khera (''Rājēśa Khērā'') is an Indian television actor and voice actor who has acted in many Hindi films and is remembered for the role of fashion designer Maddy in '' Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin''. He was recently seen as a contender ...

Jawahar Lal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a prin ...

* Deepraj Rana as Afzal Khan * Amrita Rai as Col. Dhillon's Mother * Kuldip Sareen as Col. Dhillon's Father * Vishwas Kini as Mohan Singh * Anil Rastogi as Kailash Nath Katju

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Raag Desh'' consists of four songs composed by Rana Mazumder, Ram Singh Thakuri & Siddharth Pandit.

Critical reception

Rohit Vats of

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5, saying that the movie is, "A heavy dose of patriotism that is totally worth your time." Nihit Bhave of

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Had the screenplay been freed of its half-hearted side-tracks, it would have made for great infotainment. The movie is only half of that word now." Kunal Guha of

Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...

gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 saying that, "Tigmanshu Dhulia's historical drama has a compelling story but is fleshed out half-heartedly". Shubhra Gupta of

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Raag Desh has lofty ambition, but the stagey treatment lets it down. The war scenes are plentiful but you can't help seeing the clunkiness." Saibal Chatterjee of

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 saying that ''Raag Desh'' "is a riveting, if not exactly exhilarating, epic tale that presents a prudent blend of war, patriotic fervour, expert legal sleights and good old human drama." Rohit Bhatnagar of

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1938, it was initially launched as a Weekly newspaper, weekly and later converted into a daily. The newspaper's name reflects its origins in the ...

gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "On the whole, Raag Desh is an average film with an untold factual story. The film could have been a much better plus in the era of commercial films, Raag Desh is a niche in its own genre." Kennith Rosario of

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

commented on the film that, "It is rather disappointing to see a film that ticks all the right boxes, fall apart because of the lack of a captivating narrative." Nandini Ramnath of ''Scroll'' praised the film, saying that, "Despite numerous rousing speeches for freedom, the movie never slides into chest-thumping jingoism, and at 137 minutes, provides an absorbing account of a fascinating and underexplored chapter of the freedom struggle." Sameeksha of

News18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, ( d/b/a Network18 Group) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by the Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief ...

gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "Tigmanshu Dhulia brings forth a forgotten chapter of 1945 Red Fort trials and makes it into a history class rather than an engaging watch."

References

External links

* {{Tigmanshu Dhulia 2017 films 2010s Hindi-language films Films set in Delhi Films shot in Delhi Films set in India Indian historical drama films Indian biographical drama films Indian war drama films Indian films based on actual events Indian National Army in fiction Films set in the Indian independence movement 2017 biographical drama films 2010s historical drama films Films directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia Indian historical action films 2017 drama films Films about Subhas Chandra Bose Indian World War II films