Muazzam Beg is excited with the praise Phule is getting after Rockstar, started working on another biopic
After “Rockstar”, its co-writer Muazzam Beg is extremely excited with the widespread praise of the biopic “Phule” of social reformers Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule. The film has received widespread praise despite its limited release on April 25. Interestingly, in more than 100 years of cinema, no Hindi film had been made on this couple. In an interview, Muazzam Beg told that this project started with the dream of the Kudecha couple (Ritesh Kudecha and Anuya Chauhan Kudecha) to make a film on the Phule couple. Anant Mahadevan played an important role in realizing this dream on the big screen. Together, they approached Pratik Gandhi and Patralekhaa for the lead roles, who were arguably one of the best casting choices for this film.
Muazzam Beg explains, “I was approached by Phule’s producer and creative producer Anuya Chauhan Kudecha to write the dialogues for the film. Initially, I had only heard about Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule, but didn’t know much about their lives. Anant Mahadevan and Anuya Chauhan Kudecha narrated the story to me, and I was instantly fascinated by the inspiring journey of the Phule couple. I was very excited, but there was a deadline – the shoot was to begin in three months. I left everything else and focused my entire attention on Phule. I began extensive research, which revealed many interesting facts and key aspects of their lives. They had achieved so much – it was beyond my imagination. Kya kya kar gaye… aur kaise kar gaye. My involvement went beyond the dialogues; I contributed to the screenplay to ensure emotional depth and authenticity. Also, I had to write dialogues in three languages: Hindi, English and Marathi.”
One of the biggest challenges, according to Beg, was to present sensitive content without hurting any community. The idea was to showcase their incredible sacrifices and contributions, inspiring the audience through their remarkable journey. “During script discussions, I, Ananth Mahadevan, Anuya Chauhan and Ritesh Kudecha built a strong bond, and they entrusted me with more responsibilities. I became the Creative Consultant. I was involved in casting, music, and was present on set during the shoot, working closely with director Ananth Mahadevan, DOP Sunita Radia, costume designer Aparna Shah and the entire team. We shared a great bond to make Phule. We all knew we were making a special and important film.”
After the shoot, Ananth Mahadevan, Anuya Chauhan and Muazzam Beg worked closely during post-production. Baig says, “After our first edit, we realised that the film was too heavy, and had a lot of English dialogues. We kept these dialogues for authenticity, but we understood that the common man would not understand the important information, risking loss of interest. We decided to use voice-over narration to explain the context of those scenes, so we added the voice-over. We also decided to include two songs in the narrative: For “Dhun Lagi Aazadi Ki”, I asked my poet friend Sarosh Asif to write a revolutionary song showing the footage, which he wrote as “Dhun Lagi Aazadi Ki”, and then we approached Kausar Munir to write a romantic song with the footage of the film. He wrote ‘Saathi’. We combined the song with the images to create the narrative.”
The film received praise from audiences for its story, screenplay, dialogues, acting, direction, cinematography, music, editing, costumes and production design. It was also praised by critics and prominent leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi. People are talking about its strong and multi-layered dialogues. Many of Phule’s dialogues went viral on social media, making Jyotiba and Savitribai widely recognised. Javed Akhtar also praised the film, calling it “brilliant direction, brilliant writing and brilliant acting”.
Muazzam Beg says, “As a writer and creative consultant, I feel overwhelmed by the positive response. The most satisfying aspect is that after watching the film, people are saying that it is an important and a must-watch film for every Indian. Encouraged by this, I, along with Anuya Chauhan and Ritesh Kudecha, have started working on another biopic about another very prominent person in our history.
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