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July 3, 2011

US, Canada NRIs plan film on Ghadar Party

BARNALA: Coinciding with the centenary of Ghadar Party, some American Punjabis are out to showcase the lives of Ghadarites, including legendary martyr Kartar Singh Sarabha, in a celluloid form. Ghadar Party was formed away from India in USA in 1913 with a motive to get India out of imperial forces' clutches and many Ghadarites had later moved to India.

Now, towards its centenary year, a Punjabi film "Ankheele soorme-Gadri babe" (self-respecting brave- Gadarites) is being planned as a befitting tribute to the brave soldiers of India's freedom struggle. The film is to be completed before 2013.

"The film will shed light on the lives and struggles of Ghadarites, how they formed the party away from their motherland and how they contributed to India's freedom struggle", said California-based Punjabi activist Sukhdev Singh, who is the brain behind the project. The film, to be directed by well-known director Ravinder Ravi, will highlight the rare aspects of the lives of Ghadarites, said Sukhdev, who is also commissioner of libraries of Contra Costa county in California.

The film would mainly focus on the lives of Kartar Singh Sarabha, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Lala Hardyal, Harnam Singh Tundilat, Baba Gurditt Singh and of course Bhagat Singh, apart from other Ghadarites, Sukhdev said.

The film would be shot at historical Yugantar Ashram of San Fransisco, then headquarters of Ghadar movement, Stockton gurdwara, Sacramento and Yuba city of California. NRI Punjabis, specially about 200 families of Ghadarites' descendants, presently residing in USA and Canada, are being approached to play an active role in this project, Sukhdev told TOI.

Sukhdev, who runs 7-11 stores in California, is presently visiting India to study the life sketches of Ghadarites, specially Sarabha. Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Memorial Trust, USA, Bhagat Gurditta Ji International Charitable Organisation, California and Sarabha village-based foundation will sponsor the film, to be made at a cost of about Rs 10 crore, he said.

Sukhdev, who heads Bhai Gurditta Organization and Dr Jaswant Singh Dhillon, head of US-based Sarabha Trust, have chalked out various programmes in US and Canada for funding and exhaustive research is on to put different elements of the historical film in place.

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