BERLIN – The producers of a controversial Indian film called ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ about World War II and the Indian independence movement have launched a marketing blitz at the Berlin film festival. The movie’s backers showed ten minutes of out-takes from the picture to market buyers and reporters on the sidelines of the festival’s sprawling European Film Market.
The scenes bear more than a passing resemblance to the Oscar-nominated 2004 German film ‘Downfall’ starring Bruno Ganz, but juxtapose the story against Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent struggle for independence from the British. The Fuehrer, as played by veteran actor Raghubir Yadav, sports the trademark truncated moustache and harangues his generals deep in his Berlin bunker.
Former Miss India Neha Dhupia portrays Eva Braun, whom Hitler married hours before they committed suicide in the bunker in April 1945. The title alludes to two letters Gandhi wrote in which he appealed to the Nazi dictator in the vain hope of stopping the war. Even before its premiere, the film has drawn opposition from sections of India’s small Jewish community and campaigners abroad for what they feared would be a trivialised portrayal of the fascist leader.
But producer Anil Sharma defended the theme of the movie, which is a rare foray into dark material for the Bollywood film industry, more famous for its vast and colourful dance routines and suggestive love scenes. Sharma said that the title had generated intense “curiosity” among international buyers in the German capital. The film contrasts the fall of the Third Reich with Gandhi’s vision for a bloodless struggle that would free India from the British, which Sharma called the ideological clash between “world peace and world turmoil.”
The original lead actor, Bollywood star Anupam Kher, pulled out of the production early on in the face of protests. Hollywood and European film makers have made dozens of films on Hitler, but opposition to the Bollywood production appears to stem partly from a belief that ‘Dear Friend Hitler’ will misrepresent or make light of the Holocaust.
The film, which cost about three million dollars to make, was shot in studio and on location in India.
Bollywood descends into Hitler’s bunker at Berlin fest
