Subversive Heroism and the Politics of Biopic Adaptation in Bose: The Forgotten Hero

Shyam Benegal’s Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) is a celluloid tribute to one of the most controversial political leaders of India during the fight for independence against the British in the 1940s. It foregrounds the qualities of leadership, courage, honesty and wisdom in Subhash Chandra Bose’scharacter and tries to create a space for him in the popular imagination. It belongs to those films Benegal made in the recent past that negotiated the boundaries of mainstream and art house cinema. This chapter thoroughly critiques how Benegal appropriates the tropes and conventions of political celebrity biopics in Indian cinema and makes a film that highlights the goodness of Bose even as a subversive hero who challenges the British by creating his own army, the Indian National Army. It uses the theoretical dimensions of biopic adaptations articulated by adaptation studies critics like Deborah Cartmell, Christine Geraghty, Imelda Whelehan and others and critically analyze Benegal’s cinematic attempts to salvage Bose’s ambiguous political image. It focuses on how the complexities and contradictions of Bose’s life depicted in this war film both challenge and reinforce the popular perceptions about him in the Indian cultural imaginary.