Indian history has been revised time and again on celluloid, but debutant director Rakesh Ranjan Kumar moves into a global canvas with Dear Friend Hitler to capture the last few days of the Nazi dictator in his Berlin bunker and Germany after his downfall in 1945.
"My film aims to recapture the last days of Adolf Hitler," said Kumar, who is perhaps the first Indian filmmaker to attempt a movie on Hitler.
"It shows Hitler in his underground bunker and portrays his relationship with his close associates. It aims to capture the personality of Adolf Hitler and his insecurities, his charisma and his paranoia during the last few days of his life," he added.
Kumar has roped in the versatile Anupam Kher to play the lead role; Neha Dhupia (pictured) will portray his wife Eva Braun who was 23 years younger to him.
"It shows Hitler's love for India and how he indirectly contributed to Indian independence. It also depicts the struggle for survival of the lesser known Indian Legion soldiers who were left in Germany by Subhas Bose to fight for India's independence and Germany's prestige," said Kumar.
"The film will not show the love life of Adolf Hitler. It will show Eva who had been rarely spoken about in the history."
Though the backdrop is the Second World War, Kumar insists his is not a war movie.
"By the title, people might take it as a periodic or war film, but we have portrayed neither. Rather it's a war of conscience going on in the mind of Hitler," he said.
