The idea behind web series Bose: Dead/Alive was to position Subhas Chandra Bose as a dashing personality like James Bond, rather than replicating staid images of the Indian National Army founder, ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said on Saturday.
The show, which features Rajkummar Rao and Patralekha, explores the journey of Bose from being an introvert to a brave nationalist. Filmmaker Hansal Mehta has served as creative director on the project.
Pantvaidya was speaking at a panel discussion on Digital Space - The Future Ahead on the sidelines of the ongoing 48th International Film Festival of India (Iffi).
“It was Ekta [Kapoor], Hansal Mehta, Rajkummar Rao, all three got together and basically backed the vision with two things. One is we wanted to essentially make a thriller with Bose. We don’t want to make a historical film. If you see the show, it is ‘Is Bose dead or alive’. That’s the episode hook everywhere,” Pantvaidya said.
“We do not want to show boring history... Our Bose was closer to James Bose [like James Bond]. He is there. He has a life. He wants to rebel. He has a character, he has a personality,” Pantvaidya added.
“We are saying that Bose is a person who has seen patriotism differently, Bose is a person who looks at his personal life differently, he is an icon for the youth. People [in the age group of 18 to 25] do not understand the Independence struggle... as some older people do. So, we want to make it more relevant to that and present it as a thriller,” he added.
