Director claims lawyer’s image will resonate with public
Suvahhdan Angre played Ujjwal Nikam in the 2017 film ‘Aadesh’
In 2017, after several Censor Board roadblocks the film ‘Aadesh’—inspired by public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam—rolled past the censor’s scissors and was released. Pune-based director Suvahhdan Angre had said about his Marathi film whose full name was ‘Aadesh-The Power of Law’ that “it is an intense Marathi courtroom drama. It is not solely about Nikam though. It is a movie about public prosecutors.” In the movie Angre, who played the central role, did try to look like Nikam and admitted that he had studied the celebrated lawyer’s walking and talking style through Internet footage. The film’s makers had also met him a couple of times.
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Adv. Ujjwal Nikam
As Nikam is back in the spotlight, with him as a BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Angre whose movie was a prism through which to view Nikam and his professional ilk said, “Though the movie was reel life and this is real life, ‘Aadesh’ can give you a window into not just Nikam but these professionals’ lives. The Marathi movie was released on October 6, 2017, all over Maharashtra. For OTT, one can watch it on MX player and YouTube. It was dubbed in Hindi and it has English subtitles too.”
Of the latest political move of the BJP fielding Nikam as candidate from the North Central seat, Angre said, “This is a great move by the party as they will gain votes banking on Nikam-sir’s popularity.” The director had met ‘sir’ as he referred to Nikam during a couple of social functions before his film. He was struck by Nikam’s felicity with words, his eloquence. Said Angre: “His vocabulary was expansive… he had a great hold on language and that will translate into powerful speeches. I saw a political streak within, even at that time and that is why I think this person is going to excel.”
For a candidate though, what matters most of all is to create a people connect, and Angre thinks that Nikam is already perceived in a certain way, and that image means people are drawn to him. Said the director who drew so much from Nikam for his film: “Sir is a highly beloved figure pan-India due to his powerful role in huge and influential cases. He has the image of a man who fights for justice for the common people.” For the director, the power Nikam exudes is not just in words or his image. “His strength emerged I thought, from the faith he put in his job. He has not bowed down to anybody as cases were going on, not for the famous or the glamourous, influential or the rich. I assume he has interrogated the entire Bollywood industry at one time for a case,” he stated.
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