A DOCUMENTARY on Bhagat Singh titled INQILAB was previewed and released on July 13, 2008, at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) Auditorium. The documentary has been produced by the NMML in collaboration with Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) and has been scripted and directed by Gauhar Raza. Well known actor and social activist Rahul Bose released the DVD of the documentary and Dr Karan Singh, vice chairman of the NMML, presided over the function.

The 40-minute documentary traces the course of Bhagat Singh’s life and provides rare insights in the context of India’s freedom struggle. It weaves through the biographical turning points to construct Bhagat Singh’s dream of a free, egalitarian, socialist and multicultural India.


Parts of the documentary contain narration by Zohra Sehgal, Suchitra Gupta and Sarah Hashmi. Apart from this a galaxy of well known social activists, intellectuals and historians, including Swami Agnivesh, Kuldeep Nayyar, Prof Bipan Chandra, Prof VP Dutt, Prof KN Panikkar, Jagmohan Singh, Prof Shantha Sinha, Prof Chaman Lal, Prof Urvashi Butalia, Dr S Irfan Habib, Kamla Bhasin and Arpana Kaur, have also narrated parts of the script.


The documentary is based on meticulous research and creatively uses rare documents as visuals shot at various available repositories. Visuals have also been shot at Lahore, Banga (birth place of Bhagat Singh), Kolkata, Kanpur, Amritsar and Delhi.


Manu Kohli, in her melodious voice, has sung ’Bhagat Singh’s’ Ghodi in the documentary. The Ghodi in Punjabi language was composed by students of DAV College, Lahore just after Bhagat Singh’s execution and even now is part of folk tradition on both sides of the border.


The documentary is produced as a part of the year-long celebrations organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in connection with the 100th birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, 60 years of India’s independence and 150 years of the great upheaval of 1857.


Many eminent personalities like Dr Karan Singh, Zohra Sehgal, Mridula Mukherjee, Rahul Bose, Gauhar Raza, Shabnam Hashmi, Swami Agnivesh were present on this occasion.