Veer Savarkar (film)

Veer Savarkar is a Hindi language 2001 Indian film based on the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. This version was released on DVD format. This film was produced by Savarkar Darshan Prathisthan, under the president-ship of Sudhir Phadke. It premiered on 16 November 2001, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Nagpur and six other Indian cities.Rediff.com reports a claim that it is the first movie in the world financed by public donations. On 28 May 2012 its Gujarati language version was released by the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

The film was screened retrospective on August 13th 2016 at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense, commemorating 70th Indian Independence Day.

Produced by Sudhir Phadke who also composed music for this, it has been directed by Ved Rahi. Prabhakar Mone has been its chief production controller. The title role has been played by Shailendra Gaur. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been played by Surendra Mohan. The other actors are Navin Parihar, Mrinal Kulkarni, Pankaj Berry, Rohitashva Gaur, Tom Alter, Bob Christo, Sunil Shende, Arun Bakshi, Supriya Karni, Madhusudan Tamhane.

This film was produced by Savarkar Darshan Prathisthan under the president-ship of Sudhir Phadke.

Even though in 1980s Malayalam director John Abraham (director) through his Odessa Collective collected money from the general public for making films, Rediff.com senselessly reports a claim that it is the first movie in the world financed by public donations. In an interview Ved Rahi the informed that the first contribution was made by Lata Mukadam, who "spontaneously" donated her gold bangles. A Times of India story dated 18 September 2001 quotes Prabhakar Mone; "more than 10000 people contributed from Rs. Five to Rs. Fifty lakh. Four years back, our present prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself helped in raising Rs. 30 lakh for the movie by giving a lecture in the US... Prominent singers like Asha Bhosle, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Anup Jalota also aided in fund-raising."

...
Wikipedia