Dharamveer 2: Shots Ring As Eknath Shinde Releases Film’s Sequel | Mumbai News

Shinde, who makes a cameo appearance in the film, could not attend the grand premiere as he had undergone a surgery on Wednesday, but leaders of his Shiv Sena and party workers from the ruling Mahayuti Alliance were present at the multiplex. It was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was absent.

Dharamveer 2 is a sequel to Dharamveer, which was released in November 2023. The first part was a biography of late Anand Dighe, Shinde’s mentor and Shiv Sena leader from Thane. It designated Shinde as Dighe’s heir.

The second part focuses on why Shinde split the Sena and led the overthrow of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2022.

Shinde has always maintained that he broke away from the party for the sake of Hindutva. The party founded by Bal Thackeray has forgotten Hindutva, he said, and willy-nilly it will be dragged behind its alliance partners, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

When he released the poster for Dharmaveer 2, the slogan was, “Traitors of Hindutva will not be spared.” It was a mockery of the Shiv Sena (UBT), which had performed commendably in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. However, her performance was dismissed by Shindes Sena and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as “driven by Muslim voices”.

As for Shinde, the first film touched on his life until he became a minister in the MVA government; The sequel focuses on his role as the chief minister of the state. The message that comes on the eve of the general elections is anything but subtle: Shinde has taken forward Dighe’s legacy of serving the people and Hindutva.

Dharamveer 2 was initially scheduled to release before the Lok Sabha elections, but Shinde decided to release it on the eve of the general elections instead. On why a sequel was made, the film’s producer Mangesh Desai said, “Many of Dighe Saheb’s exploits could not be accommodated in the first film. The sequel will highlight these.”

The story, screenplay and dialogues of Dharmaveer 2 were written by Praveen Tarde, who also directed both films. Popular Marathi actor Prasad Oak has played the role of Dighe in both the films.

Speaking about Dharamveer 2, a Shiv Sena leader says, “The film shows how Shinde was repeatedly insulted by the Thackeray family, just like Raj Thackeray, Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal and others. It also shows that Uddhav Thackeray is unapproachable as a leader and how he once insulted MLA Sanjay Shirsat who was made to wait at the gates of Varsha when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister.”

The Shiv Sena UBT camp has apparently given the film a scathing review. Party leader Anil Parab said, “For more than two decades, Shinde did not remember Dighe even once. Now he is using his memory for the upcoming elections.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that Shinde is using the big screen to humiliate party founder Bal Thackeray by portraying Dighe as a leader of greater stature than the former. “Many Balasaheb Thackeray supporters in Maharashtra do not accept Eknath Shinde’s leadership. So, with Dharmveer and Dharmveer 2, Shinde is trying to create a new icon in Maharashtra politics. With the help of the BJP, he wants to portray Dighe as bigger than Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said.

Taking another swipe at Shinde, Raut added, “More than Shinde, it was Rajan Vichare who was close to Anand Dighe. If Shinde had been as loyal to the Shiv Sena as Dighe, there would have been no need to create such fictional stories about Dighe.”

Dharamveer 2, meanwhile, takes on the Congress and shows how the then Thane police commissioner RD Tyagi tried to suppress Hindu festivals in Thane at the behest of the Congress, which was then in power at the Centre. It also shows that the Congress is insulting Veer Savarkar, a leader revered by right-wing parties. It shows Balasaheb Thackeray punching an effigy of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, even though Uddhav Thackeray has since joined hands with the Congress.

Raut also criticized Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his Maharashtra tour and the statements he made recently about Thackeray and the Pawar family. “For generations, Maharashtra has done two jobs. “Firstly, protect the country and secondly, reveal the reality on the ground to the arrogant,” said Raut.

He went a step further and said, “Just like Aurangzeb, Amit Shah continuously launched political attacks on Maharashtra. But even if Shah stays in Maharashtra like Aurangzeb and aims to defeat us in the assembly elections, he will not succeed.”

With cinematic verve, Raut responded to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statement that he would write the script for Dharmveer 3. “Fadnavis should write a film on Aurangzeb instead,” he said.