Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero

(119 min; 2014; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Samrouddhi Porey

 

The film will be introduced by Suhas Borker

 

Dr. Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero is a Marathi biopic based on the life of Baba Amte's son and Ramon Magsaysay award winner Dr. Prakash Amte.  Baba Amte takes his son Prakash, who has just finished his doctor's degree,  on a picnic to Hemalkasa, a village in the Bhamragad taluka of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. How this visit transforms the life of the young medical graduate? Prakash moves to Hemalkasa. Dr. Mandakini, Prakash's college mate and wife soon joins him without any condition. To work among the Gond Madia tribals becomes their mission. Along the way, they struggle with wild animals, Naxalites and corrupt government officials.  Nana Patekar as Prakash Amte proves himself again to be a versatile actor while Sonali Kulkarni as Dr. Mandakini gives an absorbing performance. Today, Hemalkasa sets a benchmark in social transformation as well as raises questions about what kind of 'growth' led 'development' do we want in India? The film was made on a budget of 2.5 crores and became such a hit that it grossed a record six-time return for the producers

 

(Collaboration: Maharashtra Sanskritik ani Rananniti Adhyayan Samiti)