How did the idea of making this cinematic biography of Dr Ambedkar occur to you?
I had made this short documentary on him which everyone seemed to like very much. I was showing the documentary to Sharad Pawar when I mentioned I would like to make a full length feature film on Dr Ambedkar, so as to capture the larger picture of the Independence struggle and give it a more accurate historical perspective. Many people, it was my contention, had no idea of his actual role during the struggle and, what is worse, many saw it in the wrong light. A full-length feature film, I felt, could put his role in a proper context. He agreed. That is how the film began in the early nineties, with a small contribution from the Maharashtra government. Later, we got the rest of the money from the Government of India. How long did it take you to make the film? The research took over three years. I consulted everyone I could. I travelled all over and met anybody and everybody who had known him or knew anything about him that could contribute to the film. Casting was also an arduous task.
