MUMBAI: The first biopic on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) has been released by an OTT platform internationally, but national broadcaster Doordarshan has refused to telecast/stream it on Prasar Bharati (PB) OTT.
The film ‘Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: The Messiah’ was unveiled by AMU vice-chancellor Naima Khatoon with much fanfare on the campus recently.
In its letter to Mumbai-based production house Dark Horse Productions, Prasar Bharati’s programme executive has said: “I am directed to inform you that your proposal offering programme (s) based on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan could not qualified (sic) for telecast/stream under Revenue Sharing Mode (RSM) on PB OTT upcoming platform.”
Producer and the biopic’s main protagonist Shoaib Chaudhary is livid. “A serial that I produced for DD ran for one the longest periods in DD’s history. It is shocking that my biopic on Sir Syed, a leading reformist and educationist, has failed to qualify for streaming on the national public broadcasting’s OTT platform. It seems DD has rejected my proposal to please its political masters,” said Chaudhary.
Based on Sir Syed’s biography Hayat-E-Javed, the biopic depicts Sir Syed’s struggles to found Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College which became AMU in 1920 and the visionary’s efforts to inject scientific thinking among Muslims. Addressing online centenary celebrations of AMU in 2020, PM Narendra Modi had called the AMU campus a “mini-India.”
Mudassir Hayat, President of AMU Old Boys Association, Delhi NCR, said that life story of a legend like Sir Syed must be shown to the country, especially its new generation. “This biopic can remove many misconceptions and inspire new generations to make education a tool to progress,” said Hayat.