Prabhas's 'Fauji' Sparks Row Over Netaji-Hitler Scene, Family Demands
The teaser of pan-India star Prabhas's highly anticipated patriotic period film Fauji, helmed by director Hanu Raghavapudi, has found itself embroiled in an intense national controversy following its creative depiction of revered Indian revolutionary Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The creative backlash erupted after the promotional footage featured a dramatized wartime meeting between Netaji and German dictator Adolf Hitler, during which the historical freedom fighter introduces Prabhas’s fictional character to the Nazi leader. Condemning the sequence as an unacceptable distortion of modern Indian history, Netaji's family—spearheaded by his grand-nephew Chandra Kumar Bose—has registered fierce public objections, demanding that the filmmakers immediately retract the controversial teaser and offer a formal apology for compromising historical authenticity in the pursuit of cinematic commercialism.
The Berlin Encounter: Subodh Bhave's Portrayal and Concerns Over Glorifying Fiction
The crux of the controversy centers on the creative liberty taken within the film’s opening frames, set against the backdrop of Berlin during Netaji's historic efforts to mobilize foreign alliances against British colonial rule. In the film, acclaimed Marathi actor Subodh Bhave steps into the shoes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. However, historical scholars and cinema audiences have taken strong exception to a sequence where Netaji's towering legacy is leveraged to introduce and validate Prabhas’s fictional protagonist before Adolf Hitler. Critics argue that utilizing the immense stature of one of India's most respected national icons as a narrative stepping stone to inflate a fictitious main character diminishes historical dignity and misrepresents Bose's actual diplomatic engagements during the Second World War.
Chandra Bose Warns Filmmakers on X Ahead of March 19, 2027 Theatrical Bow
Expressing sharp displeasure on social media platform X, Chandra Bose asserted that conflating established history with fictional narratives constitutes a grave disservice to national memory. Directly addressing the film's creative and production teams, Bose stated, "Mixing history with fiction is a crime. I hope Hanu Raghavapudi and his team at Fauzi The Movie and Mythri Movie Makers understand this and remove the teaser. They will release a new teaser and ensure that history is not tampered with. I hope Prabhas will take note of this." Backed by prominent production banners Mythri Movie Makers and distributed internationally by T-Series Films—led by producers Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar, and Bhushan Kumar—the high-budget spectacle is locked for a pan-India theatrical release on March 19, 2027. While the teaser showcases high-octane action and intense patriotic themes, all eyes now turn to whether the production house and lead star Prabhas will issue a formal clarification and re-edit the contentious sequence prior to the film's promotional rollout.
