VETERAN actor Mithun Chakraborty turned down a meaty role in Anant Mahadevan's Red Alert: The War Within, as he felt that the original Maoist dialogues used in the film would make the viewers sympathise with the Naxals (Maoists) and therefore make it an anti-establishment movie.
"Mithun was offered one of the major roles of the film. He was very excited about the role as he himself was associated with the Naxalites at one point of time. But then, the volatile dialogues of the film didn't go down well with him, as he felt that the film would be pro-naxals and anti-establishment," Anant told IANS in an exclusive interview. "He was very enthusiastic and gave us a lot of inputs as well. But, I understand he didn't want to get into any controversy," he added.
The director was inspired to make the movie after reading about the plight of a farmer who fell victim to the Maoist movement. Anant insists that the film is based on impartial reports on the long drawn battle between the government and the Maoists. "It's based on absolutely unbiased reports. So, the government and the Maoists, both have to take the criticism and responsibility of what is happening. It's a very fair and unbiased view on the consequences faced by a common man," Anant added.
The director has roped in three music directors for the film. "There is only one theme song in the film. It is written by Javed Akhtar, sung by K.K. and composed by Lalit Pandit. Monty Sharma has done the background score for the film while Raghav Sachar gave the music for the trailer. This is how three music directors got associated with the film," he added.
Apart from actor Suniel Shetty, playing the lead role, the film also stars actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Vinod Khanna, Seema Biswas, Sameera Reddy and Ayesha Dharker.