dr babasaheb ambedkar finally makes it to the movie halls an interview with director jabbar patel despite having won three national awards last year why did the release of your film get so delayed we had shown the english version to the award committee and my ambitious project fetched three awards best english film which goes with the director best art direction for nitin desai and the best actor for mammootty the film will be released in eight languages viz hindi marathi gujarati bengali oriya punjabi malayalam and english which involved postproduction work on a huge scale that was timeconsuming hence the delay let me add our distributors bhagyashri enterprises intend to bring out tamil and telugu versions too what do you have to say about the films commercial appeal i think it will appeal to every indian and nonindian viewer as it deals with the universal issues of humanity and human rights dr ambedkar took part in the freedomstruggle besides striving for freedom of speech and expression through our constitution which he penned the way nelson mandela and martin luther king are known world over so should be dr ambedkar for his exemplary work despite odds from within and without we have shown the film to people from all walks of life from the elite to the common people on the street and everybody simply loved the film irrespective of their sociological or political alliance or affinity how much did the film cost nfdc nfdc has only been executive producer the film has been funded by the social welfare ministry govt of india and the govt of maharashtra to the tune of rs 85 crore was that a comfortable budget has the film fetched a good price for a film of such a magnificent canvas the budget was just about okay as regards the price well thats also okay since we are still to sell the overseas rights music has received a great response your times music sold one lac cassettes on the audio release day 6th dec itself why did you select mammootty for the title role he is a total actor he must have done over 250 films i liked him in adoor gopalkrishnans film besides his height and broad shoulders even his face bore a great deal of resemblance to dr ambedkar how many actors would show the kind of commitment mammootty has shown he put on weight and shaved of hair to show a receding hairline with advancing age his contribution is tremendous as he could convey the emotional and cerebral part of dr ambedkar with equal intensity intelligence and imagination of course the credit goes to the cameraman ashok mehta also as he has brought my vision on the celluloid with contribution from his side too whats this public reception to mammootty on 17th december all about there is kerala cultural organisation which has planned a felicitation of their favourite star mammootty who has crossed the borders of malayalam and tamil