BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 14 SEPTEMBER 2023:
The stage is set and the countdown has begun in the oldest coalfield of the country, Raniganj as the Akshay Kumar starrer Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue , a Bollywood movie based on the heroic rescue operations of the trapped coal miners in Mahabir Colliery of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) will be released on 6 th of October. The teaser of the film, Mission Raniganj has already been released and the film depicts the heroic efforts of a young sikh mines officer who has saved so many lives risking his own life during the Mahabir Colliery Mines disaster at Kunustoria area of ECL way back in 13 th November 1989.
The Mines rescue engineer, Jaswant Singh Gill played a key role in rescuing the 65 trapped coal miners from below the earth, though six persons have been killed in the mines disaster due to underground water inundation inside the coal pit.
For the first time in the history of mining in India, 65 miners trapped belowground could be rescued through a large diameter borehole drilled from the surface. To pay tributes to this heroic work 16 November is commemorated as the National Mines Rescue Day.
Two days after the disaster broke out on 15 th November , a special capsule device has been made up by ECL and young engineer Jaswant Singh Gill went inside the mine through the capsule. He has been awarded the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak by the then president of India R. Venkataraman. A chock in Majitha Road in his hometown in Amritsar was also named after him.
Akshay Kumar has played the role of the protagonist in this film. The other actors include Parineeti Chopra, Kumud Mishra, Pawan Malhotra, Ravi Kishan, Varun Vadola etc.
Initially the name of the film was Capsule Gill, but later the name was changed as Mission Raniganj. The film is directed by Tinu Suresh Desai.
One after another he has rescued the trapped coal miners and sent them above through the capsule. He came out after rescuing the last miner. The capsule is still preserved as a heritage site at the Kunustoria Area Office of ECL.
About three years ago, Jaswant Gill passed away in Punjab after a brief illness. A resident of Amritsar, he passed away at the age of 80 in 2019.
A portion of the film was shot in different locations of ECL coal mines in Asansol last year. A number of Ecl workers in Kunustoria area have acted in the film Mission Raniganj and are eagerly waiting for its gala release.
Subir Shankar Chatterjee, Subroto banerjee, Mainak Mondal, Anwesa Roy Goswami, Suman Kumar Roy, all have acted in the film and have played the role of doctors. The union Coal ministry has also allowed for shooting of this film and in fact the union coal minister , Pralhad
Joshi was also excited about the shooting of this film which is based on a real life story and one of the most successful mines rescue operations in the history of independent India till date.
“ We are proud of our coal workers who risk their lives , battles every day against all odds to assure India’s energy security,” tweeted coal minister Pralhad Joshi about this film.
At present the mine is closed. The GM of Kunustoria area of ECL, Anil Kumar Sinha said that the company is working to find out a technology which is techno – economically feasible to reopen the closed mine.
Local people like Niraj Kumar Singh said that they want ECL to immediately reopen the coal mine which once used to be bustling with activities.
Akhshay Kumar used to work in a travel agency, Ar- Es Travels in Dharmatalla area in Kolkata during his early days for a few years. The Director of the travel agency, Anil Punjabi, who is also a family friend of Akhshay Kuamr wished him grand success in this upcoming movie Mission Raniganj. When Mr. Khiladi comes to the City of Joy, he meets the Punjabi family.
So is the Asansol MP and Bolywood’s Mr. Khamosh, Shatrughan Sinha. Shotgun Sinha himself has played a key role in the blockbuster movie, Kala Patthar along with Amitabh Bachchan, Sashi Kapoor and others, which is also based on a real life incident, the Chasnala Colliery disaster of IISCO Burnpur in which 375 coal miners were inundated, making it the biggest ever coal mine disaster ever in India. He has also worked in another award winning movie Kalka, based on coal miners.
“ During my shooting of Kala Paththar and Kalka, I used to stay in Dhanbad and Asansol. I still vividly remember those days. Such film shootings will only popularise the film tourism sector in West Bengal. I wish him all success for his upcoming movie release. I will try to make a special screening for the movie in Raniganj coal belt,”said Mr. Shatrughan Sinha.
Akshay Kumar himself has tweeted and shared a few pictures of the film Mission Raniganj. It is now to be seen how much it hits the box offices after the recent successes of SRK’s recent movies Pathan and Jawan.
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