"I Have A Dream" - Satyagraha!

Next Friday, August 30, 2013, one of the most anticipated films of our time, Amitabh Bachchan's Satyagraha, directed by Prakash Jha, will have a worldwide release. In U.S.A., its opening coincides with the 50^th Anniversary celebration of the famous historic march and rally of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who made his historic groundbreaking “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Interestingly, the spirit behind the two events is very much similar – while the King's watershed moment in civil rights history followed several years of nonviolent, grassroots demonstrations for civil rights with people joining forces together, letting their voices be heard, and being vigilant, Satyagraha has the potential to awake the citizens of the country to unite and upraise against the burning issue of unjust corruption in the country and generate the revolution that was created by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his country.



Here are excerpts from the famous “I Have a Dream” speech:



“... Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"



There is a great anticipation that the greatest star of the millennium, Amitabh Bachchan, will be playing the biggest role of his career and delivering the best ever speech in Satygraha, surpassing all his previous speeches marked for creating marvel for the movies at the box-office. The March on Washington and King's speech helped pressure the U.S. Congress to pass the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in 1964 and 1965 respectively, let us hope and wish that the release of Satyagraha and Amitabh Bachchan's speech that it must be carrying, create a similar pressure on India's current ruling party, Congress + (UPA), to pass some really strong Act that helps wipe out the curse of corruption from the country. I have a dream – Satyagraha!