Mumbai, May 28 (IANS): The teaser of the upcoming film 'Swatantrya Veer Savarkar', based on the life of V.D. Savarkar, was unveiled on Sunday on the occasion of freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue's 140th birth anniversary.

The film has been directed by actor Randeep Hooda, who has also co-written the film along with Utkarsh Naithani.

The teaser of the potentially contentious film starts with a voice-over from Randeep, saying the struggle for Independence stretched for more than 90 years but it would have been over had the people followed the path of an armed revolution.

Few participated in the freedom struggle, the voiceover said; the rest just wanted to gain political mileage in the garb of the fight for independence, it claimed.

Launching the film's teaser, Hooda said: "Savarkar led an incredible life, and as I learned more about him while researching my film, I have come to admire him tremendously. So it gives me immense pleasure to share a sneak peek into our film on his 140th birth anniversary."

The teaser calls Savarkar "the most wanted Indian by the British", who not just inspired the armed revolution, but also inspired the likes of "Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose and Khudiram Bose".

Randeep goes on to say in the teaser that Mahatma Gandhi was not wrong, but had he not been stubborn on his principles of non-violence, India would have been independent 35 years earlier.

Producer Anand Pandit added: "Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is a very prestigious project for us because of the incredible impact that Savarkar had on our nation's freedom struggle. His story, unfortunately, has not been told to us as a country and we hope our film will complete that lacuna. We present the film's first look and hope the audience comes back asking for more."

This historical film, which is slated to be released this year, also marks the directorial debut of Randeep Hooda. He will also be seen on the screen in the title role.