This Marathi director had Kerala's Mammootty playing Dr Ambedkar in Hindi

Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' released in 1982 was a film which had a reach and a wide-angle presentation on the life and times of the Father of the Nation. A British-India co-production, it was commercially well received all over the world and also won seven Oscar Awards.

Born on June 23, 1942, Jabbar Patel, a leading film director in Marathi, with a theatre background wanted to do something similar with the life story of Dr BR Ambedkar. He roped in a reluctant Mammootty, a top hero of Malayalam cinema who was hesitant to shave off his moustache for the role. Jabbar Patel also took up intense research for nearly three years before he started his directorial work.

Jointly produced by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Government of Maharashtra, the film, released in 2000 in English and eight additional languages had a budget of around Rs 9 crore. It won three National Awards, including the Best Actor Award for the Kerala icon. Patel is mostly confined to Marathi film industry where he produced more than a dozen films in the tenure of 1974-2000.