Subhash K Jha turns the spotlight on eight films that featured Mahatma Gandhi as lead character or supporting player and special apperance in the fascinating feature to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti.
1. Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006):
Sanjay Dutt’s conversations with Mahatma Gandhi in this ode to the lost spirit of Gandhism, was among the most humanizing works of cinematic art in living history. Dutt, otherwise known to play the gangster, and director Raj Kumar Hirani who stands accused of some very un-Gandhian activities, brought the spirit of Gandhi out of dog-eared books in libraries into every living room.
2. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005):
Anupam Kher not only produced this gem of a film he also starred as a Gandhian patriarch suffering from memory loss, who feels guilty about the Mahatma’s assassination. The film wove a pastiche of memory, guilt, nostalgia and a crisis of morality all together in a lucid mix that the great man himself would surely have enjoyed. Not you, Anupam. Gandhiji.
3. Hey Ram (2000):
It is perhaps Kamal Haasan’s most coherent directorial work to date. Like all of Kamal’s work, the narrative rambled on and on. But what stood out was the filmmaker-actor’s immovable faith in the teachings of Gandhiji to move mountains. Naseeruddin Shah made an appearance towards the end of the film as the Mahatma.
4. Gandhi My Father (2007):
Bringing out the human side of Mahatma Gandhi, this daring film tracked Gandhiji’s troubled relationship with elder son Harilal who went astray for the lack of paternal care. Gujarati actor Darshan Jariwala was effective though not outstanding as Gandhiji. But the focus was on Akshaye Khanna as the troubled persecuted son Harilal. Incidentally, Anil Kapoor produced this film directed by stage director Feroz Khan. This film caused a temporary rift between best friends Anil Kapoor and Anupam Kher as Anupam felt Anil was stealing the thunder away from his Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara.
5. Gandhi (1982):
Richard Attenborough’s bio-pic! Need anything more be said? …. Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi which was released in 1982 is a three-hour comprehensive compelling study of a man, a myth on whose life volumes of character study have been attempted, with varying success. This film is the most comprehensive and illuminating portrait on any medium of a man who defied analysis. John Briley’s screenplay is a monumental achievement compressing the Mahatma’s life into just over three hours of storytelling with not a moment to spare for superfluousness or self-congratulation.
Director Attenborough and actor Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi did what no Indian filmmaker or actor has ever done for the Mahatma. The film made him a household name. Take a bow again, Mr Kingsley.
6. The Making Of A Mahatma (1996):
The vastly underrated Rajit Kapoor, not to be confused with that other good actor Rajat Kapoor, was immensely effective as the young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in The Making Of The Mahatma directed by Shyam Benegal. Benegal and Rajit always shared a very special rapport. If you have seen Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda you’d know what I mean. Here in this bio-pic adapted from Fatima Meer’s The Apprenticeship of a Mahatma, Benegal traced the evolution of the Mahatma, his early years in South Africa, and how they shaped his future. This is one Mahatma bio-pic that has stood the test of time.
7.Gandhi Godse Ek Yuddh (2023):
It is an audaciously fascinating what-if premise: suppose Gandhi had survived Godse’s bullet? Suppose Gandhi had resolved to forgive Godse and bring him around to his own way of thinking, and in the process, suppose Gandhi learnt a few lessons himself on being a true Vaishnav who understand peer parayi (others’ pain). Hats off to Raj Kumar Santoshi for daring to dream. But the film suffers from a seriously flawed dramatic diversion in the form of a love story that is knitted into the hypothetical face-off between the Mahatma and his assailant. The romantic subplot featuring newcomers Tanisha Santoshi (the director’s daughter) and Anuj Saini as seriously committed childhood sweethearts torn apart by the obstinacy of the Mahatma, puts a brake on what could have been a powerful debate on Gandhian and non-Gandhian versions of socio-political protest. What was the Mahatma’s take on nepotism? I guess we’d never know.
8. Gandhi (2026):
Could there be a better version of Mahatma Gandhi than Ben Kingsley? We shall soon know, as Pratik Gandhi will be seen playing his namesake in Applause Entertainment’s web series directed by Hansal Mehta. After Ben Kingsley, it is Pratik Gandhi’s turn to play Mahatma Gandhi with humanized heft. The series has been shot in Gujarat and South Africa. It’s a multi-season series on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s. Right from his younger days till he died. This series is largely based on the books and research done by Ramachandra Guha. From his earliest days to his actions in South Africa to the great struggle in India, the series tells the lesser known stories of his life which played an important role in shaping young Gandhi into a Mahatma. It also tells the stories of all his compatriots and contemporaries of the freedom movement, incredible personalities who, along with him, played an integral part in the shaping of what became free and modern India. To boost Partik’s passion for playing the Mahatma, he has his real-life wife Bhamini Oza playing Kasturba.
