Gandhi, My Father (2007)

The account of troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his eldest son.

Director:

Feroz Abbas Khan

Writers:

Chandulal Dalal (book), Feroz Abbas Khan,

Stars:

Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala, Shefali Shetty

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akshaye Khanna	...	Harilal Gandhi
Darshan Jariwala	...	Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Shefali Shetty	...	Kasturba Gandhi (as Shefali Shah)
Bhoomika Chawla	...	Gulab Gandhi
Daniel Janks	...	Henry Polak
Ilanit Shapiro	...	Sonja Schlesin (as Illanit Shipiro)
Mithilesh Chaturvedi	...	Zakaria
Rajendranath Zutshi	...	Grieving Fast Food Stall Owner
Bomie E. Dotiwala	...	Photographer (as Bomi Dotiwalla)
Gregg Viljoen	...	General Ian Smutts (as Greg Villojen)
Rustom Irani	...	Mahadev Desai
Nayan Shukla	...	Jeevan
Padmesh Rawal	...	Narottamdas
Dharmendra Gohil	...	Harilal's Arya Samaj room-mate
Mona Ambegaonkar	...	Prostitute

Storyline

Mohandas was born in the Gujarati speaking family, had several brothers who jointly owned property in Rajkot. At the age of 13 Mohandas married Kasturba. On attaining maturity he re-located to England, became a Barrister, returned home, and together with Kasturba re-located to South Africa. They returned to India for a few years and this is where they became parents of four sons: Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas. Subsequently, the family returned to South Africa, leaving Harilal alone. As Harilal did not do well in his studies he got married to Gulab without his parents' blessings. Mohandas then invited Harilal to South Africa and on his Secretary's request also invited Gulab, who had recently given birth to a daughter, Rami. Harilal wanted to be a Barrister like his father but found his movements restricted as his father wanted him to actively participate against the Satanist and Racist British regime, leading to Harilal being arrested and imprisoned. Harilal's hopes of becoming a...

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Plot Keywords:

south africa | hindu | muslim | independence movement | reference to mahatma gandhi | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English Gujarati Bengali

Release Date:

27 July 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Pune, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£44,242 (UK) (3 August 2007)

Gross:

$240,425 (USA) (17 August 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anil Kapoor Film Company, Eros International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

The Story of a Son and his Father (whom he lost to the nation)

I was very impressed at both producer Anil Kapoor and director Feroz A. Khan for taking a chance by making this film which works both as a wonderful character study and a study of the relationship between M.K. Gandhi and his son H. Gandhi. Here Gandhi is presented as a very human character. However, the main story revolves around the son. In Hindi cinema we hardly get to see the main character as flawed as has been presented here. It must have been a huge challenge to tell an intriguing story about such a character, but director Khan does nothing short of a wonderful job.

There are top notch powerful performances by the cast. In the title role, Darshan Jariwala is very calm yet confident at showing how he's at ease in the role. He is sublime as he effectively brings out Gandhi's vulnerability and weakness. Shefali Shah is a knockout as Kasturba Gandhi. This actress is simply amazing and one should only watch her to understand what I mean. Last but not least, 'Gandhi My Father' is Akshaye Khanna's film. The actor finally gets a role that does full justice to his talent. Not only is it one of the best performances of the year, but he's proved that he can be one of the best actors in Hindi cinema.

While I read in several comments stating that it was a boring film, I disagree. I did find the 2nd half of the film a little slow paced but it still kept me engaged. I was also impressed that we were presented a different side of Gandhi and how he may have been as a husband and father. However, there was no mention of Gandhi's other children. How was his and Harilal's relationship with them? Also I thought it would have been more intriguing if Khan further explored Harilal's psyche as the man was severely disturbed. Here the perspective is from an outsider's point of view but that may be because Khan wanted to stay more true to the facts.

A fine piece of work and an impressive character study.