Gandhi my father

Had heard about this movie when it was released couple of years ago. Finally watched it and can quite understand some of the rave reviews that had I read at the time. Much like its Bollywood counterparts, its a long movie - at 2 hours + and also has its fair share of melodrama. But it manages to brilliantly capture the story of a fallen son and a father on his way to sainthood with the Indian freedom struggle as its backdrop.

Akshaye Khanna plays Harilal Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi's eldest son) impressively - as Harilal progresses from being a loyal son to a disgruntled husband to an unscrupulous rebellious son and finally, running out of second chances, ending up on the streets. The jacket of the DVD says "Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but could not save the soul of his own son". The irony of the situation, as the tagline suggests, is clearly the central theme of this story - but the writer does well in bringing out the values of Gandhi as it was and not demonise him.

Darshan Jariwala also does a good job of playing Gandhi - but doesn't quite look like Gandhi as I know him and which is Ben Kingsley's fault. WTF moment - the film's produced by Anil Kapoor.


Rating: ***