With 'Gandhi My Father' Akshaye Khanna makes the transition from star to actor. He delivers a finely tuned performance as the troubled son Harilal Gandhi.
Gandhi, my father
Direction: Feroz Abbas Khan
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala, Shefali Shah, Bhumika Chawla
Rating: ***
With 'Gandhi My Father' Akshaye Khanna makes the transition from star to actor. He delivers a finely tuned performance as the troubled son Harilal Gandhi of the revered leader Mahatma Gandhi (Darshan Jariwala).
Based on the English play 'Mahatma Vs Gandhi', written and directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and said to be based on true events, the film juxtaposes the nation's tumultuous movement for independence with the very delicate and personal dissension between an embittered son and a righteous father.
The conflict between the father and son begins when Harilal decides to marry his childhood sweetheart Gulab (Bhumika Chawla) without the permission of his father. Harilal wants to go to England to study and become a barrister like his father but is constantly rebuffed by Gandhi who believes that he is better off as a revolutionary. Harilal returns from South Africa with his family to try to make it on his own but fails every time, as his father does nothing to help him. His disillusionment increases to the point where he turns to crime to support his family.
After that it is a fast descent into alcoholism and crime even as his wife takes his children and leaves him. He rebels by finding refuge in Islam and then repents by reconverting back to Hinduism, but all his life is a failed search for happiness and contentment. Ultimately he dies a destitute.
Backed by exquisite photography by David Macdonald and realistically created production design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai, 'Gandhi My Father' is a treat for the eyes.
But there are times when the politics of the moment overtakes the personal strife, a distraction the film could do without. The depiction of the difficult father-son relationship, with the mother Kasturba (Shefali Shah) caught in the middle brings many a lump to your throat.
Darshan Jariwala does not make for a very good Gandhi, his body language and speech delivery being too theatrical. Shefali Shah, an underrated actress, otherwise reduced to playing a simpering mother, is absolutely first rate here. She emotes with her eyes very effectively. Bhumika Chawla as Harilal's wife has relatively less to do and acquits herself well.
But it is Akshaye Khanna who holds your attention throughout. You laugh with him when he is happy and cry when he is in pain. Two scenes are memorable. When he enthusiastically speaks to his father about a scholarship to England only to be shot down, the pain in his eyes is palpable. When he, as a vagrant, meets his mother, who is travelling around the country with Bapuji, and offers her a fruit (which is all he has) and urges her to eat it by herself, you can actually feel his discontent with his father.
'Gandhi My Father' is a film well worth your time and money.
indumirani@gmail.com
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}