Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh's Nathuram Godse Chinmay Mandlekar on film being called propaganda: 'Watch it first' | Exclusive

Rajkumar Santoshi returned to direction this past week with the historical drama Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh. The film was a fictionalised retelling of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. In this version, Gandhi survived the assassination attempt and met Nathuram Godse in prison. The film followed their war of ideologies in the imagined meeting. Prior to the film’s release, many accused it of being propaganda and platforming a convicted killer’s ideology. In an exclusive chat with DNA, Chinmay Mandlekar, who plays Godse in the film, talks about these charges and more.

Talking about coming on board the film, Chinmay says, “It is a dream to work with a director of Rajkumar Santoshi’s calibre. When you are growing up, these are the names you dream to work with. That I am getting the chance to do that means a lot to me. And then this is Mr Santoshi’s comeback after several years, which makes it all the more special.”

Essaying Nathuram Godse took a lot of research, says Chinmay. “It was difficult because I did not have any video reference for him. For Mahatma Gandhi, there are tons of videos that one can watch and refer to, but none for Godse. So, I had to look at his pictures and read about him. I decided what was important was to capture his psyche more than his physicality, where I had references.”

The film faced some amount of controversy as many labelled it propaganda after the trailer was released. “At least watch the film first,” is Chinmay’s message to those criticising it. He adds, “Once you watch it, you can call it good or bad based on how it is made.”

Chinmay began his career in Marathi cinema in 2009 before he made his Hindi language debut with Tere Bin Laden the following year. Over the years, he has worked in a number of Hindi films, including Shanghai, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, and most recently The Kashmir Files. “Language does not matter to an actor,” he says, elaborating, “What matters is the work you do. So, I look for roles based on what the character is. After that, language is incidental. So there is no conscious call to look for work in one industry over other.”

In Marathi cinema, Chinmay has been a prolific actor and among his most notable roles has been that of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He has portrayed the former Maratha emperor in four films – Farzand, Fatteshikast, Pawankhind, and Sher Shivraj. Three more films in the franchise are in the pipeline. Calling playing the iconic ruler a ‘responsibility’, Chinmay says, “Digpal (Lanjekar, the director) deserves the credit for giving me this role. He says he saw something in my eyes. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised when he approached me to play Shivaji because I never thought I could.”

Pawankhind, the third film in the series, was a massive success, earning Rs 43 crore and becoming the third-highest-grossing Marathi film of all time. Talking about its success, Chinmay says, “It’s a good sign for Marathi film that Pawankhind was able to cross that language barrier. Its success was talked about outside Maharashtra as well.” Does he feel that the success of films like Pawankhind and Ved paves the way for Marathi films to also find audience in the Hindi-speaking belt, just like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada films have? The actor feels there is still time. “If you look at all the film industries from the south, they have been making films for 7-8 decades consistently,” he says, “While in Marathi, there were hardly any films made in the 80s and 90s. It sort of revived in the 2000s so we are still catching up. We are still establishing ourselves as an industry. Let us do that first and then we can think about crossing over too.”