The story is not about Gandhi, or about the freedom struggle. The story is about Harilal Gandhi, Mahatma’s son, fails to cope with his father’s fame, peer pressure, and a turbulent life. Not a very smart businessman, Harilal dreams of becoming a lawyer, and thus attaining fame in a fashion similar to that achieved by his father.
What comes across is the Mahatma’s mistakes as a father, his first mistake being denying Harilal a formal education of the sort he himself had received.
His second mistake is sacrificing his family, in favor of a nation. This results in Harilal getting disillusioned, marrying at a time earlier than his father desired, becoming the fall guy in business relationships with shady people, becoming incapable of handling any responsibility, and degrading the Gandhi name in search of the right path to take.
By giving everything to the Indian freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi created a vacuum in his son’s life. Harilal’s desperate search for a mentor(to replace his father) is well brought out in the movie, especially when they show him converting back and forth between Hinduism and Islam.
Kudos to Anil Kapoor for choosing this to be his first production. Well done Feroz Abbas Khan. You kept the screenplay simple and delicate, yet meaningful. I didn’t like the posh chairs in which Mahatma is seen seated in towards the end of the movie. That’s a bit contradictory to the Mahatma’s idealogies.
The acting is superb. Akshaye Khanna, you should definitely get a Filmfare award for this.
People, bollywood makes very few such good movies. Please watch it, and enjoy.