I saw Gandhi my Father awhile ago. I found the film good though I would say that it was a bit of a slow movie but I think that Feroz Abbas Khan and Anil Kapoor deserve credit for attempting to make a film on a new subject, and making a movie about Gandhi’s personal life. I think its interesting to know more about the life of the man who played an important element of India’s independence.
Getting to the movie. It was a decent movie, but it has some flaws- mainly being pace and a lack of depth as far as Harilal goes. As an audience we don’t really get to learn so much about Harilal as we would have liked- but in a way, its not really the director’s fault here. Although there are some historical documents about Harilal, there is not enough as we would have hoped- he’s not a very well documented individual in the history books.
The movie focuses a lot about Gandhi and Harilal doesn’t get as much scope as we would have wanted. Yes we get to know that he had converted to Islam, he was drunk a lot later on, the tensions thate went on, etc. etc. but its a little disappointing because had this movie had more depth it would have been great. Still the film is a good attempt, and we do get to know about Harilal, but I would have liked to have known more.
Another issue is the pace, its a bit slow and I got a little bored at times. Its a movie which requires a lot of patience to watch.
Finally the editing is not very good. The scenes are not properly connected- a lack of smooth transition.
Performance wise, I think all of them did a really good job.
Akshaye Khanna- I don’t know why some people didn’t like his performance. I found his performance really natural and he showed a great level of understanding acting out his character Harilal.Its certainly one of his best performances.
Darshan Jariwala- He was good but his performance in some parts- like in the first half came off lookng very rehearsed- you know very theatrical- I don’t know if its a flaw but its not really natural at times, but he’s impressive as the older Gandhi later on.
Shefali Shah- wonderful as Kasturba, she’s a really gifted actress- and her eyes speak out so much- she really gets the emotions right.
Bhumika Chawla- She was good, her role wasn’t as big but she enacted her character with a great level of sincerity. She really suited this role.
In regards to direction, I think Feroz Abbas Khan did a pretty good job for his first movie- but he could have improved the pace.
The art direction and cinematography are very nice courtesy of Nitin Desai and David MacDonald.
Editing was not very good as I had mentioned.
Overall I think the movie was decent, its not a perfect movie- flaws are there, but its good to see sensible cinema.
3/5