Gandhi, My Father
Tags: tragedy

Plot synopsis:
Gandhi My Father paints the picture of Gandhi's intricate, complex and strained relationship with son his Harilal Gandhi. From the onset, the two had dreams in opposite directions. Harilal's ambition was to study abroad and become a barrister like his father, while Gandhi hoped that his son would join him and fight for his ideals and causes in India.
When Gandhi does not give Harilal the opportunity to study abroad, it comes as a blow to Harilal. He decides to abandon his father’s vision and leaves South Africa for India where he joins his wife Gulab (Bhumika Chawla) and children. He goes back to further his education to earn his diploma but continuously fails and ends in financial ruins. Various plans and schemes decided by him to make money fail, leaving the family in poverty. Sick of his failure, Gulab returns to her parent’s house with the children, where she eventually dies from the flu epidemic. Distraught, Harilal turns to alcohol for solace and converts to Islam, only to re-convert to a different sect of Hinduism later on. With political tension heating up, the rift between Gandhi and his eldest son grows until it is beyond repair. Harilal finds it unbearable to live in the enormous shadow of his father. Gandhi is assassinated before the two can reconcile and Harilal attends his father's funeral virtually as a stranger, almost unrecognizable to those around him. A short while later, he passes away, alone and in poverty, having failed to find his own identity.

Review: It is about the Family of the Father of our Nation (India) although, the film focuses mainly on the estranged relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his eldest son Harilal Gandhi.
It shows how The Mahatma had to kill M.K. Gandhi, how he had to sacrifice his family life in order to achieve our freedom.
Every time Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his son would try to get close the Mahatma would come between them.
Darshan Jariwala who mainly stars in Plays-Gurukant Desai's lawyer in Guru has portrayed Gandhi wonderfully.(as a real Human Being, unlike Ben Kingsley who made him look like a God) Shefali Shah the girl from Monsoon Wedding has also done a really good job of showing how Kasturba Gandhi was torn between father and son.
Mahatma has been depicted as a man who neglected his own son in this movie.
According to the movie, he spoke to his son and try to make him understand where he is coming from, but poor Harilall with so little intellect could not understand his father.
Khan for taking a chance by making this film which works both as a wonderful character study and a study of the relationship between M.K. Gandhi and his son H.
It must have been a huge challenge to tell an intriguing story about such a character, but director Khan does nothing short of a wonderful job.There are top notch powerful performances by the cast.
Last but not least, 'Gandhi My Father' is Akshaye Khanna's film.
It takes guts to make a movie on Gandhi in India ,in which he is not shown as a man who could do no wrong.This movie shows how a Mahatma failed to be a decent father(at least in the eyes of his son).
The performances are terrific ,the cinematography fantastic, the direction fabulous,but the film drags.If the intention was to make this movie without any box-office expectations,which i assume is the case here,then its a brilliant attempt,but if the makers were expecting this to be a commercial success,then the film's fate was doomed the day they chose this subject..20 yrs from now,this movie will be remembered for the brilliant portrayal of Harilal by Akshaye Khanna.He deserves an Oscar nomination for this one..And honestly,his is not the only performance worth applauding, Shefali Chhaya is terrific too..Watch the scene where Harilal hears about his father's death.No dialogues,No screaming,but a speechless shot by Khanna.Its one of the finest scenes ever shot in the history of CinemaGandhi,My Father is not at all exciting cinema but yes,its excellent cinema and a must watch.Brilliant Attempt...
Gandhi My Father shows that Harilal is as human as the next man  materialistic and believer of instant karma who sadly failed to see the bigger picture his father always attempted to show.
Time and again he makes serious attempts to be a good son, husband and a father - however lady luck leaves him in the lurch, always.
Naaah!Performance:: Darshan Jariwala:: From TV serials to bagging the role of Gandhi he has come a long way indeed.
Akshaye Khanna:: Gives his best shot to get into the skin of the character Bhumika:: Impeccable acting, though a short role Shefali Shetty:: Rock-solid performanceGandhi My Father - it's a saga of Harilal ceasing to be a Gandhi at the cost of Mohandas becoming Mahatma, and not vice-versa.
PS: The movie skirts around the father-son relationship, so why go astray and deliberately incorporate a few scenes to depict the greatness of Gandhi?.
Surely an insight into Gandhi's personal life.Overall, I liked the movie for story and cinematography.
Traditional Indian folk music as background score during certain parts of the movie gives a good feel of the happenings.However, what I didn't quite like was the narration style.
But when I heard that a movie is being made which will highlight Gandhi as Father and stress on his relationship with his Son, it instantly hit my attention as this is one territory which is least being explored as it has his own dark side and less people shown courage to dwell into it.
Fortunetly, Anil Kapoor (Producer) and Feroz Abbad Khan (Director) did.The story start with Gandhi working in South Africa and his relationship with white people and his wife.
Harilal too try to walk on his father footstep but soon failed as its infatuation towards his wife, children and his own dream of becoming big success altered his path and then start the repulsion between son and father.
Darshan jariwala is also good as MK Gandhi and able to live up such a larger then life character.
Also, the way story progress and connection of scene may look worn to some people and to critics especially but for an average movie watcher like me, it still enough to make me occupied on my seat till end..
I remember the dialogue from Gandhi 'What kind of society we want to create/make with such people (about Harilal)?' No wonder that it will be a dream that India will hardly have such leader in this or next generation..
Einstein was right when he said about Gandhi that 'After 50 years one would hardly believe that such person with body, soul and mind (Mahatma Gandhi) had ever lived on this earth.' I sincerely want to THANKS a LOT to Anil kapoor, Feroze khan and all film actors/actresses for this wonderful movie about great person and relationship with his son.
All father and son should watch this movie once and take some lessons for both roles..
Let me move to the movie review now.About Gandhi My Father :Gandhi My father is a film not about Gandhi but about his son Harilal Gandhi.On telling the story of a son whose father was one of the greatest humans to walk this earth, the director succeeds in portraying the tale.The film succeeds in telling the story of a mislead son of a father who lead a nation to greatness.The movie is termed as a criticism of Gandhi's failure as a father to his son, I would rather say it is of a sacrifice Gandhi had made as a father of a son to do justice as a father of a nation.I wish the essence of this movie prevails not just in India, the Gandhian land, but through the hearts of all the people of this world.Gandhi the true Human.
Keeping all political views aside, Feroz Khan and Anil Kapoor's 'Gandhi, My Father' is a good movie that cleverly explores the confused-towards-family side of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and the fight of his eldest son Harilal Gandhi with the society, his larger-than-life father, and most importantly demons in his head.
One draws parallels to Gandhi the father of the nation and struggles any son could have with their fatherThe acting is good.
Shefali Shetty, Darshan Zariwala and Akshaye Khanna-strictly in that order- add color and pathos to this heart wrenching tale of Harilal who weeps to be hugged just once and also runs away at the faintest touch of the finger.Feroz Khan's direction and the production canvas is lavish and attractive, however, the screenplay could've been tighter.
It has the potential so huge to have been just a story differences between a father and son or just Gandhi or even both.
His relationship with Harilal is something that Gandhi was troubled by and mentioned it several times as his failure as a father in his autobiography.My big gripe is that I thought Gandhi was surprisingly uncharismatic in the movie.
Some of Gandhi's statements seemed too smug and it seemed as if he was intentionally portrayed in a negative light in some parts of the movie.The movie is not really all-rounded, but focused only narrowly on the relationship of the father and son.
Amidst this backdrop,mind you,there was no tel/fax/internet in those times but for the very voice of Truth & Non-violence, the cinematography infused some spirit of stark reality of adversity amidst the strict Raj.Gandhi shown as a hardworking Attorney in South Africa,who stood for his basic ideologies and gave every degree of conviction to spread awareness of the same with humility and sainthood which to the uttered speech of general Smut was shown as a nice farewell on screen.It had the best drafted speech with a subtle humour & a veiled threat to the British raj in India!There was a nice remark when he said we pray in silence to the British in India now that Gandhi,the politician is set for India(towards sainthood).The very backdrop of a big family with many kids needs the mention of an obvious divided attention and love which had to cast it's spell on the unfortunate kid's psyche who was left alone to aspire for unrealistic ambitions.Little did Harilal knew about his aptitude and he gets emotionally carried away with small pleasures in life and fails in front of the huge idol of his father.He tries to do away from mentor-ship which is the basis of any success which had to be seen by those fortunate neighbours in the streets of Gandhi's residence when Harilal vents out his frustration in open.This means he becomes mentally weak and gets psychologically deranged to an extent that he is forced into religious conversions and alcoholism ,with debt and dis-obedience fuelling his negative thoughts.He still had shown the sincere love for his mother through touchy scenes and even Gandhi's humble expressions form Harilal to forgive him didn't meet any conclusions in his mind as he always feared the Father,Gandhi.he couldn't digest the fact that Gandhi couldn't share his love with him as he expected & was driven to rebellion when he couldn't understand the equal-merit based delivery of scholarship money by his father to his cousin where he saw a failed opportunity to study for barrister in england.This had to take it's toll in him thrown to the streets as a beggar when the whole of India was celebrating the Indepedence!The life of a destitute never changes come what may but the manner in which the sad death of Kasturba & Gandhi himself is shown brings in an emotional silence.Finally the last turbulent thoughts of the dying Harilal is shown as a flashback to keep the audience gripping and wondering where did the father of the nation go wrong?
Comparatively, it must have been a lot tougher for director Feroz Abbas Khan making his debut as a filmmaker to make Gandhi my father, pitting a shriveled anti-hero against an international hero, both of whom were historically real individuals, and ironically father and son.
Mahatma Gandhi lived as shown in the film, setting high moral standards for the world to follow.
Yet these very standards overshadowed the aspirations of his eldest son Harilal to be a lawyer of repute like his father, to complete his education and get a job in India and thus provide income for his nuclear family.The film does not debunk Gandhi and his ideals.
The opening shots of Khan's film promises great cinemaa derelict Harilal Gandhi is brought to Sion Hospital, Bombay (Mumbai) barely mumbling that his father is Bapu (the popular name of Mahatma Gandhi), father to an entire nation.
Apart from the dramatic opening, the film unfortunately merely presents a great story and some superb exterior shots of father and son meditating in silhouette.
Since Feroz Khan is a theater personality, he has invested much more effort in working with the actors in developing the characters rather than on cinematic details, somewhat like Sir Attenborough another person who is also a product of theater (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts).Knowing quite well that to criticize Gandhi in any manner was asking for trouble, even when there was no direct criticism in the film, producer Anil Kapoor took a remarkable decision of not putting up posters of the film at accessible heights in India, fearing that some one could tear the poster or disrespect it intentionally or unintentionally.
In this film, Harilal buffeted by adversities runs from one religion to another, while his father quotes scriptures "Forgive them for they know not what they do" when beaten and thrown on the ground by a South African policeman, convinced of the value of religion and convincing others as well.The film won the Best actress award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for Shefali Shetty (Shah) and an Indian award from critics.
Don't miss it ..Very few movies got ..Such a impeccable direction & screenplay to depict gandhi ji life in different way ..Quite true side ..Stellar performances by Shefali shah & darshan zari wala ...
The movie went by very quick and we also got to see (in film) the influence Gandhi has had in India.
Now i would really like to raise a point here that as the name of the movie suggests, it is not a movie about Hiralal's brothers, it is a movie on the relationship of Mahatma Gandhi and his son Hiralal Gandhi, nothing more nothing less.
Akshay Khanna was brilliant as Harilal Gandhi carrying the majority of the film on his shoulders.Cinematography was brilliant.
Gandhi My Father is an average movie that could have been better given better acting,screen writing and directing..
The film sheds light on the fractured relationship between the Mahatma and his son..
Feroz Abbas Khan's Gandhi My Father, a film that sheds light on the fractured relationship between the Mahatma and his son Harilal Gandhi.
Now the film aims to convey one very interesting point - the fact that Gandhi in his attempt to be a fair person, ended up being an unfair father.
This point is made in the film many times over, and one of the examples given to make this point is that scholarship to England, which Gandhi twice denies his son.
And that's because the director of this film is too busy focusing on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his role in the freedom struggle, a story most of us are already familiar with.
We understand Harilal had to live with the burden of being Gandhi's son, but show us why that was a burden to begin with.
It's not enough that Kasturba blames her husband for the way her son turned out - for constantly shuttling him between schools in Gujarat and South Africa, for making him relocate every time Gandhi needed to relocate.
This was never meant to be a film about the struggle for Independence, and yet on many occasions that's exactly what it seems like, because the director feels almost obligated to take us through all the main events leading upto that historic moment, even though much of it has no relevance to the film's basic premise - the stormy father-son relationship.
None of these questions are answered in a film that's basically meant to be about relationships in the Gandhi family.
The film version of an immensely popular play directed by Feroz Abbas Khan himself, Gandhi My Father is a disappointment, no questions asked.Cinematically, it struggles to translate the filmmaker's ambitious intention to the screen.
Of all the actors in the film it's only Akshaye Khanna who really shines in the role of the luck-deprived Harilal Gandhi.
Darshan Jariwala, meanwhile, who plays Gandhi Senior, adopts a caricaturish approach to playing the Mahatma in his later years, but it's the way he humanises the man in his early years as a barrister in South Africa that is the actor's best contribution to that role.
The abundantly gifted Shefali Shah plays Kasturba, the woman who's meant to be torn in this father-son conflict, but if she's unable to bring across that feeling of helplessness then it's really not so much her fault as it is the fault of a rickety script.
Much effort's gone into the making of this film and that's evident throughout, but the film suffers from that inevitable flaw that is eventually what you'll remember about it when you leave the cinema - it's just so boring.Director Feroz Abbas Khan's Gandhi My Father is a sincere effort yes, but also a film that could have done with a much tighter screenplay.
What we learn from the film is that Gandhi and Harilal made each other very unhappy.
I always enjoy Akshay Khanna's subtle style of acting and interestingly he had rather a complicated relationship with his own father Vinod Khanna, albeit not as dramatic as Gandhis and wonder how it helped him essay this character.
The title misleads though, its as much a movie about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and his son, as its about Harilal and his mother.
And Akshaye Khanna and Shefali Chayya do full justice to their respective roles.Such movies are like leap years.
They come after only so much time.Gandhi My Father, is also about an internal struggle, which is sometimes more difficult than any freedom struggle ever undertaken.Watch it, if you like quality cinema..
This movie demands the attention of people interested in the family life of Mahatma Gandhi, played in this movie by Darshan Jariwala (but played by Ben Kingsley in Richard Attenborough's 1982 epic).Here we see the complex and sadly troubled relationship between father and son, Harilal (Akshaye Khanna).
Gandhi, My Father is a perfectly well balanced depiction and a gutsy movie.
Though movie takes you back to history and there are portion in the movies which tells about the struggle of India for independence, movie is all about the relationship between father and a son.
The transition from history to relationship between son and father is very smooth throughout the movie.
Shefali Shah as Kasturba Gandhi is simply amazing and the best fit to this role.
Gandhi my father is a movie about Mahatma gandhi and his Son Hiralal Gandhi.
mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation in his quest for India's freedom struggle ignored his own family and son, this movie is about his son Hiralal who feels neglected because of mahatma Gandhi's service to the society.
The movie starts off in South Africa where Mahatma Gandhi works as a barrister and fighting the cause of India's freedom against the British.