Bollywood
| Mahatma Gandhi - An Inspiration For Bollywood |
| By : Jamila Hussain | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 24 Jun, 2007 | Total Views : 356 |
By Jamila Hussain
Guess who is in the spotlight. Not the golden couple Abhi-Ash..Not the Shehansha Big B… not even the Badshah of Bollywood King Khan…It’s our very own Bapu…
Father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi.
With the latest venture being Anil Kapoor’s home production, “Gandhi - My father”. With Akshaye Khanna playing Gandhi’s son. The plot being the friction between the Mahatma and his son Harilal.
Not only has Gandhi made an impact on Hindi cinema but has touched the hearts of international personalities, latest being Will Smith who is totally bowled over by our very own Bapu’ s principles and values. Vidhu Vinod Chopra with his project Lage Raho Munna Bhai popularizing Gandhism under Munna Bhai's notion of Gandhigiri.
Small subplots in the movie like the story of Victor D'Souza played by Jimmy Shergill who had lost his father's (Parikshat Sahni) money in the stock market and promises to earn back the money as a taxi driver. Another includes the story of a retired teacher who, having been denied his pension, offers everything he owns to the corrupt official in the pension office.
In this manner, the application of Gandhi's concept of satyagraha (non-violence) to day-to-day modern life (and thus the revival of Gandhi's "spirit") becomes the central thematic issue of the film. The movie captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism. Gandhigiri has become the new buzzword for every Indian.
Not only Gandhian principles but the entire life of Gandhi has been portrayed in various movies and in different parts like in Jahnu Barua’s movie Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara is not about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The movie is about the Gandhian ideals that have been conveniently forgotten by today’s generation. The film is also a sensitive tale about a demented father and his caring daughter. On asking the director about the movie he says "My film talks about the things I feel. Who has destroyed these values? Who has destroyed Gandhi's principles in society today?
Anupam Kher feels passionately about the subject. For he knows all about the power and the glory of portraying a man like Gandhi. The Mahatma's great grandson Tushar Gandhi sent Kher an SMS after watching Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, telling him: "I was touched by the film. Brilliant performance! At the end, I felt guilty!"
Another film maker Jayant Gilatar's “White Land” deals with the Mahatma directly, it focuses on the problems of workers in the salt pans of Gujarat after Gandhi flouted the Salt Act in 1930.
So are these film makers just riding on the Gandhi name, trying to garner pelf and publicity for themselves by exploiting the star value of a man who still is our biggest national icon?
"Not at all," says Gilatar. “My film is about those salt pan workers. It talks about their life and goes into the details of what their problems are today. Agreed, the Mahatma violated the Salt Act. But what has the country done for those salt workers? Their problems and predicament remain the same even today," he says.
On asking actors what they feel about this trend of making movies on Gandhi this is what they had to say. Manoj Bajpai said “the more the merrier”.
Jaggu Dada s feeling towards this burst of movies on Gandhiji is the same; he says “Achi baat hai, we are going back to the father of the nation. At least this way the audience get a good insight on what Gandhi is all about and get to learn his principles”.
Anubhav Sinha director of the “Dus” and “Tum bin” fame adds “For today’s generation we get to see more on Gandhi, more on his principles.”
Gandhi s presence in the Film industry dates back from the early 1980’s with movies like “Gandhi”, Shyam Benegals “Making of the Mahatma” and many others. Earlier movies portrayed Gandhi s life, his fight for India s freedom, his assassination but the current genre of our film makers is to put light on his preaching’s, his ideology and disciplines.
Films have a big impact on audiences, directors are using this platform to enhance and reinforce “Gandhigiri” into the common man as this is the need of the hour. With people losing belief in humanity and truth, movies like these remind people that good in them still exists, it’s just camouflaged. Proof being the good response from the audiences.
With the recent releases on Gandhi and his morality, one thing is for sure that the audiences are in love with Gandhi and will accept him with open arms. It s film makers knack and talent which is in question? As to how innovatively they present the “Father of the nation” as “The face of Bollywood”.
Written By : Jamila Hussain
