Review: Gandhi My Father
FODDER AND SON
There’s plenty of raw material in the story of Mahatma Gandhi’s firstborn, but the finished product is a big disappointment.
AUG 5, 2007 – IT’S NEVER A GOOD SIGN in a movie – made with much passion, much commitment, and many, many good intentions – when your thoughts upon exiting the theatre centre on the wigmakers and the hairdressers, but that’s all I could remember from Feroz Abbas Khan’s Gandhi My Father. There’s Harilal Gandhi (Akshaye Khanna, as the son of the more famous Gandhi, very nicely played by Darshan Jariwala) in his younger days, with a dashing fringe flapping over part of his forehead. There he is upon his conversion to Islam, with an intimidatingly lengthy beard – one that’s all the more conspicuous due to the absence of a complementary moustache. There he is in his later days, a bedraggled beggar with filthy, matted hair covering apparently everything except his eyes.
But for all these physical transformations of a shadowy son forever eclipsed by a famous father, I came away with practically no insights into his emotional journey. The glacially-paced narrative – even the fade-ins and the fade-outs that punctuate the scenes appear to take twice as much time as usual – revolves around a powerful central irony, that the man who became father to an entire nation couldn’t be a father to his own son. (The film comes off remarkably like a Raj-era Long Day’s Journey into Night, which was also about a son trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, failing, and ending up a pitiful drunk. Alternately, you could think of the self-destructive father-son dynamic in Shakti.) In other words, Gandhi My Father attempts to treat the life of the Gandhis as a dysfunctional family drama – a fine idea in theory. Unfortunately, while there’s a lot of dysfunction, there’s very little memorable drama.
Scene after scene sets up what should have been seeds for powerful conflict – if not literally (that is, physically), at least in abstract, dramatic terms. Early on, Harilal’s wife Gulab (Bhumika Chawla) packs him off to South Africa – despite her staying back in India, despite her being pregnant – because, “Bapu ko aapki zaroorat hai.� And after this sacrifice on his family’s part, how did Harilal feel when his father did not even come to the station to receive him? His reactions are dismissed with alarming casualness in a conversation that his mother Kasturba (Shefali Shah, swaying impressively between loyalty to her husband and love for her son) has with his father, and even then, it’s never really clear why Gandhi Sr. is so disapproving of his son.
One thing that the film does manage – and this is no mean feat, considering how fearful of sacred cows our filmmaking culture usually is – is to strip at least a few coats of whitewash off the Mahatma. When Bapu is leaving South Africa for good, the white-man speaking at his farewell remarks that the guest of honour isn’t, as people seem to think, a saint who strayed into politics so much as a politician trying to become a saint – and I was reminded of Pauline Kael’s scathing review of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, where she remarked that Bapu had a “manipulative genius,� and that he employed “the same diabolic tricks as the Jewish mothers that TV comics complain about.� You could fashion a similar argument from this film, from the scene in court where Harilal happily accepts a prison sentence for civil disobedience; you could say that his father’s brainwashing – which is merely another word for “manipulation� – has been completely successful.
Far more shocking is the hypocrisy apparently inherent in Bapu’s address about the need to make untouchables a part of society – this, after he’s publicly denounced his son (and, therefore, practically made him an untouchable in the eyes of the millions who slavishly follow the Mahatma’s every word.) And after this, when Harilal becomes destitute and drops off the face of decent society, the director slyly tucks in a shot of the senior Gandhi’s “imprisonment� at the Aga Khan palace, winking at the fact that even in his worst moments, life treated the father a great deal better than it did the son. So the problem with Gandhi My Father – a film that actually has the cheek to show us the Mahatma soaping up under a makeshift shower – isn’t that it doesn’t go out on a limb.
It’s that it doesn’t extend the same consideration to Harilal’s character. There’s a lot about the elder Gandhi here, and even if there’s an equal amount that’s left out, we know enough about the man to fill in the gaps for ourselves. But that’s hardly the case with Harilal – unless you’ve read Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal’s Harilal Gandhi: A Life, on which this film is based. How did it feel, for instance, to be ticked off about even something as minor as your choice of light reading? (Gandhi Sr. takes in Harilal’s copy of Saraswatichandra and remarks that his time would be better spent poring over the autobiographies of great men.) What, other than storming off in a huff, was Harilal’s reaction to being denied a coveted scholarship to study in England, when his father picked someone else for the honour? (And, of course, it never occurred to Bapu that he was doing his son a disservice, because according to him, “Is basti ka har ek bachcha hamara bachcha hai.� Harilal was merely one among those many children.)
But, most bafflingly, what are the reasons behind the on-again-off-again relationship between father and son? One minute Harilal rushes to touch his father’s feet; the next, he can’t bring himself to look at the man. (This scene, at a railway station, is Akshaye Khanna’s finest moment; he registers beautifully the childish obstinacy that makes people believe that if they ignore a problem it will somehow go away. It’s just too bad that the actor’s fine efforts are otherwise hemmed in by a script that keeps drifting off towards the other Gandhi.) By the end, watching Gandhi My Father feels like reading every alternate page of a novel; with its sudden transitions across time and place, mood and emotion, you don’t quite get the sense of having grasped all there is to grasp about the story and the characters. And that’s a shame, really. This little-known man – who failed in his studies, who failed in his business, who failed to keep his family together – continues his losing streak, failing to come alive in what would seem his best shot at being remembered by posterity. It’s his story, and he’s still playing second fiddle to his famous father.
Copyright ©2007 The New Sunday Express
I am yet to watch the movie .. but the last line of ur review, it was excellent. Baradwaj at his best:)
Sakthin you are dead right!! I would second that…when I first read that line…I was like “Wow”…
Vintage piece…the staggering amount of detail is what hooks me to ur writing!
Akshay’s 2 different wigs scared me away from the movie..was contemplating whether to watch it or not. After this review..its probably worth a watch. I heard that lack of adequate research is evident in the movie.
btw…Spent the better part of my weekend here and am enjoyed every bit of this place.
OK…btw…Spent the better part of my weekend here and am enjoying every bit of this place.
Aapke likhawat ke jadoo nain hamare grammar ko thoda chaunka diya.:)
(kuppura vilundalum meesailey mann ottalai case)
sakthin, raj, ravi: Thanks guys. There’s never much time (while writing for a paper) to craft a piece to the extent that you’d like, so it’s really nice to know when something worked.
Vidhya: I think it was more than 2
Oh – and “it’s definitely “worth a watch.” The fact that it isn’t a particularly movie doesn’t mean that it isn’t an “interesting” one. And thanks.
Baradwaj,
Kudos, congratulations for the critic award.
Thanks for all the great reviews.
Best wishes,
Bhakit
Baradwaj,
Congrats for the critic award. *claps*
Congratulations on the Critic Award. A well desrved one.
yaaay Baddy! Congrats man! So happy for you…..
Brilliant reviews and its now recognized by the country!
Thanks people. And I really mean ‘thanks’ because when it came to picking the reviews to send to the committee, I chose the ones that got the most feedback from the blog. So… thanks.
Hey! Our own national award winner! Congrats Baradwaj.
Congratulations….have always enjoyed your reviews. So good to know that real people with real talent get htese awards.
I just saw the news: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=165543
Baradwaj: this is one award no-one with half a brain can disagree with– congrats bro, you deserve it; those of us who have been reading you for a while know you are the best professional critic out there.
Baradwaj: hope you show up on NG just for this piece, as your chaahne waalas as you can see are in overdrive…
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/08/07/baradwaj-rangan-gets-national-award-for-best-film-critic/
Baddy, Congrats!! I’m really happy for you.
BTW Baradwaj, the citation doesn’t seem to be as reader friendly as your reviews for “a discernible passion for the medium bulwarked consistently by a knowledge of the trends and touchstones of global cinema” had me tearing my head at what the hell “bulwarked” is. Even a visit to dictionary.com doesn’t bring about the enlightenment:)
And congrats!!
Hey Baradwaj,
Congrats man. Very happy that you got the National Award. I often tell everyone that Baradwaj is the best critic I cam across and just yesterday I was discussing it with my friends and told them to read your reviews and now today this news. Man, I’m so happy. It also helped my reputation that I got some good taste, lol.
Sameer(from NG)
Thanks again, all, as I head off to figure out what it is exactly about my reviews that’s so bulwarkable
Congratulations Baradwaj
congrats man! great to know that the national film awards can be ok with irreverent reviews too! just out of curiosity, which ones did you submit to them?
Congratulations Bharadwaj
It feels as if I have won it. Heart felt congratualtions. Keep rocking.
Hearty congratulations, Baradwaj! *applause*
thalavia , sokka irukuthu un review !!
To borrow kamban’s exaggeration ..
This is an recognition for the award and not for baradwaj !
hey great work baddy. was surprised to see your picture on our paper. you deserved it. the best
Congrats Baradwaj.You deserve it. However, I have a sneaking feeling tht if you had been reviewing regional films with the same passion and exhhibition of knowledge, you wouldnt have been selected for the award. National Awards are becoming like Filmfare(Bollywood) awards.Rang DE basanti? Black?Amitabh Bacchan?Rahul Dholakia for a technically inept film just because it dealt with Gujarat? How about Thanmatra and Mohanlal, a peformance shorn off the over-acting tantrums of Bachchan in Black? Despicable award selections. Unfortunately, you are in company of award-winners unworthy of your presence in the same years’s award list.
Ramki is right – the award itself and this year’s most other winners are honoured by your presence in the list.
thalaivar-ku kuduthu..national awards perumai sethukutanga…YES!
Congratulations! I have been reading your reviews since the beginning of 2007 and have always thought you were leagues ahead of the competition.
Congratulations on the award!
Baradwaj // Congratulations on your national award win! For once I wholeheartedly agree with the jury. Kudos!
WOW. Congrats Congrats Congrats.
Hey, Congratulations..!! That’s one truly deserving award..!!
Congrats on the national award!I’ve been reading your reviews for a while now, love reading them. Great going!
Congratulations on the award.
Congratulations man!
Baradwaj,
Many Congratulations for the National Award! It is the only award, which I think is well deserved in the entire awards roll. Reading your name in the list indeed made my heart swell with pride.
Your long time reader and avid fan
Hi, I have been a regular reader of all your articles. I have always wanted to say that your skills with words, the insight-full observations and the finer interviews have a class of their own and what better time than now? Congratulations to you. Thank you for all your writings..
Regards, Kamal..
Baradwaj,
(wordpress > blogger > desipundit) he he just kidding !
Congrats ! You deserve it ! Keep up the good work. I hope we won’t see further migration
Baddy, congrats on winning the Best Critic Award this year from the central govt.
selva,
Wasn’t it livejournal before blogger? Or have I missed the wordpress version
Baradwaj,
On a different note can we get to read all the reviews you wrote at one place? For instance, I would like to read your review on movies like Alaipayuthey, Hey Ram etc (In case you had reviewed them).
Well done on your National Award, chum.
A little birdie tells me about the movie critic award.
Congratulations! Awesome!
Congrats! (nearly no reactions to the review here, I see, but how’s that possible under the circs?!)
great news indeed.
A very well-deserved award! Sometimes the jury comes out with a winner. Congratulations!
As Mumbai Ramki mentioned, “This is a recognition for the award and not for baradwaj !” – So very true!
Btw, just out of curiosity, which were the reviews that you sent to the committee?
Congrats, Baradwaj! What we all knew already has been recognised.
*applause*
A friend just told me the National Awards committee has just become so much cooler in her eyes – because they actually managed to wade past the atrocious puns in the headlines
And for what it’s worth, here are the entries: Kisna, Black, Amu/My Brother Nikhil, Paheli, Sarkar, Viruddh, Mangal Pandey, My Wife’s Murder/Barsaat, Kaalpurush, Taj Mahal
An award well deserved! Congrats Baradwaj!
Lovely review. Will prolly watch the movie because of it. Congrats on the Best Film Critic Award!
Congratulations on the National award!!! Truly deserving as you take pains to say something positive about every movie, even a Guddu Dhanoa movie – like a true movie fan.
Congratulations!
Well deserved one..Congratulations
Congrats, Guruji!
Wow congrats dude! God knows this award is well deserved.
Well-deserved award. Congrats!
Congrats Baradwaj or rather I should congratulate the awards committee. You are to indian movie reviews what Federer is to Wimbledon grass courts, so far removed from everybody else that you may as well have a different evolutionary history than the rest of us.
Better late than never. Congrats, Baradwaj.
Ash and I decide on watching a Bollywood movie only after reading your reviews. We enjoy your reviews not only before the movie but even after watching the movie to get a deeper understanding of the things we have seen.
btw, was your dad known for bhajanais in December? Just wondering if you are the same one I vaguely know.
Baradwaj,
Congratulations !!! You thoroughly deserve it !
Cheers
Peter
Reading your reviews are extremely stimulating experience and not just on movies. The objective nature and clear language that thankfully does not alienate the reader from the subject are reasons for me wanting to read your reviews irrespective of whether I want to see a movie or not. Kudos to you on winning the national award.
I particularly liked the way you tried to see the purpose behind a movie and review it positively (off course there are always movies like Aaapp Kaaa Surrrrooorrrr and Veerasamy that deserve to be damned by even the most liberal of reviewers). In another aspect, it has always been heartening to note that you don’t review the box office results and only the product and its quality. Please keep writing in the same vein and one day I would like to see you in a more creative avatar contributing to the filmdom with a suitable object that we can review!!!!
Hats off and many more such awards in your kitty!!
Have been an avid reader of your blog for a long time. Congratulations on the National Award! So, so well-deserved!
Hi Baradwaj, just heard the great news – many congratulations for the National Award. Write a book now, please
Baradwaj, Congratulations!. I was surprised on 2 counts. For one, I didnt know that such an award existed for film critics- which is a pleasant surprise. Then, I would’nt have even guessed that you would have sent in your nomination and on top of that got selected too(what with all the politics and lobbying that sometimes fails to get recognition to the right person). Although am aware that you write for a newspaper and are a professional film critic, visiting your blogspace was still like making a quick stop at my neighbour’s and having a casual chat. Took it for granted.
Thats how I felt.
So, one day when you suddenly find out that your neighbour had just won Kaun banega crorepathi, how would you feel?
Congrats again, you deserve it.
You rock totally!!!!!!!!Congrats
When I saw the unusual 67 comments, I suspected a debate on Gandhi.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
Best Film Critic Award is the only award I am happy about this year and extremely extremely happy about it.
Your reviews are really the best.
I hope this is just the beginning of much more of such recognitions. Your work till now already deserves all those future awards.
Can somebody post any link you see regarding this news? I am unable to spot any of the links even after googling. Thanks in advance.
Damn! The mind boggles – going up to the President very soon after Amitabh recieves HIS award.
congrats macha
very thoughtful of the review committee. seems there are some sensible people out there.
more power to your pen..err.. keyboard.
Hey man….many congratulations….really happy for you…
Congratulations! I’ve been hooked onto your blog ever since I read the Omkara review, and am an avid reader and fan of your blog. In fact, for some movies, I look forward to your reviews more than the movies!
Congratulations! I’m very happy about this award.
Congrats!! You DID master the art of reviewing.