This film opened both here and in India
simultaneously a week ago and we saw it last night. It has received warm
critical reviews and I would unhesitatingly echo them here. Unfortunately we
missed the first 5 or 10 minutes of it, because of car parking problems, but it
was not difficult to get into the pulse of the plot as it unfolded, even though at
first the sanitised characters in their fine costumery and expensively made up
facial images in the opening sequences did seem to convey an imitation of the modern Indian tv soap.
The advance publicity had suggested
that this is a film about Harilal, Gandhi`s eldest son, and his relationship
with his saintly father, the Mahatma; but it is more than that.
We are given a richly dimensional portrait
of not just Harilal but of both his parents, and of his wife Gulab as well.
What comes through so strikingly is that theirs is a complex relationship at all
levels. As the film picks up speed, we get drawn into the dynamics of their collective and individual
lives through the vicissitudes of time and space, and interplay of action and emotion.
In the early scenes, we see a youthful
and handsome Harilal marry a shy and pretty Gulab with whom he is clearly in
love but whom he has to leave behind in India while he is commanded to join his
father in South Africa. For some reason the older Gandhi, then in full swing as
a rising attorney there, was reluctant for Gulab to join them in South Africa
but charmingly caves in after his English secretary persuades him to and so
Gulab does arrive. However, Gandhi continues to control not just his household,
holding the purse-springs, but also to dictate what Harilal should do and not.
He neglects Harilal`s education and thwarts the young man`s ambition to go to
England to train as a barrister like himself. He directs him to take part in
the `satyagraha` struggle in South Africa and Harilal willingly does so, always
wanting to impress his father as an adoring and obedient son, who worshipped the
heroic figure that Gandhi had become. Harilal was in complete awe of him.
Gandhi failed to notice the effect he was having on Harilal until in a poignant
exchange between them Harilal exposes his inner turmoil, after Gulab had left
him and returned to India with their children, bidding him to stay on and serve
his father `s cause. At that point, we see the beginning of a mature
relationship between the two, but a long and troublesome long journey lay ahead
for both of them. At any rate, Gandhi grants Harilal`s wish to join his wife
and children and so the action switches to India.
Harilal tries to make an honest
living and to be a good husband and father to his children in Ahmedabad but his
limited education and lack of business and practical acumen militate against
that. It is only the fact of being Gandhi`s son that helps him to keep afloat,
often as a recipient of the largesse of benefactors who were propelled by the
Gandhi name or connection to prop him up, or even to exploit him, as some
unscrupulous big businessmen did. His
sense of being a failure deepens as one scheme after another proves to be a
disaster. His marriage falls apart. He becomes an alcoholic. He even changes
religion to become a Muslim, though later he was to repent and revert to
Hinduism. He was a classic lost soul, clutching at
straws.
All this of course takes place against
the background of Gandhi`s triumphant return and rise to the status of a
`Mahatma`, as the undoubted leader of the freedom struggle and the father of the
nation. At every significant twist and turn of the narrative we see the two
come face to face - either when Harilal comes back to the family home after his
wanderings (even a spell in jail) or when the paterfamilias goes looking for him
in an effort to reconcile and persuade him to rejoin the fold and more
importantly the freedom struggle.
But as noted above, this is not just
about Harilal and his father. His mother (Kasturba, `Baa`) has an important
part to play in all the drama, right from the beginning to (her) end. Like all
women who are caught between an extremely powerful or dominant husband and a
rebellious offspring, she recognizes the force of the conflicts and dilemmas
inherent in such a situation and tries to play the role of the arbiter and
adviser, never abandoning (as no mother of course would) hope that Harilal would
some day fall in line. The spousal relationship between the Mahatma and Baa too
is beautifully captured, through the different stages of their lives.
We are of course familiar with Attenborough`s
`Gandhi`. There are many strong resonances of that here, in both the South
African and Indian scenes, with some historical news footage thrown in - of
marches, meetings and demonstrations etc. Remember the sequence in `Gandhi`
when he tends to his ailing wife, as she is nearing death? Well, we are
privileged to witness this and what leads to it in delicate detail. It is as
moving as it was in the first `Gandhi`. And then the movie (as well as the real-life plot) moves relentlessly to its
climactic end, with the day of partition and reckoning for Gandhi, and the quick
end of both father and son in that order, the latter`s as tragic, in a different
sense, as that of the Mahatma!
I am still savouring the aura of the
film, and relieved to some extent - because I had been led to believe that it
might lead us to rethink our opinion of the Mahatma. No, of course not. There
are many examples in history of great men and women who have a hidden private
life or who undergo many inner turmoils, often on account of their
children. Once Gandhi realised he had failed Harilal, he came to terms with
that, but he also sought to impress upon Baa that Harilal had to take
responsibility for the consequences of his own actions as he was an adult. He himself had a greater calling, and cause to serve. But he cared and was caring all the
same.
I wouldn`t be surprised if it is
nominated for next year`s Oscars in the foreign language category. `Foreign
language`? Yes, it is in Hindi, but one hardly notices that - the subtitles and
the subject-matter are so gripping that one can follow the dialogue
effortlessly, imperceptibly. This coming from me whose grasp of Hindi is poor
is a tribute indeed. The technical
presentation is superb too, as is the acting - Harilal is played by Akshaye
Khanna, Gulab by Bhoomica Chawla, Mahatma Gandhi by Darshan Jariwala and
Kasturba by Sheffali Shah. The director is Feroze Khan, who has also co-written
the script with Chandulal Dalal. The music, in particular the singing of
`Ragupati Ragav Raja Ram` is beautifully rendered too. I am hurrying with this
and have compressed it somewhat because I am so excited to report about this
unique film experience. Don`t miss
it.
Ramnik Shah
(c) 2013 (edited)
Surrey England
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