Hey Ram (Tamil: ஹே ராம்;translation: "Oh Ram!" or "Oh God!") is a controversial Tamil film. It also had a simultaneously produced Hindi version and was released in 2000. The film was written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan and he also starred as the protagonist in the film. A period drama told in flashback, the semi-fictional plot centres around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

The film was a box office failure in India (in part to numerous bans by local distributors leery of its heavy-hitting themes), but was successful worldwide and garnered positive reviews from critics who praised its performances and technical prowess, but steered clear of voicing an opinion on its artistic content.

The film was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the year 2000.

Synopsis[link]

The film is about a protagonist's journey from religious hatred to love with the theme of the partition of Bengal in the background. Its relevance in the present Indian environment clouded by religious extremism was widely unrecognized. This is the story of Saket Ram, as narrated by his grandson. The film takes place as Ram, a retired archeologist, lies on the deathbed, on 6 December 1999, the 7th anniversary of the destruction of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.

Plot[link]

The movie begins at present day with Saket Ram (Kamal Hassan), an 89-year-old Hindu man who is dying. The scene reverts to the past as Saket remembers the 1940s, when he and his good friend, Amjad Ali Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) were archaeologists working together under their boss, Mortimer Wheeler, in Mohenjo-daro (Indus Valley Civilization) in the then North-West India. Relations are pleasant between the Indians and the English, and Saket and Amjad do not approve of Partition and the creation of Pakistan. Aparna Ram (Rani Mukerji), Saket's simple Bengali wife, is a school teacher. She lives in Calcutta in the midst of riots and chaos over the issue of the formation of Pakistan and the call by Mohammad Ali Jinnah for "Direct Action". Saket goes to Calcutta and is swept into the madness. In one instance, Saket saves an innocent Sikh girl from the hands of a barbaric Muslim gang. When he returns to his house, he finds a group of Muslims entering his house. They brutally rape and murder Aparna. Saket, unable to cope with his tragic loss, kills the Muslims who raped and killed his wife in a fit of rage.

Outside his house, he runs into Sriram Abhyankar (Atul Kulkarni), who is part of a Hindu militant group determined to fight the Muslims' malice with similar brute force, and assassinate Gandhi for what they perceive to be his treachery towards Hindu dominated India (Gandhi wanted Hindus and Muslims to co-exist peacefully with hope of winning over the hearts of the rioters through sheer self-pity). However, Abhyankar and his fellow extremists had lost patience at what they deemed Mahatma Gandhi's unreasonable stand to appease Pakistan, who had already invaded Kashmir by that time. Gandhi was pressuring the newly founded Indian state to pay Rs. 62 Crore to Pakistan and some territorial concessions as well.

Urged by family to remarry, he weds Mythili (Vasundhara Das). However, on a trip to Maharashtra, he reunites with Abhyankar and becomes a part of his militant organisation that plots to do away with Gandhi. Due to an horse-riding accident, Abhyankar is left a quadriplegic and has Ram swear that he will carry on his work, that of killing the Mahatma.

Saket comes to the belief that Mahatma Gandhi (Naseeruddin Shah) is solely responsible for the division of India and of the two religions and also of having supported whom they viewed as the enemy. Hindu fundamentalists, including Saket, are furious and plot to murder Gandhi. However, Saket, after several incidents surrounding and leading to Amjad's death (with whom he reunites briefly in a congested Delhi area), changes his mind about Gandhi. He decides against assassinating the leader, and attempts to beg for forgiveness. Soon afterwards, Gandhi is killed by another assassin, Nathuram Godse. Ironically, Gandhi dies without his famous last words: "Hey Ram!" as popularly believed, and as in Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi (film).

Then on, Saket Ram lives by Gandhian principles. As the 89-year-old Saket Ram is being taken to the hospital, he is told of bomb blasts in the city due to Hindu-Muslim communal riots. He asks "Innuma (even now)?". They were forced by the police to be taken into an underground shelter for their security, but Saket Ram dies there. In his funeral,Gandhiji's grandson comes and sees Saket's private room which is full of historical photos. Saket's grandson hands over Gandhi's footwear and spectacle which Saket had previously collected from the place of shootout and had treasured it all the while.

Cast[link]

Soundtrack[link]

Tamil version[link]

Hindi version[link]

Awards[link]

The film has won the following awards since its release:

2000 National Film Awards

• Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Supporting Actor - Atul Kulkarni
• Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Costume Design - Sarika
• Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Special Effects - Manthra

Production[link]

The shooting was started in Parthasarathy Temple^[1] Originally violinist L. Subramaniam was selected as composer for the film but due to some reasons he opted out of the film^[2] instead Ilayaraaja was selected as a composer^[3]

• All actors including Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, Saurabh Shukla and Atul Kulkarni dubbed their own voice in Tamil.
• Rather than shoot one version of the film in Tamil before dubbing it for its Hindi release, director Kamal Haasan opted to film two separate versions back-to-back - once in Tamil, and again a reshoot in Hindi. Differences between the two releases are minimal, with only a few pieces of dialogue being given to different characters and with a greater amount of English dialogue in the Tamil version.
• The songs in the movie were composed by Ilaiyaraaja, which were highly acclaimed and ahead of times. Songs composed by another music director were already composed and shot. Ilaiyaraaja had to compose and score for the pre-shot song scenes.
• This was the second Indian movie for which the background score was done overseas (at Budapest, Hungary) (the first being the Mohanlal-Starrer Guru by Ilayaraja himself) and more importantly, using the prestigious Budapest Symphony Orchestra, with the budget being Rs. 40 lakhs approximately. The original score running more than hour was written by Ilaiyaraaja in 10 days.

Controversy[link]

There were protests in Varanasi on February 24 with Congress workers stoning and damaging the film's posters at the local Mazda Picture Palace where the film was being screened. A dharna was also staged by them in front of the cinema and they demanded that the screening be immediately stopped as there were objectionable references in it, which had "tarnished" the image of Mahatma Gandhi.^[4]

The protesters accused the BJP and the RSS of stalling the shooting of an "unmade" film (Water) by Deepa Mehta while deliberately allowing the screening of Hey! Ram. The film’s screening was stopped for a while but resumed after police protection was provided.

The cops also had to intervene at Smruti cinema in Nagpur the day before (on February 23) when the protesters got unruly and gheraoed the mayor of Nagpur who was viewing the film in her personal capacity. She had to leave the cinema under police escort. Some youth organisations gave an ultimatum to remove the film from Smruti within two days. However, the screening is being continued under police protection.

In Calcutta, Mitra and Priya cinemas bore the brunt of agitators. Members of the state Congress unit stormed Mitra cinema first and then Priya cinema on February 22, shouting slogans against the "filthy" film. Several female patrons who had gone to see the film at Priya were also heckled by the protesters. Bricks and stones were hurled at the cinema. The agitation took a violent turn and a small police force rushed to the venue to combat the situation. The police resorted to a mild lathi charge and arrested seven demonstrators.

The film continues to be screened at the cinema without cancellation of a single show. Even though the Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president issued orders to stop the agitation after being reprimanded by the party high command, police pickets have been posted at all the cinemas screening Hey! Ram in Calcutta.

In Indore, the shows at Regal cinema on February 25 had to be cancelled following protests by Congressmen. Similar protests were registered in Bhopal where the film is continuing to be screened. The madness spread to Jaipur on Saturday (February 26), but, like in the cinemas of the other cities, the film did not have to be discontinued from the prestigious Raj Mandir cinema of Jaipur.^[5]

Soon after his press conference on his latest project Hey Barn, actordirector-producer Kamal Haasan found himself in a controversy.

His view on Mahatma Gandhi has draw criticism from none other than the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). It began with TMC Rajya Sabha MP Jayanthi Natarajan warning Mr Haasan to refrain from saying anything critical of the Mahatma. She had asked Haasan to change the tone of the movie so as not to show him in bad light. However, Haasan lashed out at the criticism and on Tuesday a stern warning came from the TMC

In a statement TMC councillor Rani Krishnan threatened Haasan that his movies would not be allowed to be released in the state if his alleged verbal attacks are not stopped. She pointed out that the opinions of Ms Natarajan were not just her own but that of the TMC too. She also pointed out that Ms Natarajan’s family members were intimately involved in the freedom struggle.

Local Congress leader Karate Thiagrajan also joined the issue with Haasan and his fan club and warned that anyone attacking Ms Natarajan would face the wrath of a nationalistic movement.

He also warned that Haasan should be arrested under the National Security Act for allegedly defaming the Father of the Nation, and his movies blacklisted and not allowed to be released in Tamil Nadu.^[6]

Ratings[link]

In India it was given an 'A' certificate by the Central Board of Film certification. In Malaysia, it was rated as Universal.

See also[link]

• List of artistic depictions of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
• List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Karen Gabriel, 'Draupadi's Moment in Sita's Syntax: Violations of the Past and the Construction of Community in Kamal Haasan’s Hey! Ram', in Women and the Politics of Violence, Taisha Abraham (ed.) New Delhi: Shakti 2002.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Hey Ram at the Internet Movie Database
• Philip's Fil-ums review
• Hey Ram analysis