Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi to Hitler (2011)

Actors: Raghuvir Yadav (actor), Neha Dhupia (actress), Sanjoy Chowdhury (composer), Nabeel Abbas (miscellaneous crew), Deepshika (actress), Nassar Abdulla (actor), Aman Verma (actor), Imtiaz Ali (miscellaneous crew), Rutvik Oza (writer), Neeraj Gupta (miscellaneous crew), Hemant (actor), Avijit Dutt (actor), Nikita Anand (actress), Shree Narayan Singh (editor), Vikrant (actor),

Plot: Chancellor Adolf Hitler assists Azad Hind Fauj, led by Subhas Chandra Bose, which include a group of Indians who are frustrated with the Gandhian manner of non-violence to compel the oppressive British to quit their country. Punjab-based Balbir Singh is one such member of the Fauj, who has left his wife, Amrita, and son, Veer, behind. Ironically, Amrita is a follower of Mohandas Gandhi, and patiently awaits her husband's return home. Mohandas writes to Adolf, addressing him as 'dear friend', imploring him to end the violence. The allies, which include America, Russia, Britain and France close in on the Germans, while Adolf, a little perturbed by defectors, but still in company of many loyal supporters, is determined to continue, and even makes preparations to wed his mistress of 12 years, Eva Braun. Meanwhile Balbir and the rest of the Fauj must risk their lives through treacherous territory, allied soldiers, and quite surprisingly - they themselves - when they end up bickering and fighting with each other.

Gandhi, My Father (2007)

Actors: Anil Kapoor (producer), Rajendranath Zutshi (actor), A. Sreekar Prasad (editor), Akshaye Khanna (actor), Bhoomika Chawla (actress), Darshan Jariwala (actor), Akhil Mishra (actor), Mahesh Thakur (actor), Mithilesh Chaturvedi (actor), Sanjay Swaraj (actor), Shefali Shetty (actress), Mona Ambegaonkar (actress), Kanwalinder Singh (producer), Natalie Hughes (actress), Bomie E. Dotiwala (actor),

Plot: Mohandas was born in the Gujarati speaking family, had several brothers who jointly owned property in Rajkot. At the age of 13 Mohandas married Kasturba. On attaining maturity he re-located to England, became a Barrister, returned home, and together with Kasturba re-located to South Africa. They returned to India for a few years and this is where they became parents of four sons: Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas. Subsequently, the family returned to South Africa, leaving Harilal alone. As Harilal did not do well in his studies he got married to Gulab without his parents' blessings. Mohandas then invited Harilal to South Africa and on his Secretary's request also invited Gulab, who had recently given birth to a daughter, Rami. Harilal wanted to be a Barrister like his father but found his movements restricted as his father wanted him to actively participate against the Satanist and Racist British regime, leading to Harilal being arrested and imprisoned. Harilal's hopes of becoming a Barrister were dashed when Mohandas sent his nephew, Chaganlal, instead, and when Chaganlal proved a failure, sent Sorabjee to England in his place. Harilal then changed his name to Pranlal Mehta in a vain attempt to return to India. A frustrated Gulab, now a mother of 4, did return to India with her children. After actively protesting draconian British Laws, especially the Christian Act that only recognized marriages performed by a Christian Priest, by General Ian Smutts, Mohandas was imprisoned, and upon being released returned to India. He hoped that Harilal would follow in his footsteps, but Harilal re-located to Calcutta, found a job as a Cashier, embezzled and borrowed money to buy imported cloths, in vast contrast to Mohandas' campaign to burn foreign clothing, got himself in trouble and debt, prompting Gulab to return to leave him. Harilal did return to Gujarat after he heard of his son, Shanti's and Gulab's passing. He did get involved in the freedom struggle temporarily, but was lured by some businessmen, who used his and his dad's name to get people to invest, and then disappeared, forcing Mohandas to publicly disown his son, who was then arrested and imprisoned. Unstable, unemployed, unable to keep up with his father's lofty standards, Harilal considered becoming a Christian, but then with Zakaria's help became an Islamic and changed his name to Abdullah, prompting Kasturba to pay him a visit and talk him to becoming a Hindu again. Then when Mohandas announced the beginning of 'Do or Die' campaign in Bombay during 1942, he was placed under house arrest in the Agha Khan Palace with Hindus calling him a traitor and Muslims praying for his death. This is where a distraught, disheveled and bearded Harilal will meet his parents. Will his parents accept him as he is and welcome him back?

Hey Ram (2000)

Actors: Naseeruddin Shah (actor), Sreenivasan (actor), Ram Mohan (actor), Om Puri (actor), Nasser (actor), Saurabh Shukla (actor), Shah Rukh Khan (actor), Girish Karnad (actor), Vikram Gokhale (actor), Atul Kulkarni (actor), Amar (actor), Delhi Ganesh (actor), Kamal Hassan (actor), Annapoorna (actress), Vivek (actor),

Plot: The film starts with Saketh Ram as a very old man and almost immediately goes into flashback. As a young man he is among his friends, in conviviality. He has taken a Bengali wife, Aparna, and everything is wonderful in his life. But the year is 1946, and the imminent independence of India from British suzerainty is complicated by religious antagonism between the Hindu majority and the large Muslim minority, who demand their own independent state. Saketh and Aparna visit Calcutta; rioting is reported, but Saketh goes out to get some food, and he soon encounters a Hindu woman being chased by Muslim rioters. He rescues her, but the rioters later come to his house, and brutally rape and then kill his wife. Saketh is devastated and takes to the streets, determined personally to kill as many Muslims as he can find. He meets up with Sriram Abhiyankar, who is leading a group of Hindu extremists, and Saketh becomes temporarily taken with the cause himself. At the same time, he is persuaded to take a new wife, Mythili, and life begins to stabilise for Saketh after all. However he then falls in with an eminent Maharajah who is leading an underground group with the intention of assassination. Travelling with the Maharajah, Saketh meets one of his old friends from younger days, who has fallen on hard times. Reminiscing, and getting his old friend back on his feet deflect the process of recruiting Saketh, but only temporarily, and soon he is manipulated into committing himself to renouncing his family and his new wife, in the interests of the cause which now is disclosed as the assassination of Gandhi. Although a fellow Hindu, Gandhi was felt by some to be too conciliatory to Muslims and in the logic of extremists, Gandhi became the prime target. Soon Saketh is informed that Gandhi will be in Delhi for some weeks, and that Saketh is to take the opportunity to do "his duty". However, hiding from a snap search by the police, he has to hide his pistol on a delivery lorry, and it is driven away to a factory owned by Muslims. Going there hoping to retrieve the gun, he becomes engulfed in a shoot-out between some Hindu attackers and the Muslims, and finds that his loyalties are not so clear cut as he had imagined. Finally he escapes after the death of another of his old friends in the crossfire. The next day, January 30th 1948, he contrives to be near Gandhi in a public prayer ground, his appointment with destiny. But the film still has 20 minutes to run, and the ending is not what you expect.

Quotes:

Sardar (1993)

Actors: Ashish Vidyarthi (actor), Tom Alter (actor), Benjamin Gilani (actor), Annu Kapoor (actor), Satish Kaushik (actor), Shri Vallabh Vyas (actor), Govind Namdeo (actor), Vanraj Bhatia (composer), Paresh Rawal (actor), Suhasini Mulay (actress), Raghuvir Yadav (actor), Ketan Mehta (director), Renu Saluja (editor), Nirmal Pandey (actor), Lalit Tiwari (actor),

Plot: Vallabhai Patel was born in a wealthy Gujarat-based family and initially did not take part in the freedom struggle, scoffed at Mohandas Gandhi, and referred to him as a Social Worker. But when Mohandas gave a speech in Ahmedabad during 1915, Vallabhai changed his mind, decides to immerse himself in the freedom struggle, and created awareness in the entire state of Gujarat so much so that he was considered eligible for the position of the first Prime Minister of an independent India. But when the Congress Working Committee supported Jawarhal Nehru, Vallabhai bowed out amidst intense debate on the creation of Pakistan by Mohammad Ali Jinnah of the Muslim League. While Mohandas was not inclined to endorse any move to partition India, Mountbatten, the British Viceroy, along with Jawarharlal, Vallabhai, and others were in favor of partitioning India and allowing Jinnah to create two Pakistan, one each on the borders of Rajastan and Bengal respectively, in order to prevent any bloodshed. This done, the leaders worked on the first ever Constitution, while Vallabhai gave particular attention to the princely states of Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Bhopal, whose rulers were refusing to let go of their respective empires. India did achieve independence on August 15, 1947, and shortly thereafter riots broke out in Rawalpindi, thousands of Hindus were killed. This news spread like fire, resulting in more deaths in Lahore, as well as a backlash against Muslims in Amritsar, while 12 Lakh Hindus and Sikhs fled from Karachi, Sind, Lahore, and Rawalpindi, 10 Lakh Muslims fled to a their new homeland. Vallabhai instructed the administration to make all efforts to look after the Hindus in refugee camps, as well as assured Muslims, who chose to stay in India, that they will be provided with necessary Police protection while Delhi was placed under a 24 hour curfew. Hardly had things started to settle then Jinnah made an additional demand for Hyderabad and Kashmir; while the Indian army surrounded Hyderabad, ready to take over the princely state by force; Gandhi accused the Congress party leadership for being corrupt, selfish, and of chasing power and money, before he himself was shot dead by an Hindu extremist, leaving this young nation to face yet another challenge - as sharp differences arose between Vallabh and Nehru whether or not the U.N.O. should monitor a plebiscite vote in Kashmir - differences which may well force Vallabh to resign from his position as Home Minister.