“One family’s tragedy was the price of a nation’s freedom,”
says the tagline of Feroz Abbas Khan’s movie 'Gandhi My Father'.
The family in question is that of Mahatma Gandhi.
The movie is based on Feroz Abbas Khan’s play ‘Mahatma Vs Gandhi’.
It tells the story of Gandhi’s eldest son Harilal Gandhi, who rebelled against his father.
The film has Akshaye playing Harilal Gandhi, who had a very troubled relationship with his father and carried the identity of his father like a curse around his neck.
Actress Shefali Shah plays the wife of Mohandas Gandhi. Kasturba raised her newborn son Harilal all by herself when Gandhi left to study in London in 1888. Later, she gave birth to three more sons.
Although Kasturba Gandhi stood by her husband, she did not always easily accept his ideas.
Bhumika Chawla plays Gulab Gandhi, the wife of Harilal
‘Gandhi My Father’ is the story of a principled father and an unfortunate son.
Somewhere in the shadows of Mahatma Gandhi lived his eldest son Harilal, who rebelled against his father’s idealistic principles and sought to live a life where he would not have to carry the burden of being the son of an exemplary figure like Mahatma Gandhi.
Even though Harilal later converted back to Hinduism, he lived the life of a derelict, roaming the streets of India like a beggar and finally drinking himself to death.
In Harilal’s words: “He (Mahatma Gandhi) is the greatest father you can have… But he is the one father I wish I did not have.”