Fictional plot in brief – Nathuram Godse blames Mahatma Gandhi for the partition of the country and the subsequent killing of Hindus in riots, and on 30th January 1948, he shoots Gandhi and attempts to assassinate him, but Gandhi miraculously survives. Gandhi even forgives Godse for that attempt. Gandhi also visits Godse in jail, seeking explanation on ‘why he wanted to kill him?’. After disobeying Gandhi’s advice to dissolve the Congress, Gandhi, break ties with the Congress, now living in a village in Bihar and starts the ‘Gram-swaraj movement’. While carrying out the ‘Gram-swaraj’ movement, Gandhi stood against the government and anti-social elements to stop the religious and caste discrimination in the country as well as the exploitation of the poor peasants and working class by the upper classes and the business class, which led to his arrest. The conspiracy to kill Gandhi is once again planned by these anti-social elements. After his arrest, he was put in the same jail with Godse at Gandhi’s insistence. Here many ideological conflicts, debates and arguments take place between Godse and Gandhi. In which many questions are answered from both sides and some questions remain unanswered till the end.
What’s special?- There has never been such attempt in any hindi film to show the ideological conflict between Gandhism and Godseism that has been going on for the past 75 years. First of all kudos to director Rajkumar Santoshi for making this effort. Deepak Antani as Gandhi and Chinmay Mandlekar as Godse have played their respective roles well. Director Rajkumar Santoshi’s daughter Tanisha Santoshi, who made her acting debut with this movie, is also natural. Writer-director Rajkumar Santoshi has tried to present both sides in an equal manner without taking any one’s side. Art-direction is quite good. This is the first attempt of its kind to try to explain the ideological stance behind
What is the innovation?- Cinematography and background score are impressive. The atmosphere created around the year 1947 has been well captured by the art director.
Where does it fall short? – The screenplay has more emphasis on dialogues without much dramatic scenes. So till the end only arguments from both sides come forward. Nothing much happens until the interval. The number of scenes that will keep the audience entertained even after the interval is negligible. It is just an ideological war. One expects a much better quality film from a veteran director like Rajkumar Santoshi but it is a disappointment. It is also surprising that despite having a composer like A.R. Rahman on board, the director could not make any use of him. The bhajan ‘Vaishnav Jan To’ in the voice of Shreya Ghoshal is the only well composed song.
Watch it or Not?- Not at all in theaters. Those who are interested in this kind of ideological struggle, can plan to see this on OTT or television.
Star rating – 2 stars.