The film explores the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi. The film is based upon the biography of Harilal Gandhi, titled Harilal Gandhi: A Life by Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal.[3] Khan's play, Mahatma vs. Gandhi, while different from this film, had a similar theme which was based on a novel by Gujarati author Dinkar Joshi.[4] The film was shot in South Africa and in several Indian cities, including Mumbai and Ahmedabad.[5]
Plot
Gandhi My Father paints the picture of Gandhi's intricate, complex, and strained relationship with his son, Harilal Gandhi. From the onset, the two had dreams in opposite directions. Harilal's ambition was to study abroad and become a barrister like his father, while Gandhi hoped that his son would join him and fight for his ideals and causes in India.
When Gandhi does not give Harilal the opportunity to study abroad, it comes as a blow to Harilal. He decides to abandon his father’s vision and leaves South Africa for India, where he joins his wife Gulab and children. He goes back to further his education to earn his diploma but continuously fails and ends in financial ruins. Various plans and schemes to make money fail, leaving the family in poverty. Sick of his failure, Gulab returns to her parents’ house with the children, where she eventually dies from the flu epidemic. Distraught, Harilal turns to alcohol for solace and converts to Islam, only to revert to a different sect of Hinduism later on. With political tension heating up, the rift between Gandhi and his eldest son grows until it is beyond repair. Harilal finds it unbearable to live in the enormous shadow of his father. Gandhi is assassinated before the two can reconcile, and Harilal attends his father's funeral virtually as a stranger, almost unrecognizable to those around him. A short while later, he passes away, alone and in poverty, having failed to find his own identity.
Philip French of The Guardian called it "one of the most revealing and courageous movies ever to come out of India." He further wrote that "It will be an eye-opener to those whose knowledge of the Mahatma is limited to Richard Attenborough's epic biopic."[7]Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 4 out of 5, writing, "As a cinematic experience, GANDHI MY FATHER unfolds in the most simplistic, but compelling manner. Since the director is talking history, he ought to do the balancing act well. He reproduces facts without resorting to cinematic liberties and at the same time, simplifies everything so that the viewer can decipher it well.[8]
Conversely, Derek Elley of the Variety wrote, "There’s enough material here for a powerful story of onstage/offstage family conflict, but the movie fails to build a dramatic head of steam across its two-hour-plus span."[9]
