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 Title
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara
Cast Anupam Kher, Waheeda Rehman, Urmila Matondkar, Prem Chopra,
Boman Irani, Parvin Dabas
Director Jahnu Barua
Genre Drama
Year 2005
Indian cinema has taken us to many exotic territories around the world. Anupam
P. Kher's 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara' based on Jahnu Barua's unusual script
carries the audience to an unchartered territory, where they have never truly
ventured before... the human brain.
'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara' explores the complexities of the human psyche as it
sets out to unveil a childhood trauma, which is re-lived by an intelligent mind
suffering from a brain disorder called dementia. In his portrayal of a man
suffering, Anupam P. Kher skillfully weaves the subtle nuances of a brilliant
mind caged in the deluded world of dementia.
The film structures the narrative by telling a simple story of a man's illness
and his daughter's love, understanding and commitment to find her father's
treatment, which comes in the form of a young psychiatrist who unveils the
father's demented world and carries him backwards on an awesome journey to
finally confront his disillusioned guilt.
It is a film that connects two disparate events together. One, of a small middle
class family in present day Mumbai struggling to come to terms with the fact
that the head of the family, Professor Uttam Chaudhary, a retired professor of
Hindi from Bombay University, is now suffering from early dementia and two, the
assassination of the father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The
process of the diagnosis and therapy is reflective of other issues. Issues that
indirectly make their way into the audience's consciousness and raise questions
or! our responsibility as citizens, for our subsequent failure to disseminate
Gandhiji's ideas and his legacy to contemporary India. The Professor's often
repeated and exasperated denial 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara' is rooted back in
an era when a truth seeking son of India became the father of a newborn nation.
Someone killed this man, but his truth survives... even if it is
fossilized in the wounded souls of the demented
   
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