On 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi’s murder at the arms of Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse sent shockwaves as a result of the nonetheless nascent democracy of India. Reimagining an option reality the place Gandhi survives the assault, Rajkumar Santoshi’s most up-to-date film purports to supply an unbiased discussion of the conflicting ideologies in between the non-violence advocate and his killer. Such a premise is by now attracting its share of controversy: with the rise of Hindutva-encouraged violence, many worry that the film is however a different try to reclaim Godse’s image as a patriot.
Irrespective of remaining surrounded by these types of fervent discourse, Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh is, at the conclude of the working day, a mediocre effort. Deepak Antani’s Gandhi and Chinmay Mandlekar’s Godse do share a startling resemblance with the serious historic figures, but their characterisation in this fanciful piece of fiction lacks any actual conviction. While the movie does problem Godse’s Islamophobia and raise questions about Gandhi’s celibacy, it also flattens their contrasting political positions into a mere distinction of temperament that could be solved through dialogue. To advise that, right after expending time collectively in a jail cell, Godse would go as significantly as conserving Gandhi from one more assassination try ludicrously undermines the terrifying persistence of the ideology at stake. The naive belief that violence is a portion of human nature – which can effortlessly be reformed – also ignores how oppression operates on a systematic amount.
Stylistically, the historical placing is unimaginatively portrayed through the lazy use of brown-yellow colour grading and rudimentary graphics of retro-design and style newspaper headlines. The incapacity to resist random thrives these types of as gradual motion also undermines whatever gravitas that the movie tries to possess. In the conclude, Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh says extremely minimal about the previous – and even significantly less about the troubles of present day-day India.