MAINE GANDHI KO NAHIN MARA Directed by: Jhanu Barua Starring: Waheeda Rehman, Urmila Matondkar, Prem Chopra, Boman Irani, Parvin Dabbas Cert: PG Runtime: 1 hour 44 mins UK Release 30 September 2005

Professor Uttam Chaudhary is a retired Hindi teacher who lives with his daughter and young son in the city of Mumbai. He is suffering from what is laughingly called ‘old age’ – brief periods of forgetfulness, blanks in memory. Little does anyone realize that the problems are much deeper, and that this is just the beginning of a journey that will end in a man becoming a prisoner of his mind.

As his memories start to fade, a childhood trauma surfaces – a memory of being accused of murdering Gandhi. The more his life is whitewashed, the stronger this one memory remains. As his world turns increasingly hostile, Prof. Chaudhary sees everything as an enemy…his house is a jail, his family are his captors.

And in the midst of all this is the story of his daughter. A single woman, working to not only support the family monetarily, but is also the only lifeline that can save her father from drowning in the universe his mind is creating.

It is the story of the power of one person’s strength, hope and determination in pulling their loved one away from the abyss.

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.

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, overcoming a host of problems through her faith and determination.

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 is now suffering from early dementia and two, the assassination of the father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

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… he lives as long as his ideals breathe within us.

So though the title of the film says ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’, it also sends out a message saying that Gandhi ji is still alive in me! He should be alive in every one of us!

The film is directed by nine-time national award winner Jahnu Barua, and has screenplay by Sanjay Chouhan, cinematography by Raaj A. Chakravarti, music by Bappi Lahiri and audiography by Rakesh Ranjan. It stars Anupam P. Kher, Urmila Matondkar, Parvin Dabas, Rajit Kapur, Boman Irani, Sudhir Joshi, Raju Kher, Vishwaas Paandya, Prem Chopra and Waheeda Rehman.