Feroz looks at Gandhi's other side

Courtesy: IndiaFM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The promos of Gandhi My Father have been drawing a lot of attention. However it is not easy subject to make.

When we caught up with Feroz Abbas Khan on his thoughts, this is what he had to say, "Gandhi has always been compelling, complex and strangely contemporary. Sir Richard Attenborough introduced the Mahatma, the great soul to the West and the world remains grateful to him. I grew up understanding Gandhi through others till I discovered a deep wound he had carried in his heart. Somewhere in the shadows of this great man lived his son, roaming the streets of India like a beggar. Converting to Islam as a rebellion, reconverting to Hinduism as a penance and finally drinking himself to death. Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but could not save the soul of his own son. The unfolding of a personal tragedy against the racial hatred in South Africa and colonial humiliation in India moved me deeply. Finally my search to know the human side of Gandhi took me to South Africa, to different parts of India, libraries, scholars and his immediate family members. I then decided to make a film about a principled father and an unfortunate son. To me, Gandhi became a greater human being as he struggled personally, socially and politically, but always put his principles and quest for human dignity above everything else".

Well, all would agree is that Feroz Abbas Khan is a man who knows a subject very well.