ophy. It begins with the young barrister’s 1893 departure from his wife and children in Bombay to travel to South Africa where he will represent a wealthy client in an inconsequential lawsuit. As he travels by train to his destination, he encounters racial prejudice directed at Indian indentured workers who are treated as inferiors by the British colonials. At first he wants to demand the dignity of his British education but soon enough he begins to identify with the downtrodden. He is a Hindu by birth and inclination but he is sympathetic to the prosperous Muslims among whom he practices his trade. They value his skills and gradually he becomes a leader of the resistance to British oppression. His wife and children join him in Durban, British Colony of Natal. He becomes fastened on the issue of racial discrimination on the part of the British. They feel they have enough difficulty with the native population and cannot tolerate an infusion of Asiatics.
Gandhi endures beatings and imprisonment in his pursuit of justice but his conviction is strengthened. A friend gives him a volume of Ruskin and his ideas are crystallized. While he is in jail his wife falls ill and it seems she might die. His son is infuriated when Gandhi comes home and advocates austerities. The son leaves home. Gandhi has become deeply committed to non-violent resistance to repressive policies, and his following is growing steadily. His wife recovers and he later informs her that he will embrace celibacy to overcome his desire. She says that overcoming his desire will be like capturing an ocean in a teacup. He leads a very large group of people on a protest march that looks like a harbinger of the Salt March. He is repeatedly arrested. The movement is getting worldwide attention and the government is under pressure. Gandhi shaves his head and adopts native dress (this has the strange effect of making the actor look much less like the real Gandhi). He meets with the governor and learns that the majority of his demands have been met. He walks by the sea contemplating his return to India. It is the year 1915. Gandhi spent 21 years of his early adult life in South Africa and returned to India a popular hero.
Gandhi, My Father (2007)
The film is framed by a scene in 1948 where of Gandhi’s, Harilal, is found near death, the authorities label him a drunkard and a beggar. It opens in Durban, South Africa in 1906 where Gandhi and his wife, Kastur, receive a letter from their son announcing his plans to marry against his father’s wishes. Harilal is called back to South Africa, leaving his pregnant wife. He goes to work in his father’s law office. The family is living at Phoenix Settlement. This part of the film covers much of the same territory as The Making of the Mahatma (1996), centering on Gandhi’s struggle for Indian equality in South Africa. He returns to India in 1915, transformed to the iconic Bapu dedicated to selfless service. Hari is sinking into failure, blaming his lack of education and inability to live up to his father’s ideals. “I must find my own path. Search for my own identity.” He gets involved in business ventures that are opposed to those ideals. When he swindles his employer, his father advocates stern punishment from the law. He begins to drink, and his wife leaves him. Gandhi struggles to hold him accountable for his actions and tries to help his distraught daughter-in-law. His wife and son die and he falls apart. His father tries to help but the offer is refused.
Next we see him in Calcutta trying to put his life together. There is a father-son reconciliation. Gandhi wants Hari to join the fight for independence. He does. A group of businessmen approach him offering to start a corporation using his name. They are persuasive and he agrees. It fails and he absconds. Gandhi dissociates himself from his son and dedicates himself to eradicating Untouchability, and promoting Hindu-Muslim unity. There is fierce opposition and an assassination attempt is made. Hari is rescued from ruin by Islamists and converts to Islam. Soon he becomes a deeper