The Censor Board of India has put a ban on an English film titled, “Residue – Where the Truth Lies”, produced and directed by a renowned film maker, Rajendra Prasad. The reason for banning is that it portrays the other side of the life of Mahatma Gandhi, which the board finds objectionable. This is not the first incident of this genre. Previously, we have been seeing that films and plays trying to portray this ‘other’ side of Gandhi have always found themselves in trouble. A Marathi play, “Mee Nathuram Ghodse Boltoy” was banned from making any shows. Few Hindi films too, like “The Legend of Bhagat Singh” have also faced controversies over the Gandhi issue. A series of such incidents does infer that there is something about Gandhi that is being masked from the people. Somehow, it feels like as if India is trying to exaggerate Gandhi as a character, by sidelining some of the realities in our history.
Mahatma Gandhi was no doubt a great leader, with his unique belief in living a simple life, and his famous ‘non-violence’ ideology. But nobody can do away the facts about the differences between Gandhi and the other greats, like Sardar Patel, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh. Today, we credit our independence to the Mahatma, but did his ‘non-violence’ policy really benefit India? Or did it benefit the British to stay in power in India? Had it not been for Gandhiji’s non-violence policy, then would India have had independence much earlier? Was Gandhi equally responsible for the partition as much as Mohammad Ali Jinnah? Somehow, these questions remain unanswered in our history books. Is Mahatma Gandhi’s image a bit too magnified, and the other leaders made to look small? And if so, then is it done for mere political reasons?
“Even today, political parties use his name to garner votes”, the film-maker Rajendra Prasad was quoted by the newspaper. Surely, the answers to some of these questions may well be spell trouble to some political parties. But the history should not be altered for the selfish political gains. These questions do arise to us, that is, the new generation of India, and will also be raised by the future generations.
These thoughts are by no means anti-Gandhi. Some may think it as extremist and fundamentalist views. Sadly, in our country, one who raises these questions is thought to be so. Gandhi is undeniably a great leader, who has enormously contributed in our freedom struggle. But one should not forget he was also a human being. And to err is human, as they say!
Readers are welcome to comment….
