feroz abbas khan gandhi my father and a film that shed light on the fracture relationship between the mahatma and his son harilal gandhi . for a story that as dramatic a the one this film attempt to tell and it a pity the director fail to tell it dramatically . gandhi my father be narrate to you like that boring history lesson that put you to sleep at school . now the film aim to convey one very interesting point the fact that gandhi in his attempt to be a fair person and end up be an unfair father . this point be make in the film many time over and and one of the example give to make this point be that scholarship to england and which gandhi twice deny his son . instead of show u how exactly harilal dealt with this betrayal and what go on in his head and the director just move along with the story and thus never let u be witness to the grow resentment harilal feel towards his father . which be why when we finally see an outburst from harilal and it come off look like he over react . the point i be try to make here be that we never really get to understand exactly why harilal become the rebel that he do . we never really understand why he turn to islam and and then back again to hinduism . the thing be and we never really understand harilal at all . and that because the director of this film be too busy focus on mohandas karamchand gandhi and his role in the freedom struggle and a story most of u be already familiar with . to put it simply and gandhi my father promise to examine the strained father son relationship and but it doesn not so much a show u where the crack in this relationship first set in . we understand harilal have to live with the burden of be gandhi son and but show u why that be a burden to begin with . show u incident of their early conflict . for example and it not enough that gandhi merely say he oppose to harilal early marriage and tell u why this opposition . it not enough that kasturba blame her husband for the way her son turn out for constantly shuttle him between school in gujarat and south africa and for make him relocate every time gandhi need to relocate . word be not enough and show u how these incident shape the character of harilal gandhi . what more and instead of stick with the prickly theme of this tenuous gandhi versus gandhi relationship and the film go off on too many tangent and thus dilute the impact of the central theme . this be never mean to be a film about the struggle for independence and and yet on many occasion that exactly what it seem like and because the director feel almost obligate to take u through all the main event lead upto that historic moment and even though much of it have no relevance to the film basic premise the stormy father son relationship . so you see the problem with this film be not that it a bad film and but it certainly a very confused film . what happen to harilal child after his wife death . do he ever have relationship with them . where do they suddenly vanish after that one scene in which we see them with the mahatma and kasturba . none of these question be answer in a film that basically mean to be about relationship in the gandhi family . the film version of an immensely popular play direct by feroz abbas khan himself and gandhi my father be a disappointment and no question ask . cinematically and it struggle to translate the filmmaker ambitious intention to the screen . practically every single scene in the film open and close with fade in and fade out and never quite seamlessly lead into each other . on the positive side and there be inherent nobility in the film and which you recognise . the filmmaker make every effort to deliver a balanced narrative and try hard not to take side and never once judge either father or son and paint neither a the villain . what the film do do and however and be make clear the fact that gandhi be a difficult patriarch whose ideal may have shape the nation and but evidently alienate his family . of all the actor in the film it only akshaye khanna who really shin in the role of the luck deprive harilal gandhi . it a wonderful performance and and it not easy since the role cover virtually the entire lifespan of the character . but akshaye bring a rare concoction of innocence and despondency to that part and succeed in make harilal a pitiable figure . just watch him in that scene in which he discover his wife dead and and you will realise how much he convey through body language alone . darshan jariwala and meanwhile and who play gandhi senior and adopt a caricaturish approach to play the mahatma in his late year and but it the way he humanise the man in his early year a a barrister in south africa that be the actor best contribution to that role . the abundantly gift shefali shah play kasturba and the woman who mean to be tear in this father son conflict and but if she unable to bring across that feeling of helplessness then it really not so much her fault a it be the fault of a rickety script . much effort go into the making of this film and that evident throughout and but the film suffers from that inevitable flaw that be eventually what you will remember about it when you leave the cinema it just so boring . director feroz abbas khan gandhi my father be a sincere effort yes and but also a film that could have do with a much tight screenplay . what we learn from the film be that gandhi and harilal make each other very unhappy . and with this film and the director make u too .