it be easy for sir richard attenborough to make gandhi ( 1982 ) he be merely narrate a story of a great individual who walk on this planet not so long ago . comparatively and it must have be a lot tough for director feroz abbas khan make his debut a a filmmaker to make gandhi my father and pit a shriveled anti hero against an international hero and both of whom be historically real individual and and ironically father and son . the event in the film be mostly real . mahatma gandhi live a show in the film and set high moral standard for the world to follow . yet these very standard overshadow the aspiration of his eldest son harilal to be a lawyer of repute like his father and to complete his education and get a job in india and thus provide income for his nuclear family . the film do not debunk gandhi and his ideal . for gandhi and his mission be large than his family aspiration . he love his family and care for them and though his thought for their appeasement be blinker by his ideal of care for the mass . he stand for equality and dignity among all person and in his view to give special undue advantage to his own son overlook other deserve person go against the basis of what he preach . the film look at an unusual case of parentingwhere an idealist parent place recede goalpost for a less than brilliant offspring . the film present an unusual scenario that happen . a son marry his childhood sweetheart and upset his father . the father upset his son educational aspiration at several key juncture . the fragile link between a devoted son and a father break and a the son want to stand on his own foot and care for his nuclear family . while the father gradually become the father of a nation and the son stumble in valiant quest for identity and survival . his marriage break and seek solace in religion and buffeting between islam and hinduism . through all his tribulation his link to his mother remain and until she chide him for be drunk . feroz khan be essentially a director of play make his foray into cinema . he write and direct the play mahatma vs. gandhi that have considerable impact on the indian theater community . the play and the consequent film be base on two biography and one by chandulal dalal and another by nilamben parekh and the success of the staged play be an evident reason for the commercial bollywood actor anil kapoor to produce this noteworthy film . every time a good director of play attempt to direct cinema there be an evidence of a lack of confidence with the medium . peter brook be a great director of play and but less competent a a film director . the opening shot of khan film promise great cinemaa derelict harilal gandhi be bring to sion hospital and bombay ( mumbai ) barely mumble that his father be bapu ( the popular name of mahatma gandhi ) and father to an entire nation . the hospital authority do not recognize him to be mahatma gandhi eldest son and die in poverty and loneliness . apart from the dramatic opening and the film unfortunately merely present a great story and some superb exterior shot of father and son meditating in silhouette . for an indian film it do present some high production quality that go hand in hand with a lack of interest for detail ( the clothes of most indian in the film seem dust free and freshly launder and modern hairstyle of actor and and even shefali shetty play mohandas gandhi wife a century ago with plucked eyebrow ) and the bane of indian cinema . since feroz khan be a theater personality and he have invest much more effort in work with the actor in develop the character rather than on cinematic detail and somewhat like sir attenborough another person who be also a product of theater ( royal academy of dramatic art ) . know quite well that to criticize gandhi in any manner be ask for trouble and even when there be no direct criticism in the film and producer anil kapoor take a remarkable decision of not put up poster of the film at accessible height in india and fearing that some one could tear the poster or disrespect it intentionally or unintentionally . with all it mix of greatness and fault and gandhi and my father throw several question at the viewer . be a mother son bond strong than a father son bond in parent . be one immediate family less important than humanity at large . do one seek refuge in religion and alcohol only when worldly trouble be encounter . in this film and harilal buffet by adversity run from one religion to another and while his father quote scripture forgive them for they know not what they do when beat and throw on the ground by a south african policeman and convinced of the value of religion and convince others as well . the film win the best actress award at the tokyo international film festival for shefali shetty ( shah ) and an indian award from critic . feroze khan and anil kapoor have handle a sensitive subject very well and elicit above average performance from the ensemble of actor . i do hope the international success of the film pave the way for some able director to film another brilliant indian play girish karnad tughlaq some day meet international quality standard .