G for Gandhi directed by Renjith Murali

G for Gandhi

Directed by Renjith Murali                                           Screenplay: Renjith Murali
Camera : Charan C Raj and Sibi Saif                           Editing : Sandeep Ganesh
BGM : Aji Sarass                                                        Studio : Kalidasa Digital

      ‘Who is the Father of the Nation?’ screams the teacher

‘Rahul Gandhi?’ Asks the cheeky youngster, who imagines himself the smarty pants of the class. The kids look pleased; their bright colleague has scored once more.

       No, of course not, Teacher snorts at the thought of the pansy, Rahul Gandhi being the Father of the Nation, looks very irritated.

‘Sonia Gandhi?’ The same cheeky youngster who is growing bolder by the minute. So what? nothing lost.      Are you out of your mind? Teacher extremely irritated, wondering if she should clout cheeky youngster, remembers corporal punishment is a punishable offence.

And then a mousy girl with tight little plaits says mildly ‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi? The Father of the Nation?’

Teacher beams, all is not lost, ‘Yes, Yes, Sulekha, you are a clever girl.’

Sulekha sits down primly, all around her, students whispering, ‘teacher’s pet’

This could be a modern day scenario at any school, who knows who Mahatma Gandhi really was, what did he advocate, what were his principles.

Of course we all ‘see’ Gandhi , we all recognize the smiling, balding visage of the Father of the Nation’.  In fact we ‘see’ him every day when we buy anything, we exchange red currency notes, blue currency notes, green currency notes and on each and every note there is the smiling, bald visage of the Father of the Nation.

That is what Renjith Murali, the Director of G for Gandhi wants us to see, this extremely simple film shows how we ‘see’ Gandhi every single day. This beautiful short film, shows ‘hands’ exchanging currency notes, hands buying groceries, hands buying vegetables, hands at a chemist buying contraceptives, bride’s parents exchanging dowry, groom’s parents refusing the dowry, not enough,  bride’s parents adding a couple of lakhs, the groom and his family happy with the transaction. 

  And on every single note the smiling visage of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, The Father of the Nation.

What do we or our young people around us know of him, his values? We turn away from his values, his simplicity and see him much like Renjith Murali says ‘reduced to a face as seen on our currency notes’. Further quoting Renjith,  ‘The popular perception that Gandhi is confined only to currency notes in India is examined. While contemporary society unconsciously turns itself away from the Gandhiyan idealist it is hoped that the young India will turn towards Gandhi.’

G for Gandhi has won quite a number of Awards;
Winner of Gandhi Short Film Festival.
Special Cash Award from the Governor of Kerala.
Best Film Award for First Goa Short Film Festival.
Best Creative Concept Award for First Goa Short Film Festival.
Special jury award for Nizhalattam Short Film festival.
Participation in Chennai Women's International Festival
Participation in  Chavara short film festival.

See the short film for yourself: //www.youtube.com/user/wolverinerenju

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SZ1R8OV0FQ