Review : Welcome Back Gandhi : A sincere atempt to bring alive Gandhiji’s teaching!

#MahatmaGandhi was instrumental in giving #Indians their well deserved #independence. But he did not live long after #IndiaGettingIndependence. In fact he was murdered but his teachings and thoughts could not get erased. What if he would have been alive today? The entire face of the country would have been different. As he was against corruption, India would have been a corruption free country. He always maintained that the political leaders are servants of the people. A movie named ‘#WelcomeBackGandhi’ is a nice take on what could have happened in today’s times if Mahatma Gandhi was alive. It also brings back the memories of #AnnaHajare’s #SatyagrahMovement.

The movie directed by A Balakrishnan was earlier released in Tamil with a name ‘Mudhalvar Mahatma’. The film opens with some of the stock shots of the events which took place around India gaining Independence. After a while focus shifts to a village in south India where a man named Mohandas keeps helping down trodden people. The established society members want to supress the villagers and farmers by gobbling up their land pancels under the garb of development. He doesn’t shun away from cleaning public toilets and takes up the fight with the establishment and local politicals. He is a lawyer too and helps poor people to fight the atrocities meted out to them by the wealthy and powerful people.

Welcome Back Gandhi is a dubbed version of it’s Tamil original Mudhalvar Mahatma. Gandhiji’s principles and philosophies are vividly depicted in the movie. The screenplay is well etched out and the dialogues oozes sincerity. The director indulges deeply in Gandhiji’s philosophy and drives a message or two in the end. The Gandhiji’s thought process shown in the film, if implemented now, will improve the nation drastically. The cinematography is good and the music scored by Ilayaraja is excellent. Editing is to the point and has kept the run time in check (90 min). The film nicely deals with the thought of what would have happened if Gandhiji would be alive today. A. Kanagaraj confidently portrays Mohandas Gandhi’s role. Anupam Kher is a star attraction who plays non-corrupt Chief Minister convincingly. Others lend good support.

Rating : ***