Director Karthik Subbaraj rued that he can’t express himself freely in his movies, owing to a climate of fear. He recalled a creative compromise that he had to make in his latest movie, Mahaan, which centres around the misguided adventures of a few Gandhians.
“There was a dialogue in the movie: ‘it is an ideologically motivated violent extremist like you who shot and killed Gandhi.’ But, I was asked to change it. I was told you can say whatever you want about Gandhi but don’t say anything about Godse as it will create problems,” Karthik said in a video interview, which is now going viral.
Karthik is referring to the climactic scene of the movie, in which the father-son duo, played by Vikram and Dhurv, have a lengthy conversation about the erosion of Gandhism.
In the times we live in, we are allowed to say Gandhi died. But, if we say Godse shot Gandhi many will get angry. That’s why I changed (the line) to: ‘It is people like you who destroyed Gandhi and Gandhism.’ I can’t state more clearly than that. Godse is a terrorist, who killed the father of our nation. But, I am afraid that if I tell that fact, I will get into problems. And the current situation in the country upsets me,” he added.
Mahaan premiered on Amazon Prime Video last week. The film tells the story of how people who claim to be followers of Gandhi but use violence to enforce the Gandhian way of living.
