Gandhi comes to Toronto film festival

The main forces behind the series — Mehta, producer Sameer Nair, CEO of Applause Entertainment, and the lead actor Pratik Gandhi — told The Indian Express that the ambition of this series, the first from India to have its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), is to humanise the story of the youngster who came to be known worldwide as ‘Mahatma’. During the TIFF premiere of Gandhi, the first two episodes were screened.

“The story of Gandhi is perhaps the biggest story that I would get to tell. The 50th edition of TIFF is the perfect platform for that. This could also be the beginning of something special for the world. Without knowing that he was going to change the world, Gandhi did it. His story should resonate globally and inspire change,” said Mehta, whose breakthrough film Shahid premiered at TIFF in 2012.

In 2019, when this team of director-producer-actor was working on the series Scam 1992, Nair approached author Ramachandra Guha for the rights to his two-volume biography, Gandhi Before India and Gandhi: The Years that Changed the World, 1914-1948. Though Nair and Guha had discussions regarding the rights to the books, it was not till 2021 that they decided to go ahead with it.

“The story of Gandhi has always fascinated me. I wanted to tell it in a long-form format… We also had a talented team in place. Then, began the process of finding our Gandhi and bringing alive the person in the books,” said Nair.

Incidentally, Pratik has been playing the character of Gandhi for a decade in the Gujarati play, Mohan No Masalo. “I approached the character of Mohandas Gandhi the same way I approached Harshad Mehta’s in Scam 1992. I never judged him. Nor did I put him on a pedestal by thinking that he is the Mahatma or father of the nation. I wanted to portray the character of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and put him in a world that the book talks about,” Pratik said.

The Season 1 of the series will cover Gandhi’s life between 1888 and 1915. This is a period when he as an 18-year-old goes to London to study law. The Season 2 and 3 of the series will focus on Gandhi’s rise and political activities in India till 1948.