When Nathuram Godse repented, and followed Gandhian principles

In January 2011, city-based theatre artiste Abhijeet Choudhary was contemplating writing a story for a film inspired by the life of Mahatma Gandhi. During a discussion, Dhanashree Heblikar, his co-artiste, struck upon an idea: What if Nathuram Godse, who had murdered Gandhiji, is reborn? Soon, the idea took shape in the form of a 10-minute short film, Godse to Gandhi.

The film, which had 25 shows in a single day at Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya on October 2, has been selected to be placed in the library of Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (MGSN), which houses over 25 other films on Gandhi. Besides films, MGSN also has around 5,000 books on Gandhi in English, Marathi and Hindi.

Before developing into a full-fledged story, Choudhary and Heblikar read various books on Gandhi, met people who follow Gandhian principles and also those who had the privilege to know Gandhi in person.

"Some of the people whom we met include 86-year-old Vidya Vele, who was a part of various movements led by Gandhi and Yuwaraj Shah, chairperson of Shri Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya whose father and grandfather were freedom fighters," says Heblikar, who has given vocals for Godse to Gandhi.

The film's story is set in the year 2012 and revolves around a college-going boy who develops an unusual connection with the word "Gandhi". He remembers his past life and realises that he was Nathuram Godse in his last birth. "He repents his act and decides to live his life on the principles of Mahatma Gandhi," says Heblikar. The film, directed by Choudhary and produced by Swatantra Films, has been shot at Shri Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya.

The cinematography of Godse to Gandhi has been done by Arun Gopalan, who worked with C K Muraleedharan as assistant cinematographer for Hindi commercial venture Agent Vinod. While the editing has been done by Mahesh Phundkar of Bars and Tones, Devesh Chobe has assisted in direction.

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