Kamal Haasan reveals why he made Hey Ram: I was a bitter critic of Mahatma Gandhi

South superstar Kamal Haasan sat down for a conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and opened up on many things, one of them being his film Hey Ram. The superstar said that his multiple National Award-winning film, Hey Ram was his way of saying sorry to Mahatma Gandhi.  He added that at present he talks quite highly about the Father Of The Nation but was a bitter critic of the Mahatma during his teens.

The 68-year-old said, ” I discovered Gandhi at the age of around 24-25. That’s why I made Hey Ram. That was my way of saying ‘sorry’ and over the years, exponentially, I have become a fan. I talk a lot about Gandhi ji now, but it wasn’t right from the beginning. My environment made me a bitter critic of Gandhi ji when I was in my teens. My father said, ‘Just read history, you are talking from today.’ But today matters is what (I had said). He is a lawyer, but he didn’t argue with me on this.”

He went on to add, “To actually correct myself and say sorry, that is why I made Hey Ram. Where I played a parallel assassin wanting to kill Gandhiji. But as he goes closer to the person and truth, he changes. But it is too late, somebody else does the job that he wanted to do but he changed his mind. That’s the story of Hey Ram. The worst form of criticism is an assassination, I think it’s very cheap.”

The 68-year-old actor was in conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Kamal Haasan had joined Rahul Gandhi in the Yatra when it reached Delhi on December 24 last year. The video, uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Rahul Gandhi, featured Haasan talking about many things with the young leader and why he made Hey Ram.

The Congress leader also gifted the actor a large portrait of a tiger drinking water clicked by his sister Priyanka Vadra’s son. He said that he chose the said gift as, “It tells of your approach and attitude to life and it tells us the fact that you are a great Indian and a great champion.”

 

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For the unversed, Hey Ram followed an alternate history and depicted India’s partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. It was written, produced and directed by the power star. The movie also featured Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji in pivotal roles and went on to win multiple awards.

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