From Kunal Kohli to Nathuram Godse
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Anand Kadam (Bristol, UK)
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From Kunal Kohli to Nathuram Godse
Wait i am not drunk and i know what i am talking !…Just read the paragraphs below to know what i am talking …
Sunday evening 6.00..I had just finished watching mujhse dosti karoge(MDK) ……ya you read it right MDK by critic turned (mis)director Kunal kohli.I dont want to rant about this shit piece movie or whatever u call it or about Kunal Kohli who couldn’t give a decent film even with actors like Aamir and Kajol in the same film.So the obvious question pops on why did i went through this deliberate torture…….Do you people have more than one laptop….if yes, i am not as lucky as you guys and i have just one damn laptop.. just one damn laptop……Why am i so pissed off ???..Here goes what had happened that day …My wife gets up in the morning and as if she had a dream of kunal kohli asking her to watch MDK ..she told me she wants to watch this shit.Those three words …”mujhse dosti karoge” shattered me……i had planned to watch Black Friday again or for that matter also Johny gaddar but then the thought of watching MDK instead of these films made me sick ..nauseating.. … It was like ordering chiken Tandoor and getting Palak ki sabji and that too five years stale ..i would have even settled for dal fry and jeera rice but then wife wanted to eat this Palak ki sabji …. ..Why didn’t i oppose ?? ….well if you are married you know the answer and if you are single then you will know it in some years to come and if my wife is reading this then more palak ki sabji for dinner… ..
After going through this trauma for around 3 hours with flying sindoor(Red powder that flies),Palak ke parathe(or was it gobi),tour-de-London,Overdose of overacting by Kareena and Hrithik with mixture of absolutely no acting by Uday chopra i had no energy left to lift myself up and eat tandoori chicken.So i surfed through Youtube and watched some dard-bhare-geet (pain-filled-songs in English)…….All of a sudden i thought i should watch a marathi play (didn’t watched it since a loooong time) …so i tried searching it on youtube and then i came across a marathi play called as “Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy” (This is Nathuram Godse speaking) which is based on a book by the same name (Not sure though of the name of the book)…For the people(ignorant) who dont know Nathuram Godse…He was the one who was responsible for assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Play is more of an autobiography and starts with Nathuram Godse speaking to the audience…..Vinay Apte transforms you totally into the mind of Nathuram Godse..You feel for him..his angst..his fight…his thoughts ….We were always shown Nathuram Godse as a madman be it in school history or in other mediums of arts and books.. ..But this play shows you the other side of the coin and mind you this play is not against Gandhism but some aspects of it …What is heartning to learn now is that his name is totally wiped out from our history apart from being a murderer.The lead actor Sharad Ponkshe delivers a performance of lifetime and exccels in all the parts of the play and enacts such a complex character with a panache.Its pity we dont see more from more of these kind of actors.The dialogues are sharp and punch you in your stomach.Like the one in which Nathuram says “Meine Gandhi Ko nahi mara maine unka Vadh kiya hai”… Here is a small part of the dialogues translated in English (Courtesy Google search) ::
{”I never stole in my childhood, so there was no question of apologising to myfather. I never took a vow of celibacy as I was already practising celibacy. I was moving around the refugee camps and helping the destitute with food and clothes. But I did not wander half-naked because the refugees were naked. I never spun yarn, never cleaned my toilet, never observed silence till I was hanged. There was only one common factor in Gandhi’s life and mine.
We were both the cause of each other’s death. He wanted to live for his principles and I was prepared to die for my principles. “} …….
The director maintains a perfect balance and dosen’t cross the line and gives enough space for both the ideologies.In the play Nathrum never denies the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi in the Freedom struggle but he beleived somewhere down the line Gandhi became larger than the Nation and that what hurted him the most.He felt Gandhi responsible for the Partition and riots and hence his actions.Unlike all the movies and books based on Gandhi,in this play the last words of Gandhi were not shown as “Hey Ram” but just a sigh of ahaa…..With so much controversies floating in the play, as usual this play was banned….freedom of expression choked…another thought killed.Long live youtube and internet to show us the “forbidden” and the souls who upload such videos and movies …..We need more such kind of plays,movies..such actors (Directors Listening please..please cast actors like Sharad Ponkshe ) and more such directors…..
So this is how i ended eating hyderabadi zafrani pulao (Yep the one mentioned in Cheeni Kum) after eating Palak ki sabji.I will never regret eating Palak ki sabji as long as i am assured of getting Chicked Tandoor or hyderabadi zafrani pulao at the end …..
PS : I hate Palak ki sabji.
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29 Responses to “From Kunal Kohli to Nathuram Godse”
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very interesting article…i have heard about the play but have never seen or read it….i had a lot about mahatma vs gandhi….but the screen translation was quite average….i think the whole father and son conflict was glossed over and replaced by a sepia tainted lesson in Gandhi’s contribution to Indian history…
Thanks Arijit .. ..i have not seen mahatma vs gandhi ..i tried searching it but couldn’t find it on the web ..do u have any idea where can i find the link for mahatma vs gandhi
nope i dont have the link…:(
“We were both the cause of each other
Thanks Shatrughan ….I read the entire trascript in English somewhere on the net ..if possibe go through it ..the lines are damn good …i will get the link if possible…..hey and yes i will try eating more palak ki sabji ..coz we in bollywood have mastered the culture of growing palak …
Dard bhare geet to inspire your dard bhari kahani. Vadh Mahatma ka nahin, Godse ke ussool aur soch ka hua tha. gandhi ko tho marna hi tha.
Thanks for letting us know abt the play. Pls provide the link if possible.
I am not married and even if I was , I wouldn’t have dared to watch MDK. I saw the first 30-45 mins when it was released and couldn’t tolerate it. I wonder how this guy calls himself a critic and got another chance to direct a movie..
hello anand,
nice article, you can get the book with same name on nathuram, its an autoiography written by him when he was in prison and it a good straight forward book. the book is not artistic , rather it is very simple and straight. i think this book is banned but one can get that book in bookstores paperback edition only , i read it long time back, borrowed from a freind. hope u will like that also.
Mere mention of
Anand, could you pass on the link to the play on YouTube
Here is the link of youtube video for first part of Me Nathuram Godse boltoy….
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XJsyiXfHQRQ
you can also find the english transcript of the play at the below link :
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/1800/play.htm
Thanks for the link.
An interesting watch but very weak arguments towards end.
Find one more english translation of excerpts from the play on the link below (popups will anoy, but font is good… also you will find a link to the – real text of Nathuram’s Self Defense on the first page.
http://ngodse.tripod.com/
(make sure your popup blocker is active)
hey Neeraja…
thanks….just curious which argument exactly did you find weak…..
@Kishan ,
Thanks ..:)
@jitender ,
Thanks and will try and read the book …
@Rajesh Shetty ,
Thanks and i too used to watch a lot of marathi plays earlier .i enjoyed watching Prashant Damale….
@Anand Kadam
1) When he says something like ‘te tar saglya manavate che hote… mag britishan shi aapan ka ladhalo?’
That’s the most ridiculous statement of the entire play. Gandhi was against the injustice and exploitation by the british (or by anyone for that matter). He even said that he had no problems with the english staying in Hindustan as long as they choose to live among us as we do and not as our rulers, exploiting us and forcing their culture on us.
His idea of ‘Swarajya’ did not mean that we be ruled by people of our own race/class/country/caste/religion but we be ruled by a law which ensured equality, freedom and justice.
In my opinion, for all you know, your people may fuck you worse than foreigners!
2) I don’t care whether he said ‘hey ram’ or not. But the argument that he could have as well said ‘rahim’ or ‘allah’ or whatever, doesn’t make much sense.
He was born and brought up as a Hindu and was a Ram bhakt(Even if you consider all Gods to be one you may choose to call him by a particular name)
I am an Atheist but I do exclaim ‘Hey bhagwaan’ or ‘Oh! God’ at times. It has got to do with the way I have been brought up and the people around me.
Gandhi believed in God and he called him Ram, so if at all he would have said God’s name while dying he would and should have said Ram.
In any case, you cannot expect a dying man to think and decide what to say while dying!
(waise, I think he must have said ‘ahhh’ only :D)
@ Anand Kadam
1)Towards end when Godse is talking to Devadas gandhi there is a dialogue ‘te tar saglya manavate che hote….mag britishan shi aapan kan ladhalo, te suddha manavach hote..’
That’s the stupidest thing I have heard.
Gandhi was against the injustice and expoiltation by the the British (or by anyone for that matter). He even said that he had no problems with the english staying in Bharat as long as they stay here as common people, they stay in the country among us confirming to our ways of living but not as rulers exploiting us and forcing their culture on us.
Gandhi’s idea of ‘Swaraj’ was not that we be ruled by people of our own country/caste/religion/race but by a law that ensures justice, freedom and equality. He, as he said himself, was not fighting against the British because they were foreigners but because they exploited us.
In my opinion, for all you know, your own people may fuck you worse than foreigners!
And yes, all this, perhaps, makes him larger than the nation, but what is wrong with that?
2) Godse says that why would Gandhi, who never differentiated between Ram and Rahim etc., utter only Ram’s name while dying blah blah blah!
This, again, was hilarious. Gandhi was born and brought up as a Hindu. He was a Ram bhakt (Even if you believe all Gods are same, you may choose to call him by one name). Then, I don’t understand, why is it so strange that he said ‘hey Ram’ before dying (if he said anything at all)
Its not about religion. I am an atheist but I do exclaim ‘hey bhagwaan’ or ‘my god’ once in a while because its a part of the way I speak, its a part of the language I have learned to speak over time affected by the way I grew up and the people around me. It has nothing to do with my belief or non-belief.
When he said that its the parabhav of Gandhi’s followers to spread the false story of his saying ‘Hey Ram’, I thought he meant the whole faking the ‘hey Ram’ thing for Gandhi’s core principles were Truth and non-violence. That would have been a valid and acceptable argument.
By the way, its kind of sad that people are more interested in reading Godse than Gandhi (and I am not talking only about PFCites)
PS: Please try to ignore my bad Marathi, I don’t usually write marathi(in any script), was brought up away from the Marathi-land.
Thanks for your reply Neeraja …If you look at the braoder sense ..Nathurams point was not totally invalid …he beleived in nonviolence but self-defence was not violence according to him (Whats wrong in that)…His argument was that when Jinnah wanted to be pm of independent India …gandhi should have accepted that and partitoning was not a solution for that ….partition is the worst thing ever happened to India …Again its just a pov …
btw your marathi is not bad at all…
When I was saying to my wife hey this guy’s blog how Kunal Kohli came into his wife’s dream and made her sit through that crap, she just loved the idea, and sweared this weekend its going to come in her dreams as well, and she’s gonna make me watch it.
I was in Calcutta, when the movie released, and it gets pretty muggy hot in calcutta during lunch time. I was wella, and wanted to catch a movie, and unknowingly ventured in theater to watch this movie. God I havent come across any shittier movie than this. Everyone hams, between rani’s sulking facial expressions……….
My weekend is doomed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(:(:(:(:(
@Anand K
First of all, my criticism was very specific to those arguments. In 1st Nathuram claims that Gandhi’s stand on his being a supporter of humanity is paradoxical because he is fighting with the British, which I think is faulty as explained above. In 2nd he argues that while dying Gandhi should have, it at all, uttered the bname of Rahim and not Ram which again I disagree with.
I was not talking about the idea of non-violence or partition there.
Coming to these points now, as far as I know the deal was between the prospective Indian government (Congress, and note that Gandhi had left congress by that time) and the British authorities. Anyway I think I should refrain from talking about the partition issue because my knowledge on what really happened at that time is very limited.
The issue of non-violence, well, things are very different when you look at them at the level of a group/community/society. A mob operates very differently from an individual.
I agree that violence for self-defence is justified at times but how does that make non-violent protests wrong or ineffective? I think, Civil Disobedience is a very strong technique.
Now, Jinnah for prime-minister? wasn’t he a muslim fundamentalist?
Thanks for appreciating my Marathi
that’s really encouraging. I am trying to make up for the loss by watching Marathi movies and plays. Do you know any webpage where I can get these things?
@Hemant
Good luck!
@Hemant Singh ..
Hey Best of luck for this weekend …..:d
Nathuram was not his real name. His real name was Ram Chandra. There is a funny story about the name Nathuram.
Essay
Thanks Vinayak for the information
Glad to be of help!:)
Hello Neeraja,
The dialogues in the play are written by the Writer/director Dalvi, if my memory serves me correctly. To correctly get a perspective on Nathuram Godse’s views, if possible, read the book, “May it please your honour”. That book contains the entire testimony of Nathuram Godse at his trial. He has point by point analysed his own actions/thoughts on why he assasinated Gandhi. And in fact he was a very rational man. This book, containing his testimony, had been banned from being published for some 40 years. It was finally published by Mr Gopal Godse, Nathuram’s younger brother. Get a hold of it, if you want a different perspective on an interesting period in the history of India. As to opinions, to each his own.
@Kailas
Right so I should blame Dalvi sahab for those lame arguments not Godse. Agreed.
Will try to get hold of the book. But don’t you think that rational or not, to go ahead and kill someone just because one couldn’t counter his philosophy and his overwhelming popularity because of his philosophy is a sign of weakness. A weakness not of the person as an individual but also of his philosophy.
@Neeraja,
Alright, I have made a mistake in bringing Pradeep Dalvi’s name in the comment. Because that comment does represent the gist of Nathuram Godse’s arguments, so well, it can as well be attributed to him. So, I am keeping quiet on this issue. You agree mainly with Gandhi’s philosophy, I do with Nathuram Godse’s. And the two may never meet. I don’t know anything about Gandhi, so I can’t express opinions about him or his philosophy. I am a communal/ fanatic Hindu by today’s standards. Some time ago, I did believe that all arguments and all issues could be solved through dialogue alone. Unfortunately, through my own experiences I now know it is not so. We, you, me, Anand Kadam, and others on this site are at least open to hearing out the other’s arguments. What I have experienced is talking to a wall or worse, the words do seem to go out from the mouth but they have no effect on the ears they fall on. But hey, that is just my problem. As I said, to each his own.
@Kailas
Fair enough
I also don’t know anything about Godse’s philosophy (I have read a bit of Gandhi) and that’s why I limited myself to the arguments presented in the play.
May be we can talk (argue, fight!:D ) when we have read a bit of both, until then peace and happy PFCing