The Father through the lens

For millions of Indian children today, Gandhi is identified with the bald, bespectacled old man whose face appears in the currency note. Within this ambiance of anonymity and ignorance, Hindi cinema has succeeded to some extent in liberating the Father of the Nation from his captive anonymity frozen on rectangular pieces of paper to celebrate the principles he lived by. On the occasion of his birth anniversary, Shoma A. Chatterji looks at films on portrayal of Gandhi and on his ideologies