Phule and Gandhi's ideas of ahimsa are the same

How valid is the latest controversy over Phule? Pratik Gandhi and director Ananth Mahadevan discuss their upcoming film, choosing historical credibility over dramatics, reflecting on Bollywood's hollow portrayal of caste, and more.

- SHREYAS PANDE

LAYING a Mahatma is not new for Pratik Gandhi. The actor's much-awaited web series on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, being helmed by Hansal Mehta, is still in the works. In Ananth Mahadevan's Phule, Pratik will be seen playing the fierce critical thinker and rationalist social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. Born over 40 years before Gandhi, Phule's strong criticism of Brahmanical patriarchy and rigorous on-ground praxis to negate the stringent rules of the caste system caused a major stir in the late 18th century. The film's trailer shows how Phule and his wife Savitribai (played by Patralekhaa) first used the term 'Dalit' to refer to the oppressed castes. Later, Gandhi referred to them as 'Harijans'. In that way, Gandhi and Phule stood in contrast with one another. Pratik, however, feels that the two shared similar ideas. "Phule believed that the most powerful weapon against both social injustice and colonial rule is not violence but education. Gandhi's ideas of ahimsa are the same," says Pratik.