Neeraj Kabi on screen violence and Gandhi, plus five films for Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 has brought the Mahatma back into film conversations, and actor Neeraj Kabi has a sharp view on where Indian cinema is heading. Kabi has played Gandhi on screen twice, including in the TV show Samvidhaan more than a decade ago. He reportedly said that violence on screen has become a kind of drug for audiences, and that Gandhian thinking is the cure.

According to reports, Kabi named six values he links with Gandhi: ahimsa, satyagrah, sacrifice, leadership, humanity and equality. He reportedly argued that Gandhi used these like weapons that need proper training, not as a gentle form of meditation. Following them, he said, brings out the best version of every person.

Kabi reportedly compared violent films to smoking and drinking, saying people turn to them as sensitivity falls across the world. He also said a country should be judged by how far it lifts its citizens, not by GDP. Still, he made it clear he is not against violence on screen as such. In his view it must serve a bigger purpose in the story, as it did in Schindler's List. Making violent films only for money, he said, goes against art itself.

For fans who want to mark the day at home, there are plenty of films about the Mahatma. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), with Ben Kingsley in the lead, follows his path from a lawyer in South Africa to the centre of the freedom struggle, and it won eight Academy Awards, Best Picture among them. Shyam Benegal's The Making of the Mahatma (1996), starring Rajit Kapur, stays with those early South African years.

Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) takes a lighter route, with Sanjay Dutt's Munna guided by Gandhi, played by Dilip Prabhavalkar, and Arshad Warsi as Circuit. Gandhi, My Father (2007), directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, looks at Gandhi's troubled bond with his eldest son Harilal, with Darshan Jariwala and Akshaye Khanna in the two roles.

Kamal Haasan's Hey Ram (2000) is the heaviest of the lot. Haasan wrote and directed it, and plays Saket Ram, a man drawn towards extremism, while Naseeruddin Shah plays Gandhi. Together, these films show the Mahatma as a leader, a father and an idea that filmmakers keep coming back to.