P Sheshadri's film on Gandhi's childhood releases this Friday ahead of Gandhi Jayanti

P Sheshadri's twelfth film is quite a special one and he has a special plan for his upcoming film's release. Called Mohandas, the film is based on Mahatma Gandhi's childhood and would be released on Friday October 1, ahead of Gandhi Jayanti. The film is quite special as according the filmmaker his twelfth film is the first biopic in his twenty year long journey of filmmaking which began with Munnudi.
Mohandas is a children’s film that explores the childhood of Mahatma Gandhi. It is largely based on the first few chapters of his autobiography A Story of My Experiments with Truth. The film captures Mahatma Gandhi’s childhood and the events that helped him understand the essence of truth and the power of non-violence. It covers Gandhi’s life over a period of around seven years spanning from his childhood to adolescence when he was known as Mohandas. Though Gandhi lived more than a century ago, the film intends to build a bridge between him and those of the present generation. The film mainly hinges on the idea that though life styles change over generations, the importance of truth does not. This is illustrated through many incidents from Gandhi’s childhood.
The crux of the film lies in how Mohandas succeeded in reflecting on his follies, realized the importance of truth and reinforced the love of his parents. The film shows the influence that two stories from mythology had on Mohandas. The characters Satya Harishchandra and Shravankumara were embodiments of truth and devotion for him. They shaped his moral compass that helped him deal with situations that tested his adherence to truth.
Though the ambience in which children of the present find themselves in are very different from that in which Gandhi experienced his childhood, the moral dilemmas that he faced, and the way he dealt with the lure of falsehood and vices are still relevant. The film serves the dual purpose of trying to understand what went into the making of the Mahatma, and also how a boy encountered the challenges that befell him. It lays emphasis on how Mohandas realized his mistakes and understood the value of truth and non-violence.