Herogiri: How Gandhi Guided India’s Favourite Film Heroes

What’s common between Gandhi and Dev Anand?

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

(This story was first published on 29 August 2019 and is being reposted from The Quint’s archives on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.)

What’s common between Gandhi and Dev Anand? On the face of it, nothing. While one is a stylish and a popular Hindi film hero, the other is known for his austerity and is called the ‘Father of the Nation’.

However, there are similarities in how these two figures, Gandhi and the Hindi film hero, make decisions and difficult choices, and even in how they woo the girl. In his new book, A Gandhian Affair: India's Curious Portrayal of Love in Cinema, journalist and author Sanjay Suri looks at popular Hindi film heroes through a Gandhian lens. Guru Dutt’s idealism, Dev Anand’s swagger, Amitabh Bachchan’s anger, and Shahrukh Khan’s new-age coolness... Gandhi overshadows the popular Hindi film hero in ways we can’t imagine.

Watch the video to know more!