After touring the international film circuit, cinematographer Mazhar Kamran's directorial debut Mohandas, is finally set to release in India on July 10.
After touring the international film circuit, cinematographer Mazhar Kamran's directorial debut Mohandas, is finally set to release in India on July 10. The film takes a look at stolen identities and how impersonators usurp not only their victim's name but also their rights. "The subject is intriguing how a man can lose everything when an impersonator takes his place," explains Mazhar.
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Dhundte hain... Sonali Kulkarni, Aditya Srivastava and director Mazhar Kamran on the sets of Mohandas |
Mohandas revolves around a TV news correspondent's story about a man whose family weaves baskets to earn a living. He does well in his studies and is selected for a white-collar post in a coal mine. However, he is shocked when he finds out that someone else has assumed his name and his job. The film then tracks the levels to which democratic institutions can be manipulated.
"Mohandas is not based on anyone's life or any particular incident. It is a fictional account which will sound familiar to people caught in a similar scenario," says Mazhar. "Across the country, there are several who find themselves in such a predicament. Facts are distorted either to make someone dead or to simply steal someone's identity."
The most famous case of stolen identity was of Lal Bihari Mritak, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh. His uncle bribed a government official in 1976 to declare Lal dead so that he could grab his land. After struggling for 18 years, Lal was finally able to prove he was alive in 1994.
A couple of years ago, there had been reports that both Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik wanted to make a film on Lal's story.
The Gandhi connectionDirector Mazhar Kamran says his film is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and so he named it Mohandas. He has even set it in the fictional town of Purbundar, similar to Gandhi's birthplace Porbunder. "This is just to articulate the happenings in Gandhi's land," says Mazhar. Shot in Madhya Pradesh's mining region Sonbhadra, the film, written by Uday Prakash, stars Sonali Kulkarni, Sharbani Mukherji, Nakul Vaid, Aditya Srivastava and Sushant Singh.
