Don't listen to the negative reviews

An Exercise In Nonsense

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a small budget film,and the theatre was almost empty.Its the story of a Muslim motor mechanic ( played by Paresh Rawal )of Prayag who is given the very special task of repairing the motor of the very same vehicle which carried Gandhi's ashes to the Ganga Yamuna Sangam 62 years ago.Apparently some ashes are left and are to be immersed at sangam by the mahatma's grandson Tushar Gandhi ( played by Tushar Gandhi himself ).But bomb blasts occur in Prayag and Muslims are arrested .......leading to a call by the city's fanatical Ulema for a strike ........which means Paresh Rawal wont be able to complete his work on time ...Paresh is a god-fearing Muslim who supports the strike completely.........indeed has taken part in a violent protest against the arrest of the Muslims.......but the fact that he wont be able to complete the august task he has been given , tugs at his heart .He decides to go against the will of the entire community by completing the task even in the strike........inviting violence and excommunication from the fanatics against himself.To those who spew hatred against him ,he asks ,this man was killed by his own people for taking our side and fighting tooth and nail for our continued existence in this country ,even as Hindus were being pushed out of Pakistan,so i am working for the greatest well-wisher of our community in this land !!Having completed his task against the will of the quam ,he goes to see a Gandhi exhibition........and having accumulated info on gandhi , takes a even more astonishing decision .......he ,who had openly defied a strike ,must now convince the community to observe a strike when the truck carrying Gandhi's ashes ( whose motor he had repaired ) passes through the Muslim area , in respect for the prophet of non violence !!!!!The movie is a emotional one ,made more so by a emotional music score.......and Parash Rawal's acting is truly what holds the film together.I found it worth a watch......

Today is 30 Jan, 2011 the death anniversary of Gandhi's death and I come to watch this movie. After watching the movie, I was curious to know what people thought about the movie. Why this movie didn't got any prize. I am really shocked.This movie made my day and now I am thinking about doing something for the nation. Now I want to do something so that I can make people to think about nation. People who are critics may criticize the movie, they can not ignore the inner feeling of their heart. I voted the movie 10 out of 10 and I really appreciate the movie.thanks

While it touts itself as a movie that advocates unity, and there it does raise real issues about the conflict between collective action and individual priorities, there is an insidiously anti-Muslim message here. The director makes sure that the Muslim community looks irrational in its reaction to police actions that are presented as being perhaps a bit excessive, but mostly reasonable. The reality of Muslims, members of scheduled castes, and other religious, cultural and political minorities in much of India is that it's not slight overzealousness on the part of police and violent over-reaction on the part of minority communities that causes trouble.Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis have been targeted for real violence,physically, economically, politically and religiously. Against this real backdrop, the fact that the "good Muslim" in this movie is contrasted with what is painted as a tyrannical and sometimes even thuggish community, is not a message of sangam it's a message that Muslims need to accept the brutality of the state as their due, and that if they engage in any kind of coordinated collective action that it is a sign of their prejudice and that they are disloyal to and unworthy of India and to Ghandiji. Note the "humble wisdom" of the Muslim rickshaw-valla that his community can't tell him what to do because "this is not Pakistan or the Taliban." This is NOT Ghandian. Ghandi believed in collective action against injustice, this movie does not.

*this review contains no spoilers* I went to watch Road to Sangam only knowing that it was a film with a connection with Gandhi and had won some awards. What transpired on the screen in the next 135 minutes changed my perception of Gandhi and changed me as a person. I am some one who did not regard Gandhi in the high esteem a lot of people regard him in. He, to me, was some one who was adamant and threatened the nation with his blackmails which were carried out promptly by his followers. What I did not understand was that it was the power of Gandhi's thoughts which made people act the way they did. It had reason, it had logic.Coming to the film. We are given a rationale and the film makes a strong case for it. You almost start believing in the thinking behind it. Then, there is a slow process of change which is so slow and gradual. It is not some thing which happens right away or through a flash bulb of genius. It is realization in process. The way the change is shown is convincing enough for some one to believe in the Gandhian principle.The film has many layers to it. It is a film which asks 'what defines Karma'. It is a film about holding upright the faith Gandhi showed in the muslims of India. It is a film about how a person be it a Muslim or a person of any religion (or even an agnostic or atheist for that matter) should behave. That's the bigger picture.Then the film touches on tough subjects like partition and the role of an Indian Muslim. Many layers and subjects touched, all given due space.Paresh Rawal is excellent in the role of a man who works based on logic and is principled at the same time. I can't think of a better actor to carry out the role. The part of a Muslim from the state of Uttar Pradesh, perfect with the local accent, who has his own little mannerisms and characteristics is played perfectly. The facial expressions are not exaggerated. The lines are spoken with a calm balance about them, exactly how the character would say it.The pace of the movie is neither fast, nor slow. It has it's own rhythm and flows rather than moves. The cinematography is excellent with aspects of small town India (the city Allahabad in this case) shown. There are panoramic views and then there is attention to detail. A man making aloo tikki is shown for instance to capture the flavour of the chaat which is so popular in small town India.Coming to Gandhi films, I have seen quite a few. Gandhi was a great biographical sketch. Gandhi My Father shows the flaws of Gandhi - the father of his son. Lage Raho Munnabhai which was so popular tries to explain the Gandhi way of thinking and does a fair job of it. It has the bollywood masala mixed in it, was perfectly marketed and was a huge success. Gandhigiri became a trend. Sardar, again starring Paresh Rawal (as Sardar Patel), paints Gandhi as a principled, yet stubborn man whose will might have cost India There are umpteenth movies which are presented as documentaries on Gandhi, most of which are holistic. No movie portrays Gandhism, like Road To Sangam does. At least none I have seen.The show I went for was almost canceled as only one other person showed up at the ticket counter. In the end, just five of us came to watch the movie which they did screen thankfully. One engineer who had studied from Allahabad itself remarked that Gandhism is dead as no one turned up for this movie. I remarked that Munnabhai was a huge success. So it is a marketing flaw and lack of funds which meant audiences didn't come to watch this film. There is another aspect to it. It isn't a masala flick like many other bollywood flicks or like Munnabhai. It is not boring in any way, mind.I give the movie a perfect 10/10. Don't think it could have been made better.I just hope more people see it. So go see it and spread the word!