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Precisely after 21 years, B B Pradhan of 'Saaransh' returns to Indian film screen as Uttam Chaudhary. The character may have been elevated from a middle class teacher to a retired Hindi professor, but the pangs and pains of the real India have remained the same during the last two decades so. Anupam Kher was just 28 years old when he did the outstanding role of a 65- year- old teacher in his debut 'Saaransh', with director Mahesh Bhatt. Since then , Anupam has traveled a long way by playing all sorts of roles (left, right and center). He has grabbed as many roles as he could .

The zeal to make the name and also to earn enough money for survival in the glamour world made him do so many miniscule and absurd roles too. But the actor in him that traveled from Chandigarh to Lucknow is still alive in him. To return what he has taken from cinema, Anupam made a film titled 'Om Jai Jagdish' as a director. The film flopped and no one bets on a failed artist in the cruel world of entertainment. But, Anupam is a man of conviction. He has returned with a fury and now has become producer to present his ideas of cinema before the world in his 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara' releasing it just three days before the birth anniversary of the Father of The Nation -- Mahatma Gandhi.

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'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara' presents a relationship between the old and the new India, a country that wants to become a global power to be at par with those who ruled it for centuries. The cinematic bridge of these two different forms of thoughts and society is 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara'. The film needs to be watched in the context of the people's feeling about their country during the last over 50 years. They are indeed perplexed to see where the nation is heading towards.

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The question comes in the form of Professor Uttam Chaudhary (Anupam Kher). His is the voice of the time not only in the form of an aged person but also because his thoughts are related to Gandhian dreams. Professor Chaudhary and his family of one son and one daughter (Urmila Matondkar) live in Mumbai. The professor was a good scholar of Gandhian thoughts when he taught Hindi to college students.

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Now, as he ages fast and starts losing his memory. He remembers things in flashes and flakes. He thinks of something and concludes something else. Suddenly, one day he shocks the family by remembering something that fails to erase from his mind despite the disease of forgetfulness. Chaudhary's daughter has a great challenge to face. She lives in a city where even neighbors do not know each other. She has to save his father from being drowned in the sea that he has himself built around him. She also has to support the family and also keep the life moving in tandem with its requirements.

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Not many may have heard the name of director Jhanu Barua in the cow belt where Bapu is still worshipped by masses. His ideas are still afresh and though the need of the time may have forced the nation to move on a different path from Bapu's ideas of Swaraj (apna raj), 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara' presents all this and more in a package. Directed by nine Awards winner, Jhanu Barua's 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara' is a winner in many aspects.

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It wins our heart as a soothing film; it makes you awake with its jolts and punches and it also makes you smile somewhere deep in the heart when you see the like of Anupam Kher coming to his second best after 'Saaransh', 'Karma' and 'Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin'. Though over the years Anupam has done so many absurd roles, yet professor Chaudhary played by him tries to tell the his well wishers that he hasn't yet killed the actor in him. He blames the system for killing Gandhi. So, all the accolades go to Anupam for his conviction and having made a brilliant film with his own money.

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'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara' is a tribute from Bollywood to Mahatma Gandhi . And, the movie also presents the so-called glam doll of Ram Gopal Verma's camp Urmila Matondkar in a very powerful role. In fact, she is the balancing power of the drama. She has worked very hard and has proved that if she can deliver 'Rangeela' and 'Road', then she can also perform equally well in 'Pinja' and 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara'. The movie is well supported by a long list of seasoned and apt actors like Parvin Dabbas, Boman Irani, Rajit Kapur, Anu Kapoor, and Prem Chopra and the last but not the least Waheeda Rehman. Bappi Lahiri makes a strong and noticeable comeback as a music composer. This is highly technical too, and is a perfect watch out for the coming weekend.