Kamal Haasan tells Rahul Gandhi he made Hey Ram as an apology to Mahatma Gandhi: 'I was a bitter critic of Gandhiji...'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sat down with actor-cum-politician Kamal Haasan recently for an interaction on many things ranging from politics to cinema. During the interaction, Haasan opened up about his change in ideology when it came to Mahatma Gandhi as a young man and admitted that he made Hey Ram as a way of saying sorry to him.

In the video posted by Rahul Gandhi on his YouTube channel, Haasan talked about how he changed his opinion about the father of the nation.  “My environment made me a bitter critic of Gandhiji when I was in my teens. My father just told me to read history. He is a lawyer and he did not argue with me, on this case. “Around 24-25 (years of age), I discovered Gandhi ji on my own and over the years, I have exponentially become a fan,” he said.

Kamal Haasan then revealed that this change in heart later resulted in him making Hey Ram, which starred him as a man wanting to kill Gandhi. He added, “To actually correct yourself and say sorry, that’s why I made Hey Ram, where I played a parallel assassin, wanting to kill Gandhi ji. As he goes nearer to the person – and the truth – he changes. But it’s too late. Somebody else does the job that he wanted to but changed his mind. That’s the story of the film. That is my way of saying sorry to Bapu.”

Hey Ram, which released in 2000, starred Haasan and was also written, directed, and produced by him. The period drama told the story of Saket Ram, a man who wanted to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi but changed his mind upon getting to know more about the man. The film also starred Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Hema Malini, Girish Karnad, Om Puri, and Naseeruddin Shah.