Hey Ram

Infobox_Film
name = Hey Ram


director = Kamal Haasan
writer = Kamal Haasan
Manohar Shyam Joshi
(Hindi dialogue)
starring = Kamal Haasan
Shah Rukh Khan
Hema Malini
Rani Mukerji
Girish Karnad
Naseeruddin Shah
Vasundhara Das
producer = Kamal Haasan
music = Ilaiyaraaja
cinematography = Tirru
editing = Renu Saluja
distributor = Raajkamal Films International
released = February 18, 2000
runtime = 202 min. (Tamil version)
199 min. (Hindi version)
language = Tamil, Hindi
imdb_id = 0222012

"Hey Ram" (Tamil: ஹே ராம், Devanagari: हे राम, translation: "Oh Ram!" or "Oh God!") is a controversial Indian film released both in Tamil and Hindi in 2000 and written, directed, produced by and starring Kamal Haasan. A period drama told in flashback, the semi-fictional plot centres around India's Partition and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

The film was a box office failure in India when released (thanks in part to numerous bans by local distributors leery of its heavy-hitting themes), but garnered positive reviews from critics who praised its performances and technical prowess, but steered clear of voicing an opinion on its artistic content. It is noteworthy here that this film was sent to Oscar nomination of the year, for the category 'Best Foreign Language Film' - Refer List_of_Indian_submissions_for_the_Academy_Award_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film.

"Taglines"
"An experiment with truth."

etting

The film is about a protagonist's journey from religious hatred to love with the theme of the partition of India in the background. Its relevance in the present Indian environment clouded by religious extremism was widely unrecognized. This is the story of Saket Ram, as narrated by his grandson. The film takes place as Ram, a retired archeologist, lies on the deathbed, on December 6, 1999, the 7th anniversary of the destruction of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.

ynopsis

The movie begins at present day with Saket Ram (Kamal Haasan), an 89-year-old South Indian Brahmin who is dying. The scene reverts back to the past as Saket remembers the 1940s, when he and his good friend, Amjad Ali Khan (Shahrukh Khan) were archaeologists working together under their boss, Mortimer Wheeler, in Mohenjo-daro (Indus Valley Civilization) in Karachi. Relations are pleasant between the Indians and the English, and Saket and Amjad do not approve of Partition and the creation of Pakistan.

Aparna Ram (Rani Mukerji), Saket's simple Bengali wife, is a school teacher. She lives in Calcutta in the midst of riots and chaos over the issue of the formation of Pakistan and the call by Mohammad Ali Jinnah for "Direct Action".Fact|date=February 2007 Saket goes to Calcutta and is swept into the madness. In one instance, Saket saves an innocent Sikh girl from the hands of a barbaric Muslim gang. When he returns to his house, he finds a group of Muslims entering his house. They brutally rape and murder Aparna. Saket, unable to cope with his tragic loss,kills the Muslims who raped and killed his wife in a fit of rage.

Outside his house, he runs into another Brahmin, Sriram Abhyankar (Atul Kulkarni), who is part of a Hindu militant group determined to fight the Muslims' malice with similar brute force, and assassinate Gandhi for what they perceive to be his treachery towards Hindu dominated India (Gandhi wanted Hindus and Muslims to co-exist peacefully with hope of winning over the hearts of the rioters through sheer self-pity). However, Abhyankar and his fellow extremists had lost patience at what they deemed Mahatma Gandhi's unreasonable stand to appease Pakistan, who had already invaded Kashmir by that time. Gandhi was pressurizing the newly founded Indian state to pay Rs. 50 Crore to Pakistan and some territorial concessions as well.

Urged by family to remarry, he weds Mythili (Vasundhara Das). However, on a trip to Maharashtra, he reunites with Abhyankar and becomes a part of his militant organisation that plots to get do away with Gandhi. Due to an horse-riding accident, Abhyankar is left a quadriplegic and has Ram swear that he will carry on his work, that of killing the Mahatma.

Saket comes to the belief that Mahatma Gandhi (Naseeruddin Shah) is solely responsible for the division of India and of the two religions and also of having supported whom they viewed as the enemy. Hindu fundamentalists, including Saket, are furious and plot to murder Gandhi. However, Saket, after several incidents surrounding and leading to Amjad's death (with whom he reunites briefly in a contested Delhi area), changes his mind about Gandhi. He decides against assassinating the leader, and attempts to beg for forgiveness. Soon afterwards, Gandhi is killed by another assassin, Nathuram Godse. Ironically, Gandhi dies without his famous last words: "Hey Ram!" as popularly believed, and as in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (film).(Though actual witnesses have denied having heard Gandhi utter those famous last words.)

Then on, Saket Ram lives by Gandhian principles. As the 89-year-old Saket Ram is being taken to the hospital, he is told of bomb blasts in the city due to Hindu-Muslim communal riots. He asks "Innuma" (even still)?". They were forced by the police to be taken into an underground shelter for their security, but Saket Ram dies there.

Cast

*Kamal Haasan as "Saket Ram"
*Shah Rukh Khan as "Amjad Ali Khan"
*Hema Malini as "Ambujam Iyengar"
*Rani Mukerji as "Aparna Ram"
*Atul Kulkarni as "Shriram Abhayankar"
*Vasundhara Das as "Mythili Iyengar"
*Girish Karnad as "Uppilli Iyengar"
*Saurabh Shukla as "Lalwani"
*Kavignar Vaali as "Bhashyam Iyengar"
*Naseeruddin Shah as "Mahatma Gandhi"
*Shruti Haasan as "Shruti Patel"
*Chandra Haasan as "Saket Ram's son"
* Written and Directed by: Kamal Haasan
* Produced by: N.Chandrahasan, Kamal Haasan
* Music: Ilaiyaraaja
* Executive Producer: D.N.Subramaniyan
* Cinematography: Tirru
* Edited by: Renu Saluja
* Art Director: Sabu Cyril

Awards

The film has won the following awards since its release:

2000 National Film Awards
* Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Supporting Actor - Atul Kulkarni
* Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Costume Design - Sarika
* Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Special Effects - Manthra

2001 Filmfare Best Background Score
* Won - Ilayaraaja - Best Background Score

Trivia

*Rather than shoot one version of the film in Tamil before dubbing it for its Hindi release, director Kamal Haasan opted to film two separate versions back-to-back - once in Tamil, and again in Hindi. Differences between the two releases are minimal, with only a few pieces of dialogue being given to different characters and with a greater amount of English dialogue in the Tamil version.
*The film's title references popular belief that Gandhi's dying words were "Hey, Ram" ("Oh, God"), however others claim he instead died instantly. In this movie's enactment of the assassination, the words are not spoken.
*Shruti Haasan (daughter of Kamal Haasan), makes a cameo appearance as Vallabhai Patel's daughter.
*The songs in the movie were composed by Ilaiyaraaja, which were highly acclaimed and ahead of times. Songs composed by another music director were already composed and shot. Ilaiyaraaja had to compose and score for the pre-shot song scenes.
*This was the first Indian movie for which the background score was done overseas (at Budapest, Hungary) and more importantly, using the prestigious Budapest Symphony Orchestra, with the budget being Rs. 40 lakhs approximately. The original score running more than hour was written by Ilaiyaraaja in 10 days.
*The pistol used by Saket Ram in the movie is a Mauser C96
*This film has a much talked about kiss involving Rani Mukherji and Kamal Hassan.

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Uruguay = In India it is an adult film. In Malaysia it is for all ages.

External links

*imdb title|id=0222012|title=Hey Ram
* [http://www.uiowa.edu/~incinema/HEYRAM.html Philip's Fil-ums review]