Hey Ram

About the film

Hey Ram is a 2000 Indian historical crime drama film written, directed, and produced by Kamal Haasan, that stars him in the title role with Shah Rukh Khan (in his Tamil debut) in a pivotal role. It was simultaneously made in the Tamil and Hindi languages.

The film's soundtrack and score were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. It is an alternate history film that depicts India's Partition, Direct Action Day and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. The Hindi version was distributed by Khan's Dreamz Unlimited. The title of the film was derived from Gandhi's alleged last words.

Plot

In 1999, 89-year-old Hindu Saket Ram is on his death bed in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is being taken care of by his grandson Saket Ram Jr., a famous novelist who writes historical fiction, and their family doctor, Munawar. Saket Ram Jr explains how he grew up listening to his grandfather's stories and proceeds to narrate one of his grandfather's strange stories that he plans to use for his next novel. As his grandson narrates the story, the older Saket Ram relives it.

In 1946, Ram and his Pathan Muslim friend, Amjad Ali Khan are archaeologists working together under Mortimer Wheeler in Mohenjo-daro, Sind Province. Relations are good between the Indians and the English. Ram and Amjad do not approve of the planned partition and the upcoming creation of Pakistan. Although many Indian Muslims plan to move to the new Dominion of Pakistan, Amjad decides to stay in India as he believes it is his homeland.

After the archaeological site is shut down out of fear of riots, young Ram returns to Calcutta, Bengal State to his wife, Aparna. On his way home, he witnesses the riots and chaos during Direct Action Day. While out to get some food, Ram manages to save an innocent Sikh girl from a Muslim mob. When he returns to his house, he is attacked and held hostage by his family tailor, Altaf and a group of Muslims. They rape Aparna, but upon discovering that the police are entering the building, slit Aparna's throat and flee. Unable to cope with his tragic loss, Ram takes his gun and attempts to follow them. He manages to find Altaf, who begs for mercy, although Ram kills him.

Production

Kamal Haasan had spent all of 1998 on filming Marudhanayagam, which ended up in production hell due to lack of funds, and did not act in any other film during the period (barring Kaathala Kaathala), much to the dismay of his fans. To please them, he sought to begin and finish another film before resuming work on Marudhanayagam, which became Hey Ram. Another motivation for Haasan to do the film was because, although he was born in a family of people devoted towards Mahatma Gandhi, he himself was not initially a devotee, and had a critical view of Gandhi even as a teenager. Haasan initially intended to title the film as Satya Sodanai (transl. Experiments With Truth), a reference to the title of Gandhi's autobiography, published in English as The Story of My Experiments with Truth, but later decided on Hey Ram, the last words allegedly spoken by Gandhi when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. The film was produced by Haasan and his brother Chandrahasan under their banner Raaj Kamal Films International, and was the company's first film to be shot simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi. The dialogues for the Hindi version were written by Manohar Shyam Joshi. Cinematography was handled by Tirru, and editing by Renu Saluja.

Haasan chose the Hindi actor Shah Rukh Khan to portray the Pathan character Amjad Ali Khan, partly because the actor's father was a Pathan who was from Peshawar. Though not a native Tamil speaker, Khan dubbed in his own voice. It marks Khan's debut in Tamil cinema. He did not ask for any remuneration from Haasan, as he considered it an honour and privilege to work with one of his mentors. The Marathi actor Mohan Gokhale was initially cast as Shriram Abhyankar; he had started working on the film in Madras but died suddenly due to a heart attack. Haasan later chose Atul Kulkarni, another Marathi actor, to do the role. Hema Malini, who had reduced acting in films by then, accepted to act as Ambujam after being offered the role by Haasan. For the role of Ambujam's daughter Mythili, Haasan initially wanted Malini's daughter Esha Deol; the role ultimately went to Vasundhara Das. It is her first major appearance in a Tamil film. Hassan's daughter Shruti made her acting debut, portraying Vallabhai Patel's daughter.

Haasan initially considered having British actor Ben Kingsley, who portrayed Gandhi in a 1982 film, to reprise the role in Hey Ram but dropped the idea as he felt "it would be cliched and the film wouldn't be honest". He later approached Naseeruddin Shah, who portrayed Gandhi in the 1998 play Mahatma vs Gandhi and had unsuccessfully auditioned for the 1982 film. Shah was initially reluctant due to the long hours of makeup required, but eventually accepted. Haasan wanted a Bengali woman to portray Saket Ram's Bengali wife Aparna, and chose Rani Mukerji, also because of her Hindi cinema stardom. Saurabh Shukla was cast as a Sindhi character Lalwani after Haasan was impressed with his performance in Satya (1998). Girish Karnad, who portrayed Saket Ram's father-in-law Uppili Iyengar, recommended Sharad Ponkshe, who portrayed Godse in the Marathi play Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy, to Haasan for reprising his role in the film. Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar wanted to join the film, and Haasan accepted; Tushar plays himself. Mohini Mathur, who was 13 years old when witnessing Gandhi's assassination, accepted Haasan's request to play Amjad Ali Khan's mother Haajra.

Key details