Click to play videoIt’s arguably the comeback of the millennium. Father of the Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, is once again taking centrestage in popular culture through the medium of the masses.
In the run-up to his birth anniversary on October 2, CNN-IBN discovers the relevance of Gandhi in our times and understands the reasons behind the phenomenal rediscovery that he has been for Generation Next.
New Delhi: Mahatma Gandhi or Bapu, as he is fondly referred to, is staging a grand comeback in the 21st century.
Fast becoming a rage for Generation Next, Gandhi is being customised to suit the technologically-savvy youngsters so much so that he's become a phenomenon the youth can flaunt.
No wonder then that the icon of India’s Independence has moved beyond road signs, notes and artists' strokes and has become modern and digital, seen in advertisements and promos these days.
While one youngster believes that Gandhi is “cool and trendy", the other is more specific. “Gandhi for me is also the Airtel advertisement," he says.
For 19-year-old Delhi boy Akshad, Gandhi accompanies him to Janpath, redefining street fashion with much aplomb.
"My T-shirts are my statements, I have to really believe in it if I have to wear it and I believe in Gandhi that's why its here," he says flaunting his Gandhi T-shirt.
And his coffee mug too. "Gandhi and me on the same cup, to start a day I need thought of the day and it is directly from Gandhiji," Akshad shows off his mug that has a digitally imprinted picture of him with the Mahatma.
Akshad’s fascination for Gandhi goes beyond fancy T-shirts and coffee mugs. “In this day of merchandising. As Gandhi becomes a rage, he also means good money for many,” he says.
Agree many shopkeepers selling Gandhi goodies. "Gandhiji has always been good business and its better now," says one.
For veteran Gandhians, this phenomenon is more than welcome.
"Anything that switches their interest to Gandhi pleases me, but I should think this in not the end of interest it will be deepened and sustained," says historian B R Nanda.
If Airtel’s advertisement that sells Gandhi's Quit India movement and goes with the punchline “two words can bring down an empire” can be inspirational, a caricature of Gandhi with “great curries no worries” can be controversial.
So when an Australian company portrayed him as a cook to sell beef curry, the uproar was inevitable.
That resulted an immediate withdrawal of the ad from the company wesite site.
When a distasteful Gandhi illustration figured, unapologetically, in the male magazine Maxim in United States in 2003, the apologies that followed were expected.
Then there was the Gandhi in the animation show Clone High USA, portrayed a party animal seeking acceptance.
"The bigger challenge is that Gandhi is being understood and that weighs more heavily. That will outweigh anything that's ridiculous," says Gandhi’s granddaughter Tara Gandhi.
So while the sale of Gandhi goodies has seen a remarkable increase and the Mahatma has become the ‘it’ model, it’s also clear that the underlying spirit behind all this still remains Gandhism, or shall we say Gandhigiri.
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