Gandhi Jayanti 2026| ‘Violence on screen in Indian films has become a drug, and Gandhism is the antidote,’ says Neeraj Kabi

On Gandhi Jayanti, Neeraj Kabi, who played Mahatma Gandhi on screen twice, shares why his values are still relevant, especially when violent films are on rise

Neeraj Kabi played the character of Mahatma Gandhi in the TV show Samvidhaan more than a decade ago, but the actor believes the Gandhian way of life holds extreme relevance, especially today. “His relevance will remain for generations to come. Such a human will never become irrelevant,” he tells us on Gandhi Jayanti today.

Neeraj Kabi on Mahatma Gandhi

The actor attributes his relevance to his six qualities: ahimsa, satyagrah, sacrifice, leadership, humanity and equality. “He treated them as weapons, not as a gentle way of meditation. Just as you need weapons for war and train a soldier with those weapons, the training has to be there for these too,” Kabi insists, adding, “If you want to get the highest version of every human being on this planet, then you need to follow these six Gandhian rules.”

Neeraj Kabi feels the young generation is already exhibiting the power of Gandhian principles, as proven by the student protests at Jantar Mantar earlier this year against NEET paper leaks. “The baton of change was carried forward by the youth of the nation during the freedom struggle, and even today, they brought about a change by majorly sticking to non violence and working towards their goals,” he says.

While Gandhi preached non-violence, the Hindi film industry today is increasingly showing violence on screen and it is also emerging a success with the audience. Mention that to Kabi and he says, “Just as you have smoking and drinking, violence in cinema has become like a drug that people go to enjoy because sensibility levels are going down across the world. The only way to mark the success of a country is not GDP, it’s about where you have taken your citizens to reach their higher versions. And our levels are going down, and we are becoming insensitive. Violence has become the drug, and we are supplying that drug through cinema. We need to understand this quickly before it becomes a shame for us.”

However, he asserts that he isn’t against violence being shown on screen, but it needs to serve a purpose. “There needs to be a higher sensibility that we should have as an artiste. If you make films only to create money and therefore you're making violence, then it's a dichotomy, because then you're going against not just Gandhism, it goes against art itself. Unless your violence is leading to something much bigger in your story, and you are able to use violence as a genre to give away something much more powerful, like it was in Schindler’s List, that makes sense, otherwise not. People look up to cinema and then you inspire them the wrong way,” he ends.