Smriti to make a serial on Gandhi

Smriti Irani, television's original bahu, is making a mega and bilingual teleserial with UTV on Mahatma Gandhi that's not just for Indian audiences, it'll be going West as well.


This is the first project being made by an Indian production house for a worldwide audience. Discussions with the US and UK broadcasters are on. And Smriti is excited, naturally. "Mahatma Gandhi was also a husband, a father, a family man.

Though his sacrifices have been chronicled on screen before, we would also like to highlight the sacrifices made by his family, a story largely untold. Gandhiji's journey was hugely impacted by incidents in his early childhood and his stay in South Africa. We would like to shoot on actual locations to give it the authenticity it deserves," she said.

How did the idea of making this show come about? "My husband Zubin and I have been discussing it for a while, but we didn't want an epic of this magnitude to succumb to the trappings and pressures of the number game.

The COO of the production house came to know of our plans. And the deal was inked on the day when Gandhiji gave the call for Quit India Movement," replied a proud Smriti who's been given total creative freedom on the project. "A panel of researchers, in consultation with the writers, will okay every episode since we want it to be historically accurate," she added.