Laxman Gole is a contemporary Indian

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...

who has been described as the real-life Munnabhai. He is the 2011 winner of the Zindagi Live National Award given by IBN-7. The 2015 Indian biographical Hindi film ''Laxman Gole'' is based on Gole's life and his journey. The film is written and directed by Faisal Hashmi.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6458294 He is the subject of a documentary film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Madhavi Tangella. ''Prayaschit, Gunahon Ke Zakhm'', a TV show on

Sony Entertainment Television Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel, that was launched on 30 September 1995, and is owned by Culver Max Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese Sony. SET India's You ...

, hosted by

Tisca Chopra Tisca Zareen Chopra (née Arora; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress, author and film producer who has appeared in over 45 feature films, predominantly in Hindi language. ''Taare Zameen Par'', her best known feature film, was India's off ...

had an episode based on his life.

Conflict with the law

The time Gole spent in jail gave him a bad reputation and brought him in contact with criminals. He said, "To some extent I blame the police for making me a criminal." He spent over seven years in jail as an

undertrial ''Undertrial'' (Hindi: अन्डरट्रायल) is a 2007 Bollywood crime drama film directed by Aziz Khan. Plot Sagar Hussain is in jail as an "under trial" prisoner. Sagar's wife Sabeena (Monica Castelino) was proved to be a prostit ...

and prisoner for assault, attempt to murder and extortion, with 19 cases filed against him.

Encounter with Gandhi's philosophy

While being held in

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

jail under

Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (Mah. 30/1999) is a law enacted by the state of Maharashtra in India in 1999 to combat organised crime and terrorism. Known as 'MCOCA', the Act provides the State Government with special powe ...

Gole came across Gandhi's autobiography: ''

The Story of My Experiments with Truth ''The Story of My Experiments with Truth'' ( gu, Satya Na Prayogo athva Atmakatha, ) is the autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, covering his life from early childhood through to 1921. It was written in weekly installm ...

''. (A story in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' compares this with the incident in the film ''

Lage Raho Munna Bhai ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (; ) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who co-wrote the screenplay with Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is the follow-up t ...

'' in which Gandhi "appears" to the protagonist of the film, Munna Bhai.) Reading the book made Gole realise the fruitlessness of violence, falsity, crime and hatred. He was impressed by Gandhi's courage in coming to terms with his mistakes and seeking forgiveness for them, to get on with life. Gole decided to plead guilty to the charges laid against him. He wrote a letter to the judge sitting over his case admitting the charges against him and expressed regret for them. The judge warned him that doing so could result in him being sent to prison for seven years, but Gole declared that he was prepared to bear whatever punishment he deserved. Gole also wrote letters to those he had hurt — apologising to them. Impressed by Gole's admission of his guilt and his desire for atoning for his wrongdoings, the judge gave him a sentence reduced to half. He was acquitted in 18 cases, sentenced for four years in one case and for two months in another. This sentence, too, was reduced to two years.

After release from jail

After release from Nasik jail, Gole began working for the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, lecturing on Gandhian philosophy in Indian jails including

Tihar jail Tihar Prisons, also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram, is a prison complex in India and the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi, the prison contains nine central prisons, and is one ...

. He has trained in computers and runs his own NGO: Saksham Peace Foundation.

Personal life

Gole under the influence of Gandhian philosophy gave up consuming meat and alcohol. He is married and has two children.

Popular culture

Biographical film

The 2015 Indian biographical Hindi film ''Laxman Gole'' is based on Gole's life and his journey. It is written and directed by

Faisal Hashmi Faisal Hashmi is an Indian film director and screenwriter. His first Gujarati feature film, ''Vitamin She'', ran for six weeks housefull into theatres and was a phenomenon at the box office. Later, he wrote and directed Gujarati's very first sci ...

. Rohan Gujar plays the role of Laxman Gole. Other well-known actors like Sanjay Choudhary, Girish Jain, Kumkum Das play important roles.

Documentary

He is the subject of a film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Madhavi Tangella.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gole, Laxman Living people Criminals from Mumbai Year of birth missing (living people)