''Dear Friend Hitler'', released in India as ''Gandhi to Hitler'', is a 2011 Indian

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

based on letters written by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

to the leader of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and Chancellor of Germany and

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. The film, starring

Raghubir Yadav Raghubir Yadav is an Indian actor, music composer, singer and set designer who works in Hindi films. He made his film debut with ''Massey Sahib'' (1985), in which he played the title role. He has won two International Awards as Best Actor for ...

as Adolf Hitler and

Neha Dhupia Neha Dhupia (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian actress and model who works predominantly in Hindi, and some Punjabi, Telugu and Malayalam films. She has won the Femina Miss India 2002 pageant and was among the top 10 finalists in Miss Universe ...

Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...

, was directed by

Rakesh Ranjan Kumar Rakesh Ranjan Kumar is an Indian film director and writer. He directed ''Dear Friend Hitler'' which was premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2011. It was described by Duane Byrge as inept, "contrived" and "uber-awful" in ''The Hollywood Repor ...

and produced by Anil Kumar Sharma under the production house Amrapali media vision. It was screened at the

61st Berlin International Film Festival The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the President of the Jury. The Coen Brothers film ''True Grit'' opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total ...

where it received negative reviews. ''Film Business Asia'' quoted that "despite the provocative title, the film is not a tribute to the murderous

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...

". It premiered in India on 29 July 2011.

Plot

The film is set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and centres upon the letters written by Gandhi (Avijit Dutt) to Adolf Hitler (Raghubir Yadav), and around the relationship of Hitler with his long-term lover Eva Braun (Neha Dhupia), whom he married in his final days in the Berlin bunker in which they died. The film depicts the difference between the ideologies of Gandhi and Hitler and claims the superiority of

Gandhism Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of M.K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The term " ...

over

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

Cast

* Nalin Singh as Joseph Goebbels * Nasir Abdullah as Albert Speer *

Jatin Sarna Jatin Sarna (born 2 November 1984) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films and theatre. He is best known for his work in ''Meeruthiya Gangsters'', ''Saat Uchakkey'', ''Sonchiriya'', '' Darbar'', '' 83'' and '' Sacred Games'', an original ...

as Shaqir * Lucky Vakharia as Amrita Kaur *

Nikita Anand Nikita Valentinaa is an Indian model, actress, television presenter and former beauty queen who was crowned Miss India Universe 2003. She represented India at Miss Universe 2003 where she was unplaced, ending India's eleven-year streak of consec ...

Magda Goebbels Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels (née Ritschel; 11 November 1901 – 1 May 1945) was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. A prominent member of the Nazi Party, she was a close ally, companion, and politic ...

* Bhupesh Kumar Pandey as Subhas Chandra Bose *

Avijit Dutt Avijit Dutt is an Indian filmmaker, actor, theater director and communications consultant. Living and working out of New Delhi. He has done his masters from Calcutta University in English Literature and began his career at an English Faculty in ...

* Hanuman Prasad Rai as

Otto Günsche __NOTOC__ Otto Günsche (24 September 1917 – 2 October 2003) was a mid-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a member of the SS Division Leibstandarte before he became Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. G� ...

Production

Anupam Kher had originally agreed to play the role of Hitler, but he backed out after Jewish organisations in India condemned him for playing the part because of Hitler's massacre of millions of Jews. The filmmakers accused Kher of not returning the 4 lakh (400,000 rupees) he had been paid after signing the contract and consequently sued him for 2.5 crore (25 million rupees). However, Kher perceived it as a way of filmmakers to promote their film before the release. It is the only mainstream Bollywood film to refer to the

Indian Legion , image = Flag of the Indian Legion.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Flag of the Indian Legion , country = , allegiance = Adolf ...

, a

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

unit recruited from Indian volunteers.

Criticism and controversies

British newspaper, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', declared the film to be profoundly misguided and to show a shocking ignorance of history. Noah Massil, president of the Central Organization of Indian Jews in Israel (COIJI) stated that "he would write to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Manmohan Singh to intervene in order to prevent bringing disrepute to our entertainment industry", but the filmmakers claimed that the film does not glorify Hitler, but rather juxtaposes him against Gandhi's ideology of peace.

Reception

The film was met with negative reviews. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the film 2 stars out of 5, calling it an "unnecessary play with history". The ''

Daily News and Analysis ''Zee Media Corporation Limited'' (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group which is controlled by Subhash Chandra. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting of new ...

'' gave the movie one star.

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

criticised the movie for using Indian actors to play all non-Indian characters, using India itself as a stand-in to Europe, and for its "strands". Koimoi gave the film 0.5/5; although it praised Yadav's performance as Hitler, it criticised the film's script, direction, technical values, soundtrack, and the performance from other actors.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2011 films Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Cultural depictions of Eva Braun Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels Cultural depictions of Albert Speer Cultural depictions of Mahatma Gandhi Films about Mahatma Gandhi Indian war drama films Films set in the 1940s Films set in Berlin Films about the German Resistance Films set in the British Empire World War II films based on actual events 2011 war drama films Azad Hind Films scored by Sanjoy Chowdhury 2011 drama films Films about Adolf Hitler Film controversies Film controversies in India