Mumbai: A film on how a former hard-core criminal was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s principles and is now spreading his message of peace will be released on January 30, the day the non-violence icon was shot to death.
Laxman Gole, 36, was convicted for 19 cases and imprisoned for assaults, extortion and attempt to murder at the age of 16 and had reconciled himself to a jail sentence of nine years. Even as he was imprisoned in various jails across Maharashtra, a chance encounter with Gandhi’s autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, transformed him.
After his release some eight years back, Gole the changed man joined the Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal, a Gandhian institution, and has through the years been on a single-minded mission of telling schoolchildren, college students, prisoners and people in general that “violence is not the answer to finding a solution to a problem.”
His journey from the slums of Mumbai where he fought, stole and lived a violent life, being convicted and sent to jail and then “changing myself to follow the path of truth is being enacted in the Hindi feature film called ‘Laxman Gole’ which has been produced by Shakuntalam Studio with the assistance of Mumbai Sarvoday Mandal,” Gole told Gulf News.
While Gole emphasises that it is a commercial film, he also clarifies that it is not like the Bollywood comedy Lage Raho Munna Bhai which uses “Gandhigiri” or his tenets to solve people’s problems. “This is a true life story and demonstrates how a person like me hailing from a jungle of crime learnt to reform myself through Gandhi’s ideals.”
It was through the Sarvodaya Mandal, which distributes books to prisoners, that he was able to read the book — that made him ponder over his own life in jail. He saw similarities between his own life to that of Gandhi, who had the courage to confess his mistakes, and used to take self-punishment in his life. This had an indelible mark on Gole. He felt that despite being an ordinary man like him, “Gandhi could inspire the entire nation to conduct a struggle for freedom by practising the principles of truth, non-violence and peace,” he says.
What touched him was Gandhi’s belief in change of heart and his saying, “Hate the sin, not the sinner.” Goal says, “We want the whole world to change to a peaceful path but that change should come in each of us. That is what I’ve been telling myself all these years.”
Therefore, he pleaded guilty of all the charges framed against him in the court. From jail, he also wrote letters of apology to the people whom he had harassed and threatened before.
After his release from Nashik jail, he joined the Sarvodaya Mandal to propagate Gandhi’s teachings of peace and non-violence.
“Today, people pay only lip service to Gandhi but his teachings largely remain ignored. The Mandal encourages jail inmates to read books on Gandhi and then appear for a test, following which they are given certificates.”
Not only does this help them to become a changed person, it also assists them when they apply for jobs after release from jail. Prospective employers see that these former convicts are willing to change for the better and start a new life.
Laxman is married with two daughters aged four and two.
