“The purpose was to explore the relevance of Gandhi today,” says artist Brinda Chudasama Miller, who conceptualised the films and plans to screen them in Delhi,soon after the Mumbai premiere. “It was a difficult subject but we came up with interesting observations.” Kohli’s film, for instance, shows an artificial war zone made of chocolate and talks about the need to return to peace and harmony. “Much like chocolate, Gandhiji’s message can make us happy too,” she says.

Besides Kohli and Surendranath, Looking at Gandhi has brought together ghazal maestro Talat Aziz, artists Jaideep Mehrotra and Vikram Bawa, foreign service officer Rachna Korhonnen, producer Samir Seth, interior designer Krsna Mehta and author Anurag Tyagi — all of them as directors.

Seth’s The Awakening zooms in on a group of young girls who rediscover the Mahatma. Mehrotra’s short Moving Images: Gandhi In Five Minutes talks about the exploitation of brand Gandhi in today’s market-driven world, while Bawa presents a contrary image in his film, Yahaan Gandhi Bikta Nahi, that there is no taker for the father of the nation. “What would happen if Gandhi were to appear in our world? Yahaan... explores such an imaginary situation,” says Bawa.