The negative portrayal of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, is justified, said Asgar Wajahat, whose play Godse@Gandhi.com inspired a recently-launched movie Gandhi Vs Godse: Ek Yudh by acclaimed director Rajkumar Santoshi.

Wajahat was speaking at the Kalinga Literary Festival on Saturday in Bhubaneswar about why the film received sharp criticism from some quarters.

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The counterfactual history movie visualises dialogue between Godse and Gandhi and has become a subject of controversy as people from various quarters have accused the movie of equating Gandhi with Godse.

The author said the movie can be interpreted openly by people of various ideologies and explained that a character of imagination could be much more different in written literature and in performing art such as cinema.

“Those who are opposing it (the movie) have not seen the movie at all and have formed opinions based on hearsay. Some of the dialogues of the movie actually trash the very belief of Godse,” said Wajahat, who also co-wrote the movie’s dialogue along with Santoshi.