Deepak Antani

Deepak Antani was born in Bhuj, in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India. He completed a Diploma in Electrical engineering with distinction. Later, he pursued his passion for performing arts and earned a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dramatics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Before becoming a full-time actor, he worked as an electrical technician at Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited. (IPCL) and as a production assistant at Doordarshan, India's national broadcaster.^[19][18]

Deepak Antani began his career as a production assistant at Doordarshan, Ahmedabad, and later served as the Programming Head at ETV (now Colors Gujarati). He also worked as a consultant for various regional Gujarati TV channels, including GSTV and Soham TV.^{[12][15][19][18]}

He made his directorial debut in Gujarati cinema with Bhav Bhav Na Bharthar in 2000, which won regional film awards.^[20] Over the years, he has acted in more than 25 Gujarati and Hindi films and over 30 television serials. He has also written, directed, and performed in many stage plays, short films, and documentaries focusing on Indian history and social themes.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Antani is best known for his long-standing portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi. He played Gandhi in Gandhiji My Mentor (2016), which was screened at several international film festivals and later released on ZEE5 and YouTube.^[14] In 2023, he portrayed Gandhi in Gandhi Godse - Ek Yudh (2023), directed by Rajkumar Santoshi,^{[2][3][4][21][5][22][13][23]} and Mujib: The Making of a Nation (2023), directed by Shyam Benegal.^{[1][7][24][17]} He also played the same role in Kesari Chapter 2 (2025), which was released in 2025 and produced by Dharma Productions.^{[11][12][14][15][25]}

On stage, Antani has performed as Gandhi in more than 190 shows. His notable theatrical works include Yugpurush (2016), which depicted Gandhi's spiritual journey, and M. K. Gandhi Hazir Ho (since 2019), a solo play that he also wrote and directed.^[6][14] Yugpurush became part of a record-breaking theatrical run with over 1000 performances in India and abroad.^{[7][1][11][12][19][18]}

His image and voice as Gandhi have been featured in several museum exhibits and digital projects. These include Walk with Gandhiji at Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum in New Delhi, Talk with Bapu at Mahatma Gandhi Museum, Rajkot, and an exhibit at the Gandhi Tower in Patna.^[7][14] He has also appeared in government-supported documentaries such as Jang-e-Azadi, Vishwa Manav Mahatma Gandhi and Gandhiji Amdavad Ma.^{[1][9][11][12][19][18]}

Antani recently directed the Gujarati feature film Goti Lo (2025), continuing his contribution to socially relevant narratives in regional Indian cinema.^[26][27][19]

In January 2019, Deepak Antani participated in a 150-kilometre Gandhi Padyatra across Gujarat, led by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, along with Dileepbhai Sanghani and Parshottam Rupala. The padyatra aimed to promote basic education and Gandhian values. Antani, appearing as Mahatma Gandhi, delivered public speeches during the journey to engage communities on themes of truth, non-violence, and self-reliance.^{[41][1][42][43][44]}

Deepak Antani was featured in the Limca Book of Records (2020–2022) and the India Book of Records (2019) for the most performances as Mahatma Gandhi.^{[9][13][14][16][17]} He won Best Actor for Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh at the Maharaja Film Festival^[45] and received a special award at the Transmedia Gujarati Awards (2024) for his portrayal of Gandhi.^[1][8][46]

• List of artistic depictions of Mahatma Gandhi
• Gujarati theatre
• List of Gujarati films
• List of Indian film directors