Gandhi (film)

''Gandhi'' is a 1982 epic biographical film based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, a major leader in the Indian independence movement against the British Empire during the 20th century. A co-production between India and the United Kingdom, the film was directed and produced by Richard Attenborough from a screenplay written by John Briley. It stars Ben Kingsley in the title role. The biographical film covers Gandhi's life from a defining moment in 1893, as he is thrown off a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment and concludes with his assassination and funeral in 1948. Although a practising Hindu, Gandhi's embracing of other faiths, particularly Christianity and Islam, is also depicted.

''Gandhi'' was released by Columbia Pictures in India on 30 November 1982, in the United Kingdom on 3 December, and in the United States on 8 December. It was praised for providing a historically accurate portrayal of the life of Gandhi, the Indian independence movement and the deleterious results of British colonisation on India. Its production values, costume design, and Kingsley's performance received worldwide critical acclaim. It became a commercial success, grossing $127.8 million on a $22 million budget. ''Gandhi'' received a leading eleven nominations at the 55th Academy Awards, winning eight, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (for Kingsley). The British Film Institute ranked it as the 34th greatest British film of the 20th century. The American Film Institute ranked the film 29th on its list of most inspiring movies.

Plot

In June 1893 in South Africa, young lawyer Mohandas Gandhi is forcibly expelled from a whites-only train carriage in Pietermaritzburg despite having a first class ticket, subsequently campaigning for Indian equality in South Africa. Dada Abdullah, president of the Natal Indian Congress, notices his campaign and invites him to a demonstration where he burns his pass. The South African Government then attempts to enact a law where Indians will be fingerprinted, akin to criminals. Gandhi responds with numerous peaceful demonstrations against the new law's unjust nature, and Jan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa, eventually orders his arrest. Later, the Government releases Gandhi and relents by granting some rights to Indians, fulfilling his short-term goal. Anglican clergyman Charles Freer Andrews joins his mission, and Vince Walker, an American journalist from the ''New York Times'', takes special interest in him. Gandhi’s work is at his ashram, where many figures associated with him include Andrews, Hermann Kallenbuch, and later Madeleine Slade, whom Gandhi names Mirabehn.

Gandhi returns to India in 1915 where he is cordially invited to the Indian National Congress where at an outdoor luncheon he gets to meet its leaders: Sardar Patel, a young Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who is advocating self rule for India, as well as Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who becomes his mentor. Jinnah supports Gandhi’s involvement in politics, but opposes his unconventional approach. At a meeting of the Congress led by Jinnah, Gandhi's speech captivates the ensemble, especially Patel.

Gandhi pledges allegiance to the British Empire in WW1, but simultaneously demands self rule for India. His satyagrahas at Champaran and Kheda are brutally curtailed by the British. Despite Indian involvement in WW1, the administration in India passes the Rowlatt Act in 1919, which is seen by the movement as betrayal. While a group of people listen to speeches about freedom, General Reginald Dyer orders his Gurkha soldiers to fire upon them unawares, committing the Amritsar massacre.

Jinnah suggests non-cooperation for protesting against British rule, and Gandhi surprisingly agrees. Its immediate success causes the Chauri Chaura incident, where protestors kill and burn police officers in the United Provinces. Disgusted, Gandhi orders to call off the non-cooperation movement, enraging Jinnah, before he retreats to his ashram and fasts to call off the masses.

In 1930, after organizing the Salt March against the British monopoly on salt in India, accompanied by Vince Walker and his associate, Gandhi is arrested and sent to prison. When he is released, Gandhi is then invited to London by Ramsay MacDonald to attend the Round Table conferences regarding future Dominion status for the Indian Empire. However, they prove fruitless and Gandhi and the other Congress leaders are imprisoned during WW2. While under house arrest, Gandhi's wife Kasturba dies, and he mourns her.

Dissatisfied by the Congress and Gandhi, Jinnah resigns and returns to the Muslim League, where he begins demands for a separate state to be made out of British India for the Muslim minority. Gandhi is upset, and in 1945, Viceroy Louis Mountbatten declares India's upcoming independence as the territory's final Governor-General. Gandhi offers Jinnah to be Prime Minister and to choose its first cabinet; Nehru agrees to it to maintain India's independence, but Jinnah declines, stating that only independence for Pakistan with him as its leader, will ensure Muslim safety, upsetting Patel, Nehru, and Azad.

India and Pakistan finally gain their independence back-to-back in August 1947, and millions of people cross the borders into the two newly-formed countries, but sectarian violence occurs along the new borders between Hindus and Muslims alike. The Indian military attempts to control uprisings in Delhi and Bombay, while in Calcutta murder and violence between Hindus and Muslims rampage through the streets. Devastated, Gandhi holds a fast unto death, causing Hindus to stand down and Huseyn Suhrawardy to call upon Muslims to stop fighting. Gandhi advises a concerned Hindu man, upset about murdering a Muslim infant to avenge his son's death in the violence, to find a Muslim boy whose family had died in the violence and raise him as a faithful Muslim.

While heading to afternoon prayers in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, Gandhi is shot point blank 3 times by Nathuram Godse and exclaims “Oh, God!” as he perishes. After his funeral, his casket is carted throughout Delhi accompanied by a mourning Nehru (now the Prime Minister of India), numerous Indian citizens, government officials from all over India, and international dignitaries. His ashes are poured into the Ganges, and he is mourned by the leaders of the Congress and the Indian independence movement as a whole.

Cast

Production

This film had been Richard Attenborough's dream project, although two previous attempts at filming had failed. In 1952, Gabriel Pascal secured an agreement with the Prime Minister of India (Jawaharlal Nehru) to produce a film of Gandhi's life. However, Pascal died in 1954 before preparations were completed.See Page 219 states that " Nehru had given his consent, which he confirmed later in a letter to Gabriel: 'I feel... that you are the man who can produce something worthwhile. I was greatly interested in what you told me about this subject he Gandhi filmand your whole approach to it."

In 1962 Attenborough was contacted by Motilal Kothari, an Indian-born civil servant working with the Indian High Commission in London and a devout follower of Gandhi. Kothari insisted that Attenborough meet him to discuss a film about Gandhi. Attenborough agreed, after reading Louis Fischer's biography of Gandhi and spent the next 18 years attempting to get the film made. He was able to meet prime minister Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi through a connection with Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Nehru approved of the film and promised to help support its production, but his death in 1964 was one of the film's many setbacks. Attenborough would dedicate the film to the memory of Kothari, Mountbatten, and Nehru.

David Lean and Sam Spiegel had planned to make a film about Gandhi after completing '' The Bridge on the River Kwai'', reportedly with Alec Guinness as Gandhi. Ultimately, the project was abandoned in favour of '' Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962). Attenborough reluctantly approached Lean with his own Gandhi project in the late 1960s, and Lean agreed to direct the film and offered Attenborough the lead role. Instead Lean began filming '' Ryan's Daughter'', during which time Motilai Kothari had died and the project fell apart.

Attenborough again attempted to resurrect the project in 1976 with backing from Warner Brothers. Then prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India and shooting would be impossible. Co-producer Rani Dube persuaded prime minister Indira Gandhi to provide the first $10 million from the National Film Development Corporation of India, chaired by D. V. S. Raju at that time, on the back of which the remainder of the funding was finally raised. Finally in 1980 Attenborough was able to secure the remainder of the funding needed to make the film. Screenwriter John Briley had introduced him to Jake Eberts, the chief executive at the new Goldcrest production company that raised approximately two-thirds of the film's budget.

Shooting began on 26 November 1980 and ended on 10 May 1981. Some scenes were shot near Koilwar Bridge, in Bihar. Over 300,000 extras were used in the funeral scene, the most for any film, according to ''Guinness World Records''.

Casting

During pre-production, there was much speculation as to who would play the role of Gandhi. The choice was Ben Kingsley, who is partly of Indian heritage (his father was Gujarati and his birth name is Krishna Bhanji).See – "Born Krishna Bhanji, Kingsley changed his name when he became an actor: the Kingsley comes from his paternal grandfather, who became a successful spice trader in East Africa and was known as King Clove."

Release

''Gandhi'' premiered in New Delhi, India on 30 November 1982. Two days later, on 2 December, it had a Royal Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London in the presence of Prince Charles and Princess Diana before opening to the public the following day. The film had a limited release in the US starting on Wednesday, 8 December 1982, followed by a wider release in January 1983. In February 1983 it opened on two screens in India as well as opening nationwide in the UK and expanding into other countries.

Reception

Critical response

Reviews were broadly positive not only in India but also internationally. The film was discussed or reviewed in ''Newsweek'', ''Time'', the ''Washington Post'', '' The Public Historian'', '' Cross Currents'', ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', ''Film Quarterly'', ''The Progressive'', '' The Christian Century'' and elsewhere. Ben Kingsley's performance was especially praised. Among the few who took a more negative view of the film, historian Lawrence James called it "pure hagiography" while anthropologist Akhil Gupta said it "suffers from tepid direction and a superficial and misleading interpretation of history." Also Indian novelist Makarand R. Paranjape has written that "''Gandhi'', though hagiographical, follow a mimetic style of film-making in which cinema, the visual image itself, is supposed to portray or reflect 'reality'". The film was also criticised by some right-wing commentators who objected to the film's advocacy of nonviolence, including Pat Buchanan, Emmett Tyrrell and Richard Grenier. In ''Time'', Richard Schickel wrote that in portraying Gandhi's "spiritual presence... Kingsley is nothing short of astonishing." A "singular virtue" of the film is that "its title figure is also a character in the usual dramatic sense of the term." Schickel viewed Attenborough's directorial style as having "a conventional handsomeness that is more predictable than enlivening," but this "stylistic self-denial serves to keep one's attention fastened where it belongs: on a persuasive, if perhaps debatable vision of Gandhi's spirit, and on the remarkable actor who has caught its light in all its seasons." Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and called it a "remarkable experience", and placed it fifth on his 10 best films of 1983.

In ''Newsweek'', Jack Kroll stated that "There are very few movies that absolutely must be seen. Sir Richard Attenborough's ''Gandhi'' is one of them." The movie "deals with a subject of great importance... with a mixture of high intelligence and immediate emotional impact... ndBen Kingsley... gives what is possibly the most astonishing biographical performance in screen history." Kroll stated that the screenplay's "least persuasive characters are Gandhi's Western allies and acolytes" such as an English cleric and an American journalist, but that "Attenborough's 'old-fashioned' style is exactly right for the no-tricks, no-phony-psychologizing quality he wants." Furthermore, Attenborough

mounts a powerful challenge to his audience by presenting Gandhi as the most profound and effective of revolutionaries, creating out of a fierce personal discipline a chain reaction that led to tremendous historical consequences. At a time of deep political unrest, economic dislocation and nuclear anxiety, seeing "Gandhi" is an experience that will change many minds and hearts.

According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications there was "a cycle of film and television productions which emerged during the first half of the 1980s, which seemed to indicate Britain's growing preoccupation with India, Empire and a particular aspect of British cultural history". In addition to ''Gandhi,'' this cycle also included '' Heat and Dust'' (1983), ''Octopussy'' (1983), '' The Jewel in the Crown'' (1984), '' The Far Pavilions'' (1984) and '' A Passage to India'' (1984).

Patrick French negatively reviewed the film, writing in ''The Telegraph'':

An important origin of one myth about Gandhi was Richard Attenborough's 1982 film. Take the episode when the newly arrived Gandhi is ejected from a first-class railway carriage at Pietermaritzburg after a white passenger objects to sharing space with a "coolie" (an Indian indentured labourer). In fact, Gandhi's demand to be allowed to travel first-class was accepted by the railway company. Rather than marking the start of a campaign against racial oppression, as legend has it, this episode was the start of a campaign to extend racial segregation in South Africa. Gandhi was adamant that "respectable Indians" should not be obliged to use the same facilities as "raw Kaffirs". He petitioned the authorities in the port city of Durban, where he practised law, to end the indignity of making Indians use the same entrance to the post office as blacks, and counted it a victory when three doors were introduced: one for Europeans, one for Asiatics and one for Natives.

Richard Grenier in his 1983 article, "The Gandhi Nobody Knows", which was also the title of the book of the same name and topic, also criticized the film, arguing it misportrayed him as a "saint". He also alleged the Indian government admitted to financing about a third of the film's budget. He also criticized the film's portrayal of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, although he does not elaborate much on this criticism. Grenier's book later became an inspiration for G. B. Singh's book '' Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity''. Parts of the book also discuss the film negatively.

One notable person, Mark Boyle (better known as "The Moneyless Man") has stated that watching the film was the moment that changed his life and said that after that, he took Mahatma Gandhi's message of peace and non-violence to heart and that the film inspired him to become an activist.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected 111 reviews and judged 89% of them to be positive, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Director Richard Attenborough is typically sympathetic and sure-handed, but it's Ben Kingsley's magnetic performance that acts as the linchpin for this sprawling, lengthy biopic." Metacritic gave the film a score of 79 out of 100 based on 16 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade. In 2010, the '' Independent Film & Television Alliance'' selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.

The film was included by the Vatican in a list of important films compiled in 1995, under the category of "Values".

Box office

The film grossed $81,917 in its first 6 days at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. In the United States and Canada, it grossed $183,583 in its first 5 days from 4 theatres ( Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City; Uptown Theater in Washington D.C.; Century Plaza in Los Angeles; and the York in Toronto). Due to the running time, it could be shown only three times a day. It went on to gross in the United States and Canada, the 12th highest-grossing film of 1982.

Outside of the United States and Canada, the film grossed in the rest of the world, the third highest for the year.

In the United Kingdom, the film grossed ( adjusted for inflation). It is one of the top ten highest-grossing British independent films of all time adjusted for inflation.

In India, it was one of the highest-grossing films of all-time (and the highest for a foreign film) during the time of its release by earning over or 1billion rupees. At today's exchange rate, that amounts to , still making it one of the highest-grossing imported films in the country. It was shown tax free in Bombay (known as Mumbai since 1995) and Delhi.

The film grossed a total of worldwide. Goldcrest Films invested £5,076,000 in the film and received £11,461,000 in return, earning them a profit of £6,385,000.

The film was also successful on home video selling over 50,000 copies in the United States in 1983 despite a $79.95 retail price.

Accolades

American Film Institute
* AFI's 100 years... 100 Cheers – number 29
* AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains
** Mahatma Gandhi – number 21 HeroAFI’s 100 YEARS…100 HEROES & VILLAINS
American Film Institute. Retrieved 18 December 2023.

See also

* BFI Top 100 British films
* List of artistic depictions of Mahatma Gandhi
* List of Indian winners and nominees of the Academy Awards
* List of historical films set in Asia

References

Further reading

* Attenborough, Richard. ''In Search of Gandhi'' (1982), memoir on making the film
* Hay, Stephen. "Attenborough's 'Gandhi,'" ''The Public Historian,'' 5#3 (1983), pp. 84–9
in JSTOR
evaluates the film's historical accuracy and finds it mixed in the first half of the film and good in the second half

External links

*

''Gandhi'' at AllMovie
*
*


at BAFTA.org

''The Gandhi Nobody Knows''
(movie feedback) Gandhism.net

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