Gandhi

Gandhi, British-Indian historical film, released in 1982, that tells the story of Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle to win independence for India through nonviolent civil disobedience. The movie won eight Academy Awards, including that for best picture, and five Golden Globe Awards, including that for best foreign film. It was also named best film at the BAFTA ceremony and took four additional BAFTA Awards.

The movie opens with the 1948 assassination of Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) by Nathuram Godse (Harsh Nayyar) and Gandhi’s funeral. The movie then takes up Gandhi’s story in 1893, when he is a young lawyer in South Africa and is thrown off a train for being in the first-class section (where Indians are not permitted) although he has a first-class ticket. He begins a protest campaign against the treatment of Indians in South Africa. His work attracts the attention of an American reporter, Walker (Martin Sheen). After a mass imprisonment of striking Indian miners, Gandhi and General Jan Smuts (Athol Fugard) reach a compromise. Gandhi returns to British-ruled India in 1915 and meets with Congress Party members Jawaharlal Nehru (Roshan Seth) and Sardar Patel (Saeed Jaffrey), who introduce him to Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Alyque Padamsee). Gandhi travels through the country, learning and advocating nonviolent resistance. The widespread protests do result in some loosening of restrictions. However, a successful general strike is followed by the Massacre of Amritsar, in which troops led by General Reginald Dyer (Edward Fox) fire on a nonviolent protest, killing hundreds.

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Gandhi’s noncooperation movement expands throughout the country. He encourages the burning of British-made clothes and the weaving of clothing to wear instead. When one protest ends in violence by Indians against the British police, Gandhi begins a fast to end the use of violence by protesters. At one point he is imprisoned for sedition. In his most successful protest, he leads the Salt March to the sea so that Indians can make their own salt and avoid paying the British tax on salt. Gandhi later participates in a Round Table Conference in London to discuss the possibility of Indian independence, but no agreement is reached. During World War II, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba (Rohini Hattangadi), are imprisoned for speaking against the war. After the end of the war, a new British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten (Peter Harlowe) arrives to facilitate Indian independence. Gandhi argues for a unified Hindu and Muslim country, but Jinnah believes that partition is necessary to avert civil war. In the end, British India is divided into the two independent countries of India and Pakistan. When violence breaks out between Muslims and Hindus on the border between the countries, Gandhi begins a long fast for peace. After he breaks his fast, he plans to travel to Pakistan but is assassinated before he can leave.

Director Richard Attenborough decided that he wanted to make a film about Gandhi in 1962 after having read a biography. He attained the approval of Nehru, who was then prime minister of India, and spent the next two decades trying to get the project off the ground. When at last he secured financing, there were protests by Indian filmmakers and others against Indian support going to the making of a British-directed movie about an Indian subject. The movie drew some criticism for its simplification of history and near deification of the title character, but Gandhi was generally well received in India, Britain, and the United States.

Production notes and credits

• Studios: International Film Investors, National Film Development Corporation of India, Goldcrest Films International, and Indo-British Films
• Director: Richard Attenborough
• Music: Ravi Shankar
• Cinematographers: Ronnie Taylor and Billy Williams

Cast

• Ben Kingsley (Mahatma Gandhi)
• Saeed Jaffrey (Sardar Patel)
• Roshan Seth (Jawaharlal Nehru)
• Alyque Padamsee (Mohammed Ali Jinnah)
• Rohini Hattangadi (Kasturba Gandhi)

Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)

• Picture*
• Lead actor* (Ben Kingsley)
• Art direction*
• Cinematography*
• Costume design*
• Direction*
• Editing*
• Makeup
• Music
• Sound
• Writing*