Gandhi (film)

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Gandhi (1982) is an Anglo-Indian film, directed by Richard Attenborough, about the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi, Great Soul), leader of the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film won eight Oscars in 1982, including the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Shooting began on November 26, 1980 and ended on May 10, 1981. The funeral sequence was filmed on January 31, 1981, 33 years to the day after Gandhi's real funeral. Approximately 300,000 extras were used in that scene, the most for any film [link].

The film premiered in New Delhi on November 30, 1982. It was released in the United States on December 8, 1982.

Contents

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Awards
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 External links

Plot

The film begins with his assassination and funeral on January 30, 1948. The story then flashes back to 1893 with him being thrown off a train in South Africa for being a "kaffir" travelling in a first class compartment. The film goes on to chronicle his revolutionary and successful nonviolent resistance movement during his time as a lawyer in South Africa, where he becomes a hero amongst the Indian population. He then returns to his native India, where he leads the country over half a century to independence.

Cast

Ben Kingsley as Gandhi
Rohini Hattangadi as Kasturba Gandhi
Candice Bergen as Margaret Bourke-White
Roshan Seth as Pandit Nehru
Om Puri - Nahari
Saeed Jaffrey as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Alyque Padamsee as Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Amrish Puri as Khan
Martin Sheen as Vince Walker
Ian Charleson as Reverend Charlie Andrews
Edward Fox as Brigadier General Dyer
Geraldine James as Mirabehn
Daniel Day-Lewis as Colin
John Gielgud as Lord Irwin
Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield
John Mills as Lord Chelmsford
Athol Fugard as Gen. Jan Christiaan Smuts
Günther Maria Halmer as Dr. Herman Kallenbach
Richard Leech as Brigadier

Awards

Gandhi received eight Academy Awards:

Best Picture
Best Actor - Ben Kingsley
Best Director - Richard Attenborough.
Best Art Direction - Stuart Craig, Bob Laing, Michael Seirton
Best Cinematography - Billy Williams, Ronnie Taylor
Best Costume Design - Bhanu Athaiya, John Mollo
Best Editing - John Bloom
Best Original Screenplay - John Briley

It also received nominations for:

Best Makeup - Tom Smith
Best Original Score - Ravi Shankar, George Fenton
Best Sound - Gerry Humphreys, Robin O'Donoghue, Jonathan Bates, Simon Kaye

The film also won best picture awards from BAFTA and the National Board of Review as well as six Golden Globes.

Trivia

When the movie was being planned, there was a lot of speculation as to who would play the role of Gandhi. Some Indian politicians made statements to the effect that it would be an insult to India if a foreigner were to play the role. Naseeruddin Shah, an up-and-coming Indian actor at that time, auditioned for the role but narrowly missed the opportunity. The scope for controversy diminished as Ben Kingsley, the final choice, was of Indian lineage.
The 1989 "Weird Al" Yankovic movie UHF features a parody movie trailer for Gandhi II, which portrays Gandhi as a character similar to John Shaft.
In 1952 Gabriel Pascal secured an agreement with the Prime Minister of India Nehru to produce a film of Gandhi's life. However, Pascal died in 1954 before preparations were completed.

External links

[Trailer of the movie]
[Movie script]
[The Gandhi Nobody Knows] Richard Grenier 's critical Review of the movie Gandhi, which eventually became a biography of the Indian leader and [a rebuttal] of this review.

Academy Award for Best Picture: Winners (1981–2000)

[Complete List] | [ Winners (1927–1940)] | [ Winners (1941–1960)] | [ Winners (1961–1980)] | [ Winners (2001– )]