Gandhi (film)
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox 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 the United Kingdom and India, the film was directed and produced by Richard Attenborough and 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. Over 300,000 extras appeared in the film, believed to be the most in any film made.<ref name="c006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="w491">Template:Cite book</ref>
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 its portrayal of the life of Gandhi, the Indian independence movement and the deleterious results of British colonisation on India.
It was considered to have maintained a reasonable level of historical accuracy, although many separate events were amalgamated, such as historical meetings with individual people being combined into single fictionalized scenes for narrative pacing.<ref name=Hay>Template:Cite journal</ref> Several events were exaggerated or invented, such as Gandhi being thrown off a train, or being beaten by police while burning registration certificates.<ref name=Hay/> The chronology of Gandhi's early activism was altered, and certain historical figures (e.g. C.F. Andrews and Mohammad Ali Jinnah) were considered to have been portrayed inaccurately.<ref name=Hay/> The film was praised for conveying Gandhi's core principles of nonviolence and human dignity effectively, offering audiences an accessible introduction to his life and message.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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
On June 7, 1893, in the Colony of Natal, young lawyer Mohandas Gandhi is forcibly expelled from a whites-only train carriage in Pietermaritzburg despite possessing a valid first class ticket, subsequently campaigning for Indian equality in the Colony of Natal and the Cape Colony. Dada Abdullah, president of the Natal Indian Congress,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> notices his campaign and invites him to a demonstration where he burns his pass. After the Second Boer War, the British colonial 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, along with the British colonial officer and former Boer general, Jan Smuts, eventually orders his arrest. Later, the British colonial government releases Gandhi and relents by granting some rights to Indians, fulfilling his short-term goal. Anglican clergyman Charles Freer Andrews joins his mission. 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 World War I, but simultaneously demands self rule for India. His satyagrahas at Champaran and Kheda are brutally curtailed by the British. Despite Indian involvement in World War I, 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, Colonel Reginald Dyer orders his Gurkhas and sepoys 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 World War II. 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.<ref name=pascal70>See Template:Cite book 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 [the Gandhi film] and your whole approach to it."</ref>
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company, 1988, p. 79.</ref> 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).<ref>Entirely Up To You, Darling by Diana Hawkins & Richard Attenborough; paperback; Arrow Books; published 2009. Template:ISBN</ref> 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.<ref>Wakeman (1988), p. 81.</ref>
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.<ref>Wakeman (1988), p. 82.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Citation needed
Shooting began on 26 November 1980 and ended on 10 May 1981. Some scenes were shot near Koilwar Bridge, in Bihar.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Over 300,000 extras were used in the funeral scene, the most for any film, according to Guinness World Records.<ref name="c006"/><ref name="w491"/>
The film was shot on 35mm anamorphic equipment using Panavision cameras and lenses. For theatrical release, it was projected using either 35mm anamorphic prints with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio and Dolby stereo sound, or 70mm anamorphic prints with a 2.2:1 aspect ration and six discrete sound tracks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Casting
During pre-production, there was much speculation as to who would play the role of Gandhi.<ref name=kroll82/><ref>Kroll (1982, p. 60) mentions advocacy of Alec Guinness, John Hurt, and Dustin Hoffman, and quotes Attenborough as stating that "At one point Paramount actually said they'd give me the money if Richard Burton could play Gandhi."</ref> The choice was Ben Kingsley, who is partly of Indian heritage (his father was Gujarati and his birth name is Krishna Bhanji).<ref name=krollkingsley>See Template:Cite journal – "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."</ref>
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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in the presence of Prince Charles and Princess Diana before opening to the public the following day.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The film had a limited release in the US starting on Wednesday, 8 December 1982, followed by a wider release in January 1983.<ref name="Numbers"/> In February 1983 it opened on two screens in India as well as opening nationwide in the UK and expanding into other countries.<ref name=intl>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Reception
Critical response
Reviews were broadly positive not only in India but also internationally.<ref name="ALMG"/> The film was discussed or reviewed in Newsweek,<ref name=kroll82>Template:Cite journal</ref> Time,<ref name=schickel82>Template:Cite magazine</ref> the Washington Post,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mccarthy83>Template:Cite news</ref> The Public Historian,<ref name=hay83>Template:Cite journal</ref> Cross Currents,<ref name=easwaran82>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Journal of Asian Studies,<ref name=juergensmeyer84>Template:Cite journal</ref> Film Quarterly,<ref name=Cooper83>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Progressive,<ref name="DeParle83">Template:Cite journal</ref> The Christian Century<ref name="DeParle83" /> and elsewhere.<ref name=ebert83>Template:Cite news</ref> 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"<ref name=james97>Template:Cite book</ref> while anthropologist Akhil Gupta said it "suffers from tepid direction and a superficial and misleading interpretation of history."<ref name=Gupta83>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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'".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="DeParle83" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Time, Richard Schickel wrote that in portraying Gandhi's "spiritual presence... Kingsley is nothing short of astonishing."<ref name=schickel82/>Template:Rp 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."<ref name=schickel82/>Template:Rp Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and called it a "remarkable experience",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and placed it fifth on his 10 best films of 1983.<ref>Ebert's 10 Best Lists: 1967 to Present. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times via the Internet Archive. Retrieved 18 October 2016.</ref>
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."<ref name=kroll82/> The movie "deals with a subject of great importance... with a mixture of high intelligence and immediate emotional impact... [and] Ben 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."<ref name=kroll82/> 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.<ref name=kroll82/>
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".<ref>JEWEL IN THE CROWN Template:Webarchive, Museum of Broadcast Communication</ref> 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).Template:Citation needed
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
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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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Metacritic gave the film a score of 79 out of 100 based on 16 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The film was included by the Vatican in a list of important films compiled in 1995, under the category of "Values".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Box office
The film grossed $81,917 in its first 6 days at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the United States and Canada, it grossed $183,583 in its first 5 days from 4 theatres (Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City; Uptown Theater in Washington D.C.; Century Plaza in Los Angeles; and the York in Toronto).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Due to the running time, it could be shown only three times a day.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It went on to gross Template:US$ in the United States and Canada,<ref name="Numbers"/> the 12th highest-grossing film of 1982.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Outside of the United States and Canada, the film grossed Template:US$ in the rest of the world, the third highest for the year.<ref name="Numbers"/>
In the United Kingdom, the film grossed Template:£ (Template:£ adjusted for inflation).<ref name="bfi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is one of the top ten highest-grossing British independent films of all time adjusted for inflation.<ref name="bfi"/>
In India, it was one of the highest-grossing films of all-time (and the highest for a foreign film<ref name=intl/>) during the time of its release by earning over Template:₹ or 1Template:Nbspbillion rupees. At today's exchange rate, that amounts to Template:US$, still making it one of the highest-grossing imported films in the country. It was shown tax free in Bombay (known as Mumbai since 1995) and Delhi.<ref name="ALMG">Template:Cite book</ref>
The film grossed a total of Template:US$ worldwide.<ref name="Numbers"/> Goldcrest Films invested £5,076,000 in the film and received £11,461,000 in return, earning them a profit of £6,385,000.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Accolades
- AFI's 100 years... 100 Cheers – number 29<ref>AFI's 100 YEARS...100 CHEERS American Film Institute. Retrieved 13 December 2023.</ref>
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains
- Mahatma Gandhi – number 21 Hero<ref>AFI's 100 YEARS...100 HEROES & VILLAINS American Film Institute. Retrieved 18 December 2023.</ref>
See also
- BFI Top 100 British films
- List of 1980s films based on actual events
- List of artistic depictions of Mahatma Gandhi
- List of Indian Academy Award winners and nominees
- 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. 84–94 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
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