Gandhi (film)
Gandhi | |
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Directed by | Richard Attenborough |
Written by | John Briley |
Produced by | Richard Attenborough |
Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Edited by | John Bloom |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | EMI-Warner Distributors in the United Kingdom[1] ) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 191 minutes[1] |
Countries |
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Languages |
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Budget | $22 million[2] |
Box office | $127.8 million[2] |
Gandhi is a 1982
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 #29 on its list of most inspiring movies.
Plot
On 30 January 1948,[3] on his way to an evening prayer service, an elderly Gandhi is helped out for his evening walk to meet a large number of greeters and admirers. One visitor, Nathuram Godse, shoots him point blank in the chest. His state funeral is shown, the procession attended by millions of people from all walks of life, with a radio reporter speaking eloquently about Gandhi's world-changing life and works.
In June 1893, the 23-year-old Gandhi is thrown off a
In 1915, as a result of his victory in
Nevertheless, the campaign generates great attention, and
Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He, thereby, angers many dissidents on both sides, one of whom (Godse) is involved in a conspiracy to assassinate him.[10] Gandhi is cremated and his ashes are scattered on the Ganges.[11] As this happens, viewers hear Gandhi in another voiceover from earlier in the film.
Cast
- Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi
- Rohini Hattangadi as Kasturba Gandhi
- Roshan Seth as Jawaharlal Nehru
- Saeed Jaffrey as Vallabhbhai Patel
- Virendra Razdan as Maulana Azad
- Candice Bergen as Margaret Bourke-White
- Jane Myerson as Edwina Mountbatten
- Brigadier General Reginald Dyer
- Habib Tanvir as Sir Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, an Indian barrister
- Viceroy Lord Irwin
- Trevor Howard as Justice Robert Stonehouse Broomfield
- John Mills as Viceroy Lord Chelmsford
- Shane Rimmer as the commentator on Gandhi's death
- Martin Sheen as Vince Walker, a fictional journalist based partially on Webb Miller
- Ian Charleson as Charles Freer Andrews, an Anglican priest
- Athol Fugard as General Jan Smuts
- David Gant as Daniels
- Gareth Forwood as Secretary
- Geraldine James as Mirabehn (Madeleine Slade)
- Alyque Padamsee as Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- Amrish Puri as Dada Abdulla Hajee Adab, President of the Natal Indian Congress
- Ian Bannen as senior officer Fields
- Richard Griffiths as Collins, Walker's colleague
- Nigel Hawthorne as Mr Kinnoch
- Richard Vernon as Sir Edward Albert Gait, Lieutenant-Governor of Bihar and Orissa
- Michael Hordern as Sir George Hodge
- Shreeram Lagoo as Gopal Krishna Gokhale
- Terrence Hardiman as Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Om Puri as Nahari, a rioter
- Dalip Tahil as Zia, a Satyagrahi
- Daniel Day-Lewis as Colin
- Ray Burdis as Youth 1
- Daniel Peacock as Youth 2
- Avis Bunnage as Colin's mother
- Dominic Guard as Subaltern
- Bernard Hill as Sergeant Putnam
- John Ratzenberger as American driver for Bourke-White
- Pankaj Mohan as Gandhi's first secretary, Mahadev Desai
- Gandhi's second secretary, Pyarelal Nayyar
- Anang Desai as Acharya Kripalani
- Dilsher Singh as Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
- Gunther Maria Halmer as Hermann Kallenbach
- Peter Harlowe as Viceroy Lord Mountbatten
- Harsh Nayyar as Nathuram Godse, Gandhi's assassin
- Vijay Kashyap as Narayan Apte, partner of Godse
- Supriya Pathak as Manu, cousin grandniece of Gandhi
- Neena Gupta as Abha, cousin grandniece-in-law of Gandhi
- Tom Alter as a doctor at Aga Khan Palace
- Alok Nath as Tyeb Mohammad, a member of the Natal Indian Congress
- Mohan Agashe as Tyeb Mohammad's associate
- Sekhar Chatterjee as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
- John Savident as manager of the mine
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.[12]
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.[13][14] 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).[15] 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.[16]
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.[17][18] 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.[citation needed]
Shooting began on 26 November 1980 and ended on 10 May 1981. Some scenes were shot near Koilwar Bridge, in Bihar.[19] Over 300,000 extras were used in the funeral scene, the most for any film, according to Guinness World Records.[20]
Casting
During pre-production, there was much speculation as to who would play the role of Gandhi.[21][22] The choice was Ben Kingsley, who is partly of Indian heritage (his father was Gujarati and his birth name is Krishna Bhanji).[23]
Release
Gandhi premiered in
Reception
Critical response
Reviews were broadly positive not only in India but also internationally.
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."[21] 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."[21] 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.[21]
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".[44] 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).[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.[45]
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 criticised 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.[46] 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.
In the DVD edition of the 1998 film
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.[47][48]
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."[49] Metacritic gave the film a score of 79 out of 100 based on 16 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[50] CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.[51] In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.[52]
Box office
The film grossed $81,917 in its first 6 days at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.
Outside of the United States and Canada, the film grossed US$75 million in the rest of the world, the third highest for the year.[2]
In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £7.7 million (£22.3 million adjusted for inflation).[57][58] It is one of the top ten highest-grossing British independent films of all time adjusted for inflation.[57]
In India, it was one of the highest-grossing films of all-time (and the highest for a foreign film
The film grossed a total of $127.8 million worldwide.[2] Goldcrest Films invested £5,076,000 in the film and received £11,461,000 in return, earning them a profit of £6,385,000.[59]
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.[60]
Accolades
- AFI's 100 years... 100 Cheers – #29[72]
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains
- Mahatma Gandhi – #21 Hero[73]
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
- ^ a b "Gandhi". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Gandhi (1982) - Box Office Data, DVD and Blu-ray Sales, Movie News, Cast and Crew Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ^ pp. 18–21, Briley (1983).
- ^ pp. 21–24, Briley (1983).
- ^ Briley (1983), p. 54, represents Gandhi's final victory in South Africa by depicting General Smuts as telling Gandhi, "a Royal Commission to 'investigate' the new legislation.... I think I could guarantee they would recommend the Act be repealed.... You yourself are free from this moment.".
- Second World War is alluded to in three scenes in the film. Briley (1983) first presents Gandhi, soon after his return from London in the early 1930, as saying "They are preparing for war. I will not support it, but I do not intend to take advantage of their danger" (p. 146). Second, after war is underway (as indicated by a newspaper headline), Gandhi is prevented by the British from speaking when he says he will "speak against war" (p. 147); Kasturba then tells the British: "If you take my husband, I intend to speak in his place" (p. 147), although she too is prevented from speaking. Third, the famed American photographer Margaret Bourke-Whiteand Gandhi discuss whether nonviolence could be effective against Hitler (Gandhi says: "What you cannot do is accept injustice. From Hitler – or anyone...", p. 151).
- ^ The British commitment to support Indian independence is indicated in the first scene set after WWII, in which the new viceroy Mountbatten arrives at Delhi Airport and then, in a press conference, announces: "We have come to crown victory with friendship – to assist at the birth of an independent India and to welcome her as an equal member in the British Commonwealth of Nations... I am here to see that I am the last British Viceroy" (Briley, 1983, p. 155).
- ^ Briley (1983), Gandhi to Jinnah: "I am asking Panditji [Nehru] to stand down. I want you to be the first Prime Minister of India" (p. 158).
- ^ In Briley (1983), Gandhi mentions he is on a "fast" (p. 168), and later says that he wants "That the fighting will stop – that you make me believe it will never start again" (p. 172).
- ^ Briley (1983), p. 179.
- ^ Briley (1983), p. 180; in the movie/screenplay, the river is not identified.
- ISBN 978-0-595-33772-9. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2016. 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."
- ^ "Gandhi's Inspiring Short Stories". www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- ^ Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company, 1988, p. 79.
- ISBN 978-0-099-50304-0
- ^ Wakeman (1988), p. 81.
- ^ Wakeman (1988), p. 82.
- ^ Special Correspondent (14 November 2010). "Film producer D.V.S. Raju passes away". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- ^ "The ancient heritage behind our railway bridges". Rediff. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "Arts and media/Movies/Film extras". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 26 November 2005. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Jack Kroll (1982). "A magnificent life of Gandhi". Newsweek (13 December 1982): 60.
- ^ 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."
- 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."
- ^ Nigel Wolland. "70mm at the Odeon, Leicester Square". In 70mm.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ "Entertainments Guide". The Guardian. 2 December 1982. p. 24.
- ^ "Attending premiere of "Gandhi" December 2nd 1982". Princess Diana Remembered. 2 December 1982. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ a b "'Tootsie,' 'Gandhi' Hit $120-Mil Abroad, Despite Hard Dollar Drag". Variety. 15 June 1983. p. 5.
- ^ ISBN 9788184006834. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ^ a b c Richard Schickel (6 December 1982). "Cinema: Triumph of a martyr [review of Gandhi, film by Richard Attenborough]". Time. Vol. 120. p. 97. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
- Washington Post. pp. Show, F1.
- Coleman McCarthy(2 January 1983). "'Gandhi': Introduction to a moral teacher". Washington Post. pp. Style, K2.
- JSTOR 3377031.
- ISSN 0011-1953.
- S2CID 156062913.
- JSTOR 3697391.
- ^ The Washington Monthly: 46–50.
- ^ Roger Ebert (1 January 1982). "Gandhi [review of film by Richard Attenborough]". Chicago Sun-Times. pp. online film review. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- ISBN 0-312-19322-X.
- JSTOR 4383242. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 March 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-415-69573-2.
- ISBN 0-8407-5871-5.
- The Chicago Sun-Times. Archivedfrom the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- The Chicago Sun-Times via the Internet Archive. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
- ^ JEWEL IN THE CROWN Archived 4 August 2012 at archive.today, Museum of Broadcast Communication
- ^ "Gandhi, film review: 'amazing epic'". Martin Chilton. The Telegraph. 11 April 2016. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "The Gandhi Nobody Knows". Richard Grenier. Commentary magazine. March 1983. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009.
- ^ "Mark Boyle - The Moneyless Man | www.tpuc.org". www.tpuc.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010.
- TheGuardian.com. 28 October 2009.
- ^ "Gandhi (1985)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- CBS Interactive. Archivedfrom the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Pamela McClintock (19 August 2011). "Why CinemaScore Matters for Box Office". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "UPDATE: How "Toxic" Is IFTA's Best Indies?". Deadline. 10 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ "West End Biz Still Soft". Variety. 15 December 1982. p. 45.
- Daily Variety. 14 December 1982. p. 1.
- Daily Variety. p. 1.
- ^ "1982 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ a b "BFI Research and Statistics" (PDF). British Film Institute. April 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
£22.3 million inflation-adjusted; GDP deflator 34.558
- ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service (0.57245 GBP per USD)" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. 1982. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ Eberts, Jake; Illott, Terry (1990). My indecision is final. Faber and Faber. p. 656.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (28 November 1983). "'Gandhi' vid tops 50,000 units; eyeing all-time RCA/Col total". The Hollywood Reporter. p. 1.
- ^ "The 55th Academy Awards (1983) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- BAFTA. 1983. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ "Best Cinematography in Feature Film" (PDF). Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ "35th DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- HFPA. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "1983 Grammy Award Winners". Grammy.com. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
- ^ "KCFCC Award Winners – 1980-89". kcfcc.org. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ "The 8th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "1982 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ "1982 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". Mubi. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 CHEERS American Film Institute. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 HEROES & VILLAINS American Film Institute. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
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
- Gandhi at IMDb
- Gandhi at the TCM Movie Database
- Gandhi at AllMovie
- Gandhi at Rotten Tomatoes
- Gallery of photos from the set of Gandhi at BAFTA.org
- The Gandhi Nobody Knows (movie feedback) Gandhism.net