Deeply grateful to Richard Attenborough for making Gandhi a real-life figure for me and so many others
Richard Attenborough, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Attenborough, recently passed away. His greatest impact on my life was his movie, Gandhi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_(film). If I recall correclty, I saw it in the early 1980s when I was studying B.Sc. in Ruia College, Mumbai, in the famous Mumbai theater, Regal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regal_Cinema. I think I had already read Gandhi's My experiments with Truth, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth, and so I had some exposure to his life till the 1920s besides what the school history books taught us. My knowledge of India's freedom struggle with the British was primarily based on what was taught in the formal education system along with whatever impressions I had gathered from my readings of a couple of books somewhat related to it, including Nehru's Discovery of India, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Discovery_of_India.
But I had not seen such a visual depiction of India's freedom struggle which also showed the immense poverty and suffering of Indians as a whole prior to independence [Even today there are a lot of very poor Indians but the poverty among Indians prior to independence was staggering as compared to today.] The movie, Gandhi, brought pre-independence India and the freedom struggle to life in a way that cast a huge spell on me. [BTW I was born 15 years after India won independence.] The depiction of the communal riots and suffering involved in the large scale forced migration triggered by the partition of India & Pakistan (as part of the independence deal) was terrifying. The courage showed by non-violent freedom fighters in India who were willing to get brutally hammered by the British controlled police (which included Indians) as well as face imprisonment in harsh conditions, was stirring. The movie's depiction of Gandhi's beliefs, personal courage and leadership through example in all this turmoil showed me, like no book or formal study had, why Gandhi was referred to as Mahatma (great soul) by the masses of India then. His strict adherence to non-violence in the quest for India's freedom and his principled life won him admirers from across the world, especially from the Western world weary with the horrors of not one but two world wars (industrial scale wars that devastated generations mainly in Europe).
Richard Attenborough's film made Gandhi a real-life figure as well as made the poverty and suffering of pre-independence India a real-life thing to the college-going student-me then. [I must also mention that if Attenborough's film Gandhi had not been made, in later years I would have come to know of these matters through other books and maybe other movies too. But Attenborough deserves the great credit for making it and bringing Gandhi to life to so many people.] While I did face some financial constraints due to my family facing a tough financial situation then, my life as a college student in Bombay/Mumbai in the early 1980s was heaven compared to what my countrymen & countrywomen were facing just four decades earlier (1940s)! The movie brought out those stark differences in quality of life for most Indians, between post-independence India of the 80s and pre-independence India of the 40s.
The Hindu carried an article on Attenborough yesterday, The Man behind the Mahatma, http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/richard-attenborough-the-man-behind-the-mahatma/article6350945.ece. I think its first two paragraphs capture the impact of Attenborough's film Gandhi on people like me, very well. Here is one sentence from the 2nd paragraph, "It was Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi that made the Mahatma a man all over again — a very, very patient and perseverant man, who nagged and negotiated and argued, who walked and talked, starved and suffered, and slowly, over three hours, made possible an independent India."
What I did not know till yesterday was that this movie was a kind of obsession for Attenborough and that there were others too who had tried to make it. Here are some details about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_(film)#Production.
I also read/heard somewhere yesterday that Attenborough faced multiple financial crises while making this film! That was quite a surprise to me when I first heard it. But, on thinking about it, it was not so much of a surprise. I mean, a historical epic movie about a South Asian figure is not a sure-fire box office winner. It would be a great financial risk to fund this epic (and so costly) movie.
Here are a few but wonderful words from Richard Attenborough on Gandhi from his short talk in a youtube video, Sir Richard Attenborough on Mahatma Gandhi l EMMA Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYbLkFT2mM, 1 min. 58 secs, published in April 2010, "If you see a photograph of Nelson Mandela in his house, in his office, you will see behind him, behind his desk is a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela has said several times that the man who inspired him more than anyone else, during this century, was Gandhiji. Gandhiji stood against oppression, against prejudice and in favour of tolerance and the principle that human beings of all colours and all creeds could and should live together in peace. It would be ludicrous for us in this hall not to think immediately of the drama that is occurring in the subcontinent and how badly and deeply we need Bapu at this time. What a wonderful negotiator he might have been were he here. Those who are attempting to maintain peace should never ever, I am certain, desert any of Gandhi's great principles."
Here's a nice article where Indians who acted/were involved with the film Gandhi, including Alyque Padamsee (played the role of Jinnah), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyque_Padamsee, share their memories of Richard Attenborough and the film, Gandhi was Richard Attenborough passion, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Gandhi-was-Richard-Attenborough-passion/articleshow/40930613.cms.
I am deeply grateful to Mr. Richard Attenborough for making Mahatma Gandhi a real-life figure for me and many other Indians as well as citizens of other countries through his awesome epic film, Gandhi. I pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on Mr. Richard Attenborough's subtle body.
But I had not seen such a visual depiction of India's freedom struggle which also showed the immense poverty and suffering of Indians as a whole prior to independence [Even today there are a lot of very poor Indians but the poverty among Indians prior to independence was staggering as compared to today.] The movie, Gandhi, brought pre-independence India and the freedom struggle to life in a way that cast a huge spell on me. [BTW I was born 15 years after India won independence.] The depiction of the communal riots and suffering involved in the large scale forced migration triggered by the partition of India & Pakistan (as part of the independence deal) was terrifying. The courage showed by non-violent freedom fighters in India who were willing to get brutally hammered by the British controlled police (which included Indians) as well as face imprisonment in harsh conditions, was stirring. The movie's depiction of Gandhi's beliefs, personal courage and leadership through example in all this turmoil showed me, like no book or formal study had, why Gandhi was referred to as Mahatma (great soul) by the masses of India then. His strict adherence to non-violence in the quest for India's freedom and his principled life won him admirers from across the world, especially from the Western world weary with the horrors of not one but two world wars (industrial scale wars that devastated generations mainly in Europe).
Richard Attenborough's film made Gandhi a real-life figure as well as made the poverty and suffering of pre-independence India a real-life thing to the college-going student-me then. [I must also mention that if Attenborough's film Gandhi had not been made, in later years I would have come to know of these matters through other books and maybe other movies too. But Attenborough deserves the great credit for making it and bringing Gandhi to life to so many people.] While I did face some financial constraints due to my family facing a tough financial situation then, my life as a college student in Bombay/Mumbai in the early 1980s was heaven compared to what my countrymen & countrywomen were facing just four decades earlier (1940s)! The movie brought out those stark differences in quality of life for most Indians, between post-independence India of the 80s and pre-independence India of the 40s.
The Hindu carried an article on Attenborough yesterday, The Man behind the Mahatma, http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/richard-attenborough-the-man-behind-the-mahatma/article6350945.ece. I think its first two paragraphs capture the impact of Attenborough's film Gandhi on people like me, very well. Here is one sentence from the 2nd paragraph, "It was Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi that made the Mahatma a man all over again — a very, very patient and perseverant man, who nagged and negotiated and argued, who walked and talked, starved and suffered, and slowly, over three hours, made possible an independent India."
What I did not know till yesterday was that this movie was a kind of obsession for Attenborough and that there were others too who had tried to make it. Here are some details about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_(film)#Production.
I also read/heard somewhere yesterday that Attenborough faced multiple financial crises while making this film! That was quite a surprise to me when I first heard it. But, on thinking about it, it was not so much of a surprise. I mean, a historical epic movie about a South Asian figure is not a sure-fire box office winner. It would be a great financial risk to fund this epic (and so costly) movie.
Here are a few but wonderful words from Richard Attenborough on Gandhi from his short talk in a youtube video, Sir Richard Attenborough on Mahatma Gandhi l EMMA Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYbLkFT2mM, 1 min. 58 secs, published in April 2010, "If you see a photograph of Nelson Mandela in his house, in his office, you will see behind him, behind his desk is a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela has said several times that the man who inspired him more than anyone else, during this century, was Gandhiji. Gandhiji stood against oppression, against prejudice and in favour of tolerance and the principle that human beings of all colours and all creeds could and should live together in peace. It would be ludicrous for us in this hall not to think immediately of the drama that is occurring in the subcontinent and how badly and deeply we need Bapu at this time. What a wonderful negotiator he might have been were he here. Those who are attempting to maintain peace should never ever, I am certain, desert any of Gandhi's great principles."
Here's a nice article where Indians who acted/were involved with the film Gandhi, including Alyque Padamsee (played the role of Jinnah), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyque_Padamsee, share their memories of Richard Attenborough and the film, Gandhi was Richard Attenborough passion, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Gandhi-was-Richard-Attenborough-passion/articleshow/40930613.cms.
I am deeply grateful to Mr. Richard Attenborough for making Mahatma Gandhi a real-life figure for me and many other Indians as well as citizens of other countries through his awesome epic film, Gandhi. I pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on Mr. Richard Attenborough's subtle body.
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