A peek at Richard Attenborough's cult classic 'Gandhi', on the Mahatma's birthday

FILM REVIEW 

When we hear John Hagee's words where he said, "The measure of a man's greatness is not the number of servants he has, but the number of people he serves," we are able to relate them to a man like Mahatma Gandhi. He was a social activist and scholar, political leader, lawyer and a freedom fighter who led India's movement against the British Raj. His life and his principles of non-violence inspired many people all over the world. Many movements for civil rights and freedom all across the world were inspired by him.

On his birthday, we recall his biopic, "Gandhi (1983)", directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, while John Brilley wrote the screenplay. This film is considered to be an epic. It is a panorama of realism inspired by real events, a historical movement and surely the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The 1983 film, featuring the renowned Anglo-Indian actor, Ben Kingsley on the lead role, went on to bag 8 Academy Awards. The film was a remarkable moment in the world film society, as this film was a collaboration between India and United Kingdom. On the occasion of the Independence Day Film Festival 2016, which was on held on 12 August, Attenborough's 'Gandhi' was screened. The Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense jointly presented the film. The screening also commemorated the 70th Indian Independence Day.

Story and Direction: The story commences with Gandhi being thrown out from a first class railway seat, which used to be reserved for lawyers while he was on his way to South Africa as a lawyer. He realizes the atrocities and discrimination that existed against Indians in South Africa. He contributed to organizing the Indian National Congress in South Africa and carried out protest movements against the discriminated laws that prevailed there. His Satyagraha ideologies begins to develop during his stay in South Africa. He undertakes a Satyagraha protest against a law related to marriages and eventually succeeds in his goal.

After that Gandhi returns to India and takes up a journey by train to see and understand the real India.

Leaders at the National Congress Party raised demands that British should grant freedom to India and Gandhi advises everyone to take these ambitions to the village mass.

Gandhi picks up a simple living lifestyle. He visits Champaran to check the plight of the indigo farmers and gets arrested. The British adopts the Rowlatt Bills and Gandhi proposes a Satyagraha protest. The British Viceroy (John Mills) orders for the arrest of Gandhi. This leads to outroar of riots throughout the country. The British General Reginald Dyer (Edward Fox) orders his troops to fire without warning on a rally in Amritsar. This leads to 1,650 bullets being fired causing 1,516 casualties, within 15 minutes. This tragic incident was the one which is known in history as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre Gandhi plans for more acts of non violent non-cooperation. He sticks to the masses and encourages them to break the stigma of untouchability and urges the Hindu and Muslim community to come together as one.

Gandhi is arrested for Sedition and when he comes out of Prison he leads the famous Dandi March.

Further protests and movements continues in the nation and then Gandhi is invited to attend the 1931 All-Government Conference on the Independence of India in London.

Lord Louis Mountbatten (Peter Harlowe), the last British envoy to India, arrives to preside over the peaceful transition of power. The Indian Independence faces demands of partition to which Gandhi oppose. Gandhi urges Jinnah to become the first prime minister of united India, while Nehru and others state that the people won't accept such a plan. Jinnah asserts that a Civil War might break out if India is not partitioned. Flags rise up in New Delhi, India and Karachi, Pakistan on 15 August 1947.

Finally on 30 January 1948, Gandhi is on his way to lead the evening prayers after meeting Margaret Bourke-White and is shot by a man from the gathering. The man bows down to Gandhi to touch his feet, takes out a gun and shoots him.

Cinematography: The flawless cinematography which Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor presents, is capable of taking the audience on a rollercoaster ride full of scenic beauty, together with both moments of calm and uneasy. Moments like Gandhi's funeral stood out as epitome of beauty and extravagancy. This historic moment was depicted by the cinematographers in its authentic self with the use of 300,000 extras. This spectacular scene holds the record of employing the most number of extras in one particular scene. Another amazing moment that the film's cinematography gave the audience an awesome visual experience was the period when Gandhi was travelling around the country . The various countryside were framed in such a pretty manner that a viewer will feel like it's a travel movie in those scenes.

Music: The score for the film was composed by Ravi Shankar and George Fenton. The score laid the perfect background for the film's time setting. The soundscape of the film was layered with a blend of Indian and Western classical instruments. Compositions with the Indian sitar, and wind instruments, and percussion while violins, trumpets and strings of the western classical music amalgamated for the creation of the film's soundtracks. The audio experience of the film is one of valor, patriotism and reflection of the 80s and 90s.

Acting: Ben Kingsley gives off the world authenticity in the portrayal of such a historic character. He picks up all the nuances of the great man, the humour, the frankness and quickness of Gandhi's mind, in such a way that one would conclude there could not have been any one better than him. The British characters played by the Englishmen somewhat feels stuffed at some points of time, but the scenes are completely effective when the Indian characters are being portrayed on the screen.

The film received a plethora of opinionated criticism and views. While for some it was an apt representation of a historic timeline, completely sticking to realism, many others stated that it was a false representation of history. But when one collects all the criticism and reviews from all over the world, there's more positives.

The film went on to win eight Academy Awards, which was inclusive of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay - written directly for the screen, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing, while also getting nominated for Best Makeup, Best Original Score and Best Sound. However, the achievements are not limited to only Academy Awards. They also received and was nominated for American Cinema Editors Awards, British Academy Film Awards and many others in various categories. The film was also nominated for the Grammy Awards in the Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special category.

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