• Tuesday, November 30, 1982

• Country:

  India

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  188 min

1982

In 1983, Gandhi is thrown off a South African train for being an Indian and traveling in a first class compartment. Gandhi realizes that the laws are biased against Indians and decides to start a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of all Indians in South Africa. After numerous arrests and the unwanted attention of the world, the government finally relents by recognizing rights for Indians, though not for the native blacks of South Africa.

After this victory, Gandhi is invited back to India, where he is now considered something of a national hero. He is urged to take up the fight for India's independence from the British Empire. Gandhi agrees, and mounts a non-violent non-cooperation campaign of unprecedented scale, coordinating millions of Indians nationwide. There are some setbacks, such as violence against the protesters and Gandhi's occasional imprisonment.

Nevertheless, the campaign generates great attention, and Britain faces intense public pressure. Too weak from World War II to continue enforcing its will in India, Britain finally grants India's independence. Indians celebrate this victory, but their troubles are far from over. Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupt into nation-wide violence. Gandhi declares a hunger strike, saying he will not eat until the fighting stops.

The fighting does stop eventually, but the country is divided. It is decided that the northwest area of India, and eastern part of India (current day Bangladesh), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called Pakistan (West and East Pakistan respectively). It is hoped that by encouraging the Muslims to live in a separate country, violence will abate.

Gandhi is opposed to the idea, and is even willing to allow Muhammad Ali Jinnah to become the first prime minister of India, but the Partition of India is carried out nevertheless. Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angers many dissidents on both sides, one of whom finally gets close enough to assassinate him.

Goofs

• The car burned in the Calcutta riot scenes (some time between 1946 and 1948) is an Ambassador, an Indian-made copy of a 1954 Morris Oxford.
• When Gandhi is escorted into the office of the top prison official, the pendulum on the grandfather clock in the background jumps between shots.
• In the scene where the Pakistani flag is being raised for the first time, the anthem that is playing is the current national anthem of Pakistan ("Qaumi Tarana"). The original national anthem of Pakistan was a different song (written by a Hindu), which was written days prior to the ceremony and only lasted 18 months as Pakistan's anthem.
• In the opening scene in South Africa, Gandhi is riding first class on a steam locomotive. The first class car is shown as the forward car, closest to the engine. In passenger steam engines, first class would be the rearmost car, farthest away from the engine's heat and exhaust. Second or third class would be nearest the engine.
• In the massacre scene Gen. Dyer is pacing back and forth between the two rows of firing soldiers. Right before the cut to the crowd he steps in front of a standing soldier firing.
• While it is true that electricity was unavailable to most Indian villages during Gandhi's lifetime, it can be expected that poles supporting what seem to be power lines along the railroad right-of-way during Gandhi's tour of India are instead supporting telegraph lines, some of which were in place as early as the 1850s.
• In the movie, The South African police were shown both arresting and beating Gandhi for burning passes during his protest of the Pass Law. Although Gandhi and his fellow protesters were arrested for burning the passes, in reality neither Gandhi or any of the protesters were ever beaten by the police during the protest.
• Gandhi is shown to have two sons and a daughter. In reality Gandhi only had sons.

Taglines

• His Triumph Changed The World Forever.
• The Man of the Century. The Motion Picture of a Lifetime.
• A WORLD EVENT It took one remarkable man to defeat the British Empire and free a nation of 350 million people. His goal was freedom for India. His strategy was peace. His weapon was his humanity.

Trivias

• London, so of course it was a coincidence, and not a cute reference by the filmmakers. When Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) travels to London, he stays at Kingsley Hall.
• 300,000 extras appeared in the funeral sequence. About 200,000 were volunteers and 94,560 were paid a small fee (under contract). The sequence was filmed on 31st Jan 1981, the 33rd anniversary of Gandhi's funeral. 11 crews shot over 20,000 feet of film, which was pared down to 125 seconds in the final release.
• Both Alec Guinness and Anthony Hopkins were originally considered for the role of Gandhi.
• Ben Kingsley looked so much like Gandhi, many natives thought him to be Gandhi's ghost.
• In John Ratzenberger's brief scene, his voice is dubbed.
• Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim owned a share of the rights in Britain's longest-running play "The Mousetrap" which they sold to fund the production of this movie.
• John Hurt and Tom Courtenay were among the actors approached by Richard Attenborough about playing the lead role. Ben Kingsley was recommended for the role by Harold Pinter, who had seen him in a play; Pinter made the suggestion to Sam Spiegel, an associate of Attenborough's.
• Ben Kingsley's (born Krishna Bhanji) paternal family was from the Indian state of Gujarat, the same state Mahatma Gandhi was from.
• It was Michael Attenborough, Richard Attenborough's son, who recommended Ben Kingsley to his father.
• Trevor Howard shot his cameo as Judge Broomfield in two days.

Awards

1. Best Cinematography Award
   Event: British Society of Cinematographers
   Result: Won
   Category:
   Recipient(s): Ronnie Taylor
2. NYFCC Award
   Event: New York Film Critics Circle Awards
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Actor
   Recipient(s): Ben Kingsley
3. Oscar
   Event: Academy Awards, USA
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Director
   Recipient(s): Richard Attenborough
4. Oscar
   Event: Academy Awards, USA
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Actor in a Leading Role
   Recipient(s): Ben Kingsley
5. Eddie
   Event: American Cinema Editors, USA
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Edited Feature Film
   Recipient(s): John Bloom
6. BAFTA Film Award
   Event: BAFTA Awards
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Actor
   Recipient(s): Ben Kingsley