Gandhi is a
1982-Events:*June 10 = Steven Spielberg's science fiction PG-rating film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, becomes one of the highest-grossing box-office success until Jurassic Park,...
biographical filmA biographical motion picture—often shortened to biopic—is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most...
based on the life of Mohandas Gandhi, who led the
nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence....
movement against
British colonial ruleThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by
Richard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes...
and stars
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
as Gandhi. They both won Academy Awards for their work on the film. The film was also given the
Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
and won eight Academy Awards in total.
It was an
international co-productionIn filmmaking, an international co-production is a film made by production companies from different countries. Due to the expense of filmmaking, many films made outside the United States are international co-productions...
between
production companiesA production company is a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do through an intermediary...
in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
I was called to the bar in London. I am, therefore, an attorney. And since I am in your eyes coloured, I think we can deduce that there is at least one coloured attorney in South Africa.
Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, then they will have my dead body. NOT MY OBEDIENCE!
We think it is time that you recognized that you are masters in someone else's home. Despite the best intentions of the best of you, you must, in the nature of things, humiliate us to control us. General Dyer is but an extreme example of the principle... it is time you left.
I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew and so are all of you.
The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response and we will continue to provoke until they respond or change the law. They are not in control; we are.
If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Oh God.
Lord Irwin, Viceroy: Mr. Gandhi will find that it takes a great deal more than a pinch of salt to bring down the British Empire.
Gandhi is a
1982-Events:*June 10 = Steven Spielberg's science fiction PG-rating film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, becomes one of the highest-grossing box-office success until Jurassic Park,...
biographical filmA biographical motion picture—often shortened to biopic—is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most...
based on the life of Mohandas Gandhi, who led the
nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence....
movement against
British colonial ruleThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by
Richard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes...
and stars
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
as Gandhi. They both won Academy Awards for their work on the film. The film was also given the
Academy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
and won eight Academy Awards in total.
It was an
international co-productionIn filmmaking, an international co-production is a film made by production companies from different countries. Due to the expense of filmmaking, many films made outside the United States are international co-productions...
between
production companiesA production company is a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do through an intermediary...
in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. The film premiered in
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital of India. It is situated within the metropolis of Delhi and serves as the seat of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi....
on November 30, 1982.
Synopsis
The film opens with a statement from the filmmakers explaining their approach to the problem of filming Gandhi's complex life story:
The film begins with Gandhi's assassination on January 30, 1948, and his funeral. After an evening prayer, an elderly Gandhi is helped out for his evening walk to meet a large number of greeters and admirers. One of these visitors-
Nathuram GodseNathuram Vinayak Godse is best known for being the man who assassinated Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.-Early life:...
-shoots him point blank in the chest. Gandhi exclaims, "Oh, God!" ("Hē Ram!" historically), and then falls dead. The film then cuts to a huge procession at his funeral, which is attended by dignitaries from around the world.
The early life of Gandhi is not depicted in the film. Instead, the story flashes back 55 years to a life-changing event: in 1893, Gandhi is thrown off a
South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
n train for being an Indian and traveling in a first class compartment despite having a first class ticket. 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 garnering 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 EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. 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 IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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 by religion. It is decided that the northwest area of India, and eastern part of India (current day
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
(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 JinnahMuhammad Ali Jinnah Urdu: , a 20th century politician and statesman, is generally regarded as the founder of Pakistan. He served as leader of The Muslim League and Pakistan's first Governor-General. He is officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum...
to become the first prime minister of India, but the
Partition of IndiaThe Partition of India was the partition of British India that led to the creation, on August 14, 1947 and August 15, 1947, respectively, of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union 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 in a scene at the end of the film that recalls the opening.
As Godse shoots Gandhi, the film fades to black and Gandhi is heard in a voiceover, saying "Oh God". The audience then sees Gandhi's cremation; the film ending with a scene of Gandhi's ashes being scattered on the holy Ganga. As this happens, we hear Gandhi in another voiceover:
As the list of actors is seen at the end, the hymn "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram" is heard.
Historical accuracy
The film is generally accurate in its depiction of the outline of Gandhi's life and the Indian struggle for independence. Most of the major characters in the film were specific historical figures rather than being composites or entirely fictitious. There is, however, considerable debate over what the filmmakers chose not to portray, and the interpretations of the events. For instance, some critics have argued that the film depicts Jinnah in an unfairly harsh light, and that it disregards Gandhi's personal flaws. An example of a particular detail in the film that differed from reality is that the film depicts Gandhi being beaten in South Africa for burning identity passes. While that protest did indeed happen, Gandhi was given a few slaps but not beaten as depicted in the movie.
Production
Shooting began on November 26, 1980 and ended on May 10, 1981. Approximately 400,000 extras were used in the funeral scene, the most for any film according to
Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
.
Cast
During pre-production, there was much speculation as to who would play the role of Gandhi. The choice was
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
who is partly of Indian heritage (his father was
GujaratiGujarati People , or Gujaratis, is an umbrella term used to describe an indo-aryan ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in India.-Gujaratis in...
and his birth name is Krishna Bhanji). Casting director for the film was
Dolly ThakoreDolly Thakore is a veteran Indian theatre actress and casting director.She was married to fellow stage actor and producer Alyque Padamsee and her son is Quasar Padamsee also an actor turned theatre producer in Mumbai....
, an Indian theatre actress who later went on to be casting director in several British Indian films.
- Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Rohini Hattangadi
Rohini Hattangadi is an Indian film, Marathi theatre and television actress. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one National Film Award, and is mostly known for being the only Indian actress to win the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Kasturba Gandhi in the...
as Kasturba GandhiKastürbā Gāndhi , affectionately called Ba, was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, marrying him in an arranged child marriage in 1883.-Early life and background:...
- Roshan Seth
Roshan Seth is a Genie Award winning and BAFTA Award nominated English-Indian actor, who appears mainly in British and American films...
as Pandit Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964...
- Saeed Jaffrey
Saeed Jaffrey OBE is an Indian-born British actor, who has done numerous British movies. He was born in Malerkotla, Punjab...
as Sardar Vallabhbhai PatelVallabhbhai Patel was a political and social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation...
- Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model, best known for her starring role on the television situation comedy Murphy Brown. She won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as Best Actress in a TV Comedy for that role...
as Margaret Bourke-WhiteMargaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and documentary photographer. Farrah Fawcett starred in a TV movie about her life, .-Early life:...
- Edward Fox
Edward Charles Morrice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor. He is generally associated with the role of an upper-class Englishman...
as Brigadier GeneralBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
Reginald DyerBrigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer CB was a British Indian Army officer responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.-Early life and assignments:...
- John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor/director/producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as Baron IrwinEdward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, and served at the highest levels until after...
- Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
as Judge R. S. Broomfield, the presiding judge in Gandhi's sedition trial.
- John Mills
Sir John Mills, CBE was an English actor, who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
as Lord ChelmsfordFrederic John Napier Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GBE, PC was a British statesman who served as Viceroy of India from 1916 to 1921....
- Martin Sheen
Ramón Estévez, better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an actor best known for his performances as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and President Josiah Bartlet on the television series The West Wing...
as Vince Walker, a fictional journalist based partially on Webb MillerWebb Miller was an American journalist and war correspondent. He covered the Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I, the Spanish Civil War , the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Phoney War, and the Russo-Finnish War of 1939...
.
- Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish film and stage actor, best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire...
as Zachary "the chin slapper" Bilis Reverend Charles Freer AndrewsCharles Freer Andrews was an English priest, educator and Indian freedom fighter who is best known as an associate of Mahatma Gandhi. Andrews greatly admired the philosophy of the young Mohandas Gandhi and was instrumental in convincing him to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi was a...
- Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in , best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
as GeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
Jan SmutsField Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS, GCTE was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from...
- Günther Maria Halmer as Dr. Herman Kallenbach
- Geraldine James
Geraldine James OBE is an award-winning English actress. Theatre director Peter Hall has said that Geraldine James ranks among the great English classical actresses.James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire to a cardiologist father...
as MirabehnMadeleine Slade , daughter of the British Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade, was a British woman who left her home in England to live and work with Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhi's principles and...
(Madeleine Slade)
- Alyque Padamsee
Alyque Padamsee is an Indian theater personality, both as producer and actor. He is probably best-known in the English-speaking world for playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the film Gandhi.-Career:...
as Muhammad Ali JinnahMuhammad Ali Jinnah Urdu: , a 20th century politician and statesman, is generally regarded as the founder of Pakistan. He served as leader of The Muslim League and Pakistan's first Governor-General. He is officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum...
- Amrish Puri
Amrish Lal Puri was an iconic Indian actor who appeared primarily in negative roles in Hindi movies. His most remembered roles are Mogambo in Mr India and Mola Ram in the Hollywood film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom .He played character roles and was well-known as a villain...
as Khan
- Dilsher Singh as Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India...
(Frontier Gandhi)
- Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the army and attended St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
as Senior Officer Fields
- Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a...
as Collins
- Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes...
as Kinnoch
- Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre.-Early life:...
as Sir George Hodge
- Shreeram Lagoo as Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society...
- Om Puri
Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian Cinema films as well as art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has also received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...
as Nahari
- Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with British and Irish citizenship. He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only four films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles. He is a method actor, known for his constant...
as Colin, a young man who harasses Gandhi and Andrews
Awards and honors
Gandhi received eight Academy Awards:
| Award | Won | Nomination | Winner |
|---|
| Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
|
|
|
Richard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes...
|
| Best Director |
|
|
Richard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes...
|
| Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
|
|
|
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
|
| Best Screenplay, Written Directly for the Screen |
|
|
John Briley John Richard Briley is an American writer best known for screenplays of biopics. He won the Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay at the 1982 Oscars for Gandhi...
|
| Best Art Direction The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
|
|
|
Stuart Craig Norman Stuart Craig OBE is a noted British production designer.He has also designed the sets, together with his frequent collaborator set decorator Stephanie McMillan, on all of the Harry Potter film series films to date. At Potter author J. K...
Robert W. LaingRobert W. Laing is an American production designer, art director and set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for another in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:...
Michael SeirtonMichael Seirton is an American set decorator. He has won an Academy Award and has been nominated for another in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Seirton won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction and has been nominated for another:Won...
|
| Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture....
|
|
|
Billy Williams Billy Williams OBE is a British cinematographer.Williams was responsible for shooting a number of films, including Women in Love , Gandhi , for which he won an oscar, and On Golden Pond . Williams joined his father, also named Billy, as an apprentice cameraman, remaining with him for four years...
Ronnie Taylor |
| Best Costume Design |
|
|
Bhanu Athaiya Bhanu Athaiya née Rajopadhye is Indian cinema's most well-regarded costume designer, having worked in over 100 films, since 1950s, with noted filmmakers like Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor, Ashutosh Gowariker, and international directors like Conrad Rooks and Richard Attenborough.She made her...
Madeline Jones
John MolloJohn Mollo is a British costume designer and book author, most known for his Oscar-winning costume design for the Star Wars series of films. He is the younger brother of Andrew Mollo.-Biography:...
|
| Best Film Editing |
|
|
John Bloom John Irving Bloom , who uses the pseudonym Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer and comic performer.-Early years:...
|
| Best Makeup |
|
|
Tom Smith
Winner was Sarah Monzani & Michele Burke – Quest for Fire----Quest for Fire is a 1981 film based on the 1911 French novel by J.-H. Rosny aîné . Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and adapted by Gérard Brach, the film stars Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nameer El-Kadi, and Rae Dawn Chong. It won the Academy Award for Makeup. Michael D...
|
| Best, Music Score |
|
|
Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian classical musician and composer who plays the sitar. He was described as "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by Ken Hunt of Allmusic....
and George FentonGeorge Fenton is a British composer best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, although he also writes music for the theatre. His real name is George Howe but he is better known by his pseudonym of George Fenton. Fenton attended St Edward's School in Oxford...
Winner was John WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career that spans six decades, Williams has composed many of the most famous film scores in Hollywood history, including Star Wars, Superman, Home Alone, the first three Harry Potter movies and all but two of Steven...
– ETE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Dee Wallace. It tells the story of Elliott , a lonely boy who befriends a friendly...
|
| Best Sound |
|
|
Gerry Humphreys, Robin O'Donoghue, Jonathan Bates, Simon Kaye
Winner was Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo, Gene Cantamessa – E.T.E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Dee Wallace. It tells the story of Elliott , a lonely boy who befriends a friendly...
|
Gandhi won five BAFTAs at the
British Academy Film AwardsThe British Academy Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is often cited as the British equivalent to the Oscars. In 2008, it took place in the Royal Opera House, having taken place since 2000 in the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester...
in 1983 including two awards for both
Richard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE is an English actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Attenborough has won two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes...
and
Ben KingsleySir Ben Kingsley, CBE is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career...
. The film also won Best Picture from
National Board of ReviewThe National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
as well as six
Golden GlobesThe Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television...
including
Best Foreign FilmThe Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
.
- Oscars in 1982
The 55th Academy Awards were presented April 11, 1983 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor, and Walter Matthau.Louis Gossett, Jr...
.
- BAFTAs in 1983
The 37th British Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1984, honored the best films of 1983.-Best Film: Educating Rita *Heat and Dust*Local Hero*Tootsie-Best Actor:...
.
Others
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition
- 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest movie heroes and villains chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
- Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
— Hero #21
- 2003 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers
100 Years…100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies is a list of the most inspiring movies as determined by the American Film Institute. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series, which has been compiling lists of the greatest movies of all time in various categories since 1998...
— #29
Precursors
This film had been Richard Attenborough's dream project, although two previous attempts at filming had been attempted and failed. In 1952,
Gabriel PascalGabriel Pascal was a Hungarian film producer and director.Born in Arad, Transylvania, Austria–Hungary in 1894, Pascal was the first film producer to bring the plays of George Bernard Shaw successfully to the screen...
secured an agreement with the Prime Minister of India (
Pandit NehruJawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964...
) to produce a film of Gandhi's life. However, Pascal died in 1954 before preparations were completed. Later
David LeanSir David Lean was an English filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and editor, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai,Doctor Zhivago,...
and
Sam SpiegelSam Spiegel was an independent Academy Award-winning film producer.-Life and career:Spiegel was born in Jaroslau, Austria as Samuel P. Spiegel to a German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of medieval Hebrew poetry...
planned to make a film about Gandhi after completing
The Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting...
(1957), reportedly with
Alec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE, was an English actor. He featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. Guinness later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
as Gandhi. Ultimately, the project was abandoned in favour of
Lawrence of ArabiaLawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel , from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson...
(1962).
Critical response
Reviews were broadly positive. Many years later the movie received an 85% "fresh" rating on the
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
website. Ben Kingsley's performance was especially praised. Historian
Lawrence JamesEdwin James Lawrence , most commonly known as Lawrence James, is an English academic, notable for his works as a writer and historian. He has written several works of popular history about the British Empire...
was one of the few who took a more negative view of the film.
External links