The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.
- Won 8 Oscars
- 35 wins & 21 nominations total
Videos4
Günther Maria Halmer
- Herman Kallenbachas Herman Kallenbach
- (as Gunter Maria Halmer)
- Director
- Writer
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
In 1893, Mohandas K. 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. —gavin (gunmasterM@hotmail.com)
- Taglines
- His Triumph Changed The World Forever.
- Genres
- Certificate
- PG
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaOver 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 January 31, 1981, the 33rd anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's funeral. Eleven crews shot over 20,000 feet of film, which was pared down to two minutes and five seconds in the final release.
- GoofsIn 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.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: No man's life can be encompassed in one telling. There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, to include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime. What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record and try to find one's way to the heart of the man....
NEW DELHI INDIA 30th JANUARY 1948
- Alternate versionsIn April 2005, Skoll launched the Gandhi Project in partnership with Silicon Valley entrepreneur Kamran Elahian. Working with Palestinian voice actors and artists, an award-winning director dubbed the epic film into Arabic. It is being screened throughout Palestine in order to advance civil society goals of peaceful resistance, self-reliance, economic development and local empowerment, and plans are underway to expand screenings throughout the Arab world.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of Gandhi: Mr. Attenborough and Mr. Gandhi (1983)
- SoundtracksGod Save the King!
(1744) (uncredited)
Music attributed to Henry Carey
Sung by Ben Kingsley
Reprised when India achieves independence
Top review
'The way of truth and love has always won'...
... and long may it continue to do so. Remains an incredible piece of storytelling and film making about one of few individuals the world has delivered, that can truly be referred to as a great leader - and not just of his people but of the peace loving populations of the world. Ben Kingsley perfectly embodies Gandhi to the point that you can almost believe he is performing in his own biopic. Let's also not forget, alongside a great telling of an inspirational journey, we get a history lesson of the impact of empire. It should encourage you to dig a bit deeper to uncover some rather alarming truths that the imperialists would rather you didn't appraise yourself of, undertaken by the usual white middle aged and older men who thought they were created better than the rest of the worlds demographics they sought to control.
helpful•164
- Xstal
- Jun 4, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Richard Attenborough's Film: Gandhi
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $22,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $52,767,889
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $131,153
- Dec 12, 1982
- Gross worldwide
- $52,767,889
- Runtime3 hours 11 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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