Gandhi

Gandhi, motion picture biography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led India’s campaign for independence from Great Britain. Released in 1982, this Indian and British production won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Writing, and Best Cinematography. After spending years in South Africa working against the country’s racist laws, Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) returns to his native India and leads a nonviolent campaign for home rule.

Director

• Richard Attenborough

Cast

• Ben Kingsley (Mahatma Gandhi)
• Candice Bergen (Margaret Bourke-White)
• Edward Fox (General Dyer)
• John Gielgud (Lord Irwin)
• Trevor Howard (Judge Broomfield)
• John Mills (The Viceroy)
• Martin Sheen (Walker)
• Rohini Hattangandy (Kasturba Gandhi)
• Ian Charleson (Charlie Andrews)
• Athol Fugard (General Smuts)
• Gunther Maria Halmer (Herman Kallenbach)
• Saeed Jaffrey (Sardar Patel)
• Geraldine James (Mirabehn)
• Alyque Padamsee (Mohammed Ali Jinnah)
• Amrish Puri (Khan)
• Roshan Seth (Pandit Nehru)
• Ian Bannen (Senior police officer)
• Michael Bryant (Principal Secretary)
• John Clements (Advocate General)
• Richard Griffiths (Collins)
• Nigel Hawthorne (Kinnoch)
• Bernard Hepton (GOC)
• Michael Hordern (Sir George Hodge)
• Peter Harlowe (Lord Mountbatten)
• Jane Myerson (Lady Mountbatten)
• Shreeram Lagoo (Professor Gokhale)
• Om Puri (Nahari)
• Virendra Razdan (Maulana Azad)
• Richard Vernon (Sir Edward Gait)
• Harsh Nayyar (Nathuram Godse)
• Prabhakar Patankar (Prakash)
• Vijay Kahsyap (Apte)
• Nigam Prakash (Karkare)
• Supriya Pathak (Manu)
• Neena Gupta (Abha)
• Shane Rimmer (Commentator)
• Anang Desai (J.B. Kripalani)
• Alok Nath (Tyeb Mohammed)
• Dean Gaspar (Singh)
• David Gant (Daniels)
• Daniel Day-Lewis (Colin)
• Avis Bunnage (His mother)
• Sunila Pradhan (Mrs. Motilal Nehru)
• Manohar Pitale (Shukla)
• Ernest Clark (Lord Hunter)
• Pankaj Mohan (Mahadev Desai)
• Bernard Horsfall (General Edgar)
• Daleep Tahil (Zia)
• Terrence Hardiman (Ramsey MacDonald)
• John Vine (ADC to General Dyer)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Picture (1982)
• Academy Award for Best Actor (1982): Ben Kingsley
• Academy Award for Best Director (1982): Richard Attenborough
• Academy Award for Best Writing—Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen (1982): John Briley
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1982): Stuart Craig—Art Direction, Bob Laing—Art Direction, Michael Seirton—Set Decoration
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography (1982): Billy Williams, Ronnie Taylor
• Academy Award for Best Costume Design (1982): John Mollo, Bhanu Athaiya
• Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1982): (John Bloom)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film (1983)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor—Drama (1983): Ben Kingsley
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Director (1983): Richard Attenborough
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1983): John Briley
• Golden Globe Award for Best New Male Motion Picture Star (1983): Ben Kingsley
• New York Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Picture (1982)
• New York Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actor (1982): Ben Kingsley

Quotes

• Gandhi (on fighting unjust laws): “They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body—not my obedience.”
• Gandhi: “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”