Portrayal of Gandhi in Hindi Cinema

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Actor RajitKapoor who played the role of Gandhi in Benegal’s film, responds:

Mahatma Gandhi has always been a role model for us, that's why filmmakers are exploring the various facets of his personality in their own way. Youngsters may want to emulate SRK when it comes to style and having an attitude, but talk about ethics and Gandhi is still the ultimate role model. That's why people love to see films based on him and he continues to inspire filmmakers. (as cited in Jha, 2007)

Famous actor AnuKapoor who portrayed the role of Gandhi in ‘Sardar’, adds:

The man had his own vision and philosophy. He had his own style of living. That is what continues to attract filmmakers and audiences alike. Though every Indian relates to Gandhi, there is still a lot about the man which remains unexplored. I think that's the reason Gandhi continues to be chosen as a subject by filmmakers.

(as cited in Jha, 2007)

One most relevance question also raised by Jha that are film-makers using Gandhi’s character only for making money by his popularity and reverence? Actor DilipPrabhavalkar who portrayed Gandhi in most famous ‘LageRahoMunnabhai’, answers:

No, I don't think so. Films made on Gandhi may have earned good money and acclaim, but the fact remains that there is still no better way of communicating his ethics and ideology to the younger generations than by immortalizing them on celluloid. And if his ideologies can be misused by politicians for selfish gains, what's wrong in the film industry portraying him on screen in a positive light?

(as cited in Jha, 2007)

All above replies seems like a hagiography of Gandhi because no one Gandhi based Indian film achieved a high profit or a huge viewer’s strength, except ‘LageRahoMunnabhai’. It is also to be noticed that after a lot of Gandhi based cinema, the common viewers have not a so positive image of Gandhi as told by above actors, directors, journalists and critic.

Cinema is most popular stuff in younger generation. But Gandhi based films are also unable to create an awareness about ‘father of nation’ in youths. In a research article entitled by Cinema Satyagraha and Everyday Life in ‘Gandhi Marg’ magazine, Vol-32, July-September 2010, author presents the truth, “Through focus group discussions and by asking the students to fill questionnaires, wherever possible, I was able to collect the views of 60 respondents/students. It was quite evident from the focused group discussion that even though the students did not know much about the personal details of Gandhi, they were not unaware of Gandhian ideals and values or 'Gandhigiri', as one of the students pointed out. When I asked them to mention the year in which Gandhi was born and where he did his first Satyagraha, it was difficult for them to come up with answers. Most of them (48 respondents, i.e. 80%) acknowledged that the film LRMB has introduced them to the idea of Satyagraha first time.

Hence, it means, there is a big contradiction between film-makers and viewers about Gandhi’s life and ideology. And, it is obvious that Gandhi based films are not reflecting the real characteristic of Gandhism in public because the conflicts in society are not decreased by those films.

Gandhi in Cinema

Gandhi establishes his relationship with cinema and cinema establishes its relationshipwith him atypically. His own opinion is an interesting one. Gandhideclared many times that he had never seen a single film and compared cinemawith other ‘vices’ such as betting, gambling and horse racing4 (Das Sharma, 1993:136, cited in Ganti, 2004: 46, as cited in Rai, 2011: 64).

While he was in England...Gandhi never went to the Cinema and had not even heard of Charlie Chaplin. He only agreed to meet him when he heard that Chaplin has come from a poor family in the East End, where Gandhi himself had stayed for a time when he first came to England as a student and where he was now staying once again. (Byrne, 1988: 91-92, as cited in Rai, 2011: 64)

According to Rai (2011: 65), Gandhi is showed in Indian cinemaby three type of presentation: ‘direct reference’, ‘indirect reference’ and ‘unseen reference’.

Direct reference – The Bapu (undisputed, unquestioned, microcosm)

Indirect reference- a) Bapu’s philosophy (undefeatable) b) Gandhi (contestable)

Unseen reference – Gandhian ideology (the best solution)

Mainly, there are two type of absorption of Gandhi in Indian cinema: one is by his physical presence and other is by his intangible presence in the form of Gandhian ideology.Gandhi as a character emerged in Indian cinema only after the unbelievable success of a foreign biopic, Attenborough’s Gandhi in 1982. The subject of this film was Gandhi’s life, and it won eight Academy Awards. This movie inspired Indian film-makers to portray a character like Gandhi which was the biggest non-fiction personality of India. Ketan Mehta achieved the first place by Sardar (1993) among all Indian film-maker who showed Gandhi’s physical presence. The actual attempt was made by ShyamBenegal who portrayed Gandhi’s 21 years in South Africa. His film’s title was The Making of the Mahatma (1996), got a wonderful response not only in India but in foreign also. The actor, RajitKapoor won the National Award for essaying the role of Gandhi. In physical presence, Gandhi is portrayed as the character, mostly as a larger than life human being which can never be wrong, the mahatma, and very few times as only Gandhi with a gray shed who can be questioned and contested. Both cases are very different in nature. When Gandhi is constructed as the mahatma, films show he is the best spirit of the universe. His character solves all problems, and all opposite characters feel their guilt lastly. In this type of films, it seems his self-sacrifice for others is not less than Jesus’ sacrifice of being crucified.Viewers feel that Gandhi with his greatness in every aspect of life cannot be a common man, but an incarnation of God. These films are Gandhi(1982), The Making of the Mahatma(1996), Hey Ram (2000),LagerahoMunnabhai(2006), and Gandhi, My Father(2007). Besides these, there are also some films where Gandhi is constructed only as Gandhi. Here, Gandhi is not any solution but the problem, and his every action is inspired by his political strategy. By these films, viewers realize that Gandhi is not the single person who has a deep concern

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