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Home , Ben Kingsley, Jahnu Barua, Jamil Dehlavi, Kasturba Gandhi, Nine Hours to Rama

08 hindustantimes

YEARS ON

1869 - 2019

PERSPECTIVE RATNOTTAMA SENGUPTA MANY GANDHIS ON OUR SCREENS

n Veteran actor, , at her residence in Mumbai. AALOK SONI / HT

INTERVIEW A young woman n film MOVING IMAGE Through the years, filmmakers have been director, Richard inspired by MK Gandhi and the ideas that he espoused as a Attenborough, who played an (left) and leader of the freedom struggle. Each generation has actor, , who responded to the Mahatma differently, picking up various played the elements of his vast influence over our collective psyche Mahatma, on aging Kasturba set, 1982. ©COLUMBIA/ Sonal Kalra tough. We were supposed to research our COURTESY EVERETT n [email protected] characters. While Ben found a lot of litera- ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ture on , I only found two n her tastefully done up apartment in books on Kasturba — Hamari Ba by Van- Mumbai’s Bandra, it is humbling to mala Parikh, and Ba Aur Ki Sheetal I watch actor Rohini Hattangadi juggle Chhaya Mein by Sushila Nayar. Both between playing host to us and doing books were very personal recollections of ohandas Karamchand Gan- curate film festivals on Gandhi in Delhi (Octo- scourge of untouchability. Pratap, a Brahmin n A still from her own makeup. The 68-year-old is the the authors, and, therefore, limited. dhi. Gandhiji. Mahatma. ber 2018 and January 2019), (August- and Kasturi, from a lower caste, are ill-fated Mahatma first Indian actor to win a BAFTA Bapu. One man, so many October 2019), and Singapore (begins Friday lovers in Achhut Kanya (1936), the Bombay Gandhi: 20th (awarded by the British Academy of Film After he read Gandhi’s biography by Louis Fis- lives! and continues till September 30). Talkies film by German director, Franz Osten. Century Prophet. and Television Arts) and has also won a cher (The Life of Mahatma Gandhi), Sir Rich- M Any mention of Gandhi Gandhi inspired millions to rise against the Perhaps the first reformist film on the Indian Gandhi is seen National Award. But the role that she is ard spent more than 18 years trying to make makes us think of Richard imperialists, he cut across divisions of caste screen, it was most likely inspired by Harijan, with a child most well known for landed on her plate this film. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru cleared the Attenborough’s definitive 1982 biopic that and religion, he spoke not for one country but first published by Gandhi from Yerwada jail aboard the SS when she was 27. She played the character film, but after he died, the project was put on covered Gandhi’s life from 1893 to 1948. These for humanity. This made him a difficult model of in 1933. The director of the Tamil film, Rajputana on his of in Richard Attenbor- the back burner. Indira Gandhi backed the film 55 years depicted are strewn with abiding to emulate, as we see in Gandhi My Father Balyogini (1936), about a Brahmin widow and way to ough’s iconic 1982 film, Gandhi. Hattan- and got the National Film Development Cor- images: Gandhi floating away his chaddar in (2007), based on his troubled relationship with her child given shelter by a lower caste ser- for the Round gadi revisits her memories of working in poration to give funds. It had taken much for the river, for a shivering woman to cover her- his son, Harilal. Feroze Abbas Khan said in a vant, was declared an outcaste by Brahmins. Table this iconic cinematic adaptation of his life. the film to finally come on the floors. self with; his dignified grieving when he loses director’s note when his film was screened in Similarly, Mala Pilla (1938) in Telugu dealt Conference. An edited version. Again very naïve of me, I was not at all his wife; his determination as he sets out on the festivals I had curated, “Since most filmgo- with an intercaste relationship that continues Journalist and aware of these things. During the shoot, I the Dandi march; his insistence on not resort- ers are young, we were advised to project the to attract social opprobrium to this day. writer A K A young graduate from National School of realised that Sir Richard knew Gandhi ing to violence in the face of lathi charge; Gan- clash between the younger generation of Thyagabhoomi (1939) was produced at the Chettiar Drama who’s more interested in theatre than backwards. I would struggle with calculat- dhi practising Islam and Christianity rituals Hopefuls and the older generation of Dog- height of ’s freedom movement travelled over cinema gets a call from ing how old Kasturba would have been for as lessons in tolerance. mas.” Khan chose to depict the complex rela- expressly to glorify the Mahatma’s ideals. 100,000 km to play a much older character. What was your significant scenes like the one on burning One of the earliest films on Gandhi was an tionship between a principled father and a son Protagonist Sambu Sastri invites ostracism across India and first reaction? foreign clothes, but before I could consult American feature documentary, titled turned into a hand tool of fanatics. For, “These by sheltering Harijans in his home after a the world to Well, in the beginning, it was very naïve of the script, he would know the answer. Mahatma Gandhi: 20th Century Prophet, were real people whose struggle is instructive cyclone. The orthodox excommuni- collect video me, but I didn’t know the scale of the film. When I read the biography, it was reveal- made in 1953. Another documentary, made in for our lives.” cate him. His daughter comes away from a footage for the For me it was just a role in an English film. ing how little we as Indians knew about 1968, covered every decade of his existence. “He has demonstrated,” Albert Einstein failed marriage, joins the freedom movement documentary. Because of my theatre background, I was Gandhi. I know that there was visible But a better insight was provided by Shyam had said after Gandhi’s assassination, “that a and gets arrested. The film, financed and dis- This footage called for interview by Sir Richard — at opposition to making the film. There were Benegal’s The Making of a Mahatma/ powerful human following can be assembled tributed by the movie mogul, SS Vasan, before was first that time he was Sir Richard, he became groups that said, “Gandhi par film kaise Mohan Se Mahatma Tak (1996). Based on Fat- not only through cunning of political manoeu- he created Gemini Pictures, was banned by screened in Lord afterwards — at the Centaur hotel. It bana sakte hain (How can anyone make a ima Meer’s Apprenticeship of a Mahatma, it vres, but through the cogent example of a mor- the British government. India, and later was arranged by another theatre artist, film on Gandhi?)”. Both Richard and Ben focused on his 21 years in South Africa where ally superior conduct of life.” A clutch of films The New Indian Cinema of the 1970s and produced in Dolly Thakore, his liaison here. I told him had personal security guards with them he used with enormous success. tackle this idea. In ’s Kur- 1980s, too, focused on caste, as evidenced by Hollywood, USA, that I’ve only done three films, but I have a throughout the shoot. Mohandas of Kathiawad had an impact on mavatara (2012), a clerk with a striking Samskara (1970) and Sadgati (1988). Pattabhi- in 1953. theatre background. So our entire conver- several leaders. Naturally, many biopics resemblance to Gandhi is asked to enact him Reddy’s Samskara , based on UR Anan- FILM STILL sation was around theatre, with no men- What was it like on the sets? Was it very dif- depict that. Sardar (1993), Ketan Mehta’s por- in a tele serial. But when he starts thinking thamurthy’s novel, led to much churning tion of the film. The next day, Dolly wired ferent from the previous three films you had trait of ; Jamil Dehlavi’s and behaving like Gandhi, he is silenced. In within orthodox society, prompting the me and I went to the grocer and called her, done by then? Jinnah (1998), where played Ananth Mahadevan’s Gour Hari Dastaan: Madras High Court to ban the film. It was the as I didn’t have a phone. She told me that I Oh, yes. The detailing on the sets of Gan- the founder of ; ’s The Freedom File (2014), the protagonist first Kannada film in independent India to suf- have been selected to go to England for a dhi was very minute. There was immense encapsulation of Subhas Chandra Bose’s becomes a butt of jokes when he resorts to sat- fer this fate. screen test (...) We were given a scene to do discipline and nothing was taken for struggle for an Azad Hind, Netaji – The For- yagraha in Bombay, to get what is his right: a No writing about cinema’s engagement so, where Kasturba, in South Africa, granted. If Gandhi used a certain specific gotten Hero (2005); Babasaheb (2000), on the Tamra Patra honouring his participation in with Gandhi is complete without recognising refuses to clean the latrine [inside the kind of utensil, then it had to be on the set. I life of B.R. Ambedkar; and even Viceroy’s the freedom struggle. In Babar Naam Gan- filmmakers’ fascination for his assassin, Nat- Phoenix Farm settlement]. Like a disci- remember our set was on the banks of House (2017), Gurinder Chadha’s account of dhiji (2015), a street urchin is told that the man huram Godse. Mark Robson first adapted plined theatre artist, I was fully prepared, Yamuna in Badarpur (Delhi border). And the historic months leading to the Partition of on the currency note is his father. But when he Stanley Wolpert’s 1962 book into the contro- right from my bindi down to the bangles on the other bank, a cut-out of chimneys India under Lord Mountbatten. starts believing it, he is hauled up for fraud. So versial (1963). In Hey and the mangalsutra. They had made was needed. The unit got cut-outs exactly Other films that show Gandhi’s influence much for Gandhi being the Father of the Ram! (2000), projected the three pairs of Gandhi and Kasturba for the like those of textile mill chimneys in include Bhagat Singh (2002), Rajkumar San- Nation! dilemma of a would-be-assassin who is over- audition. I was with Ben Kingsley, the sec- Ahmedabad. That side was not even in the toshi’s retelling with Ajay Devgan as the Through Uttam Chowdhury, a professor taken by Godse. And this year’s release, The ond couple was and frame, but they didn’t want to take any socialist revolutionary; Dear Friend Hitler suffering amnesia, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Gandhi Murder, is a conspiracy theory film , and the third was chances. In Mumbai, we were shooting (2011), based on a letter written by Gandhi to Mara (2005) intones a society that is forgetting about three policemen who learn about Gan- and Bhakti Barve. Ben and I made it. scenes based in South Africa. And I sud- the Nazi Chancellor of Germany; Satyajit its voice of conscience, reducing the Mahatma dhi’s impending murder. denly saw zebras. I wondered where Sir Ray’s centennial portrait of Rabindranath to merely statue or stamp. “We hardly realise What accounts for this fascination? That Did Attenborough mention why the two of you Richard had brought zebras from. I was (1961), whom Gandhi called Gurudev; and that half the problems we face today is because Godse’s final statement was banned from the made the cut? then told that they had painted stripes on Shyam Benegal’s Indo-Soviet co-production, we are forgetting his homilies, and thereby public realm for 30 years? Or that the seeker of I think when we did the scene, they had donkeys to make them look like zebras! He Nehru (1983). we’re killing Gandhi everyday…”a director’s struggled in a landscape of violence some inkling that Ben and I would make it said we can’t get South Africa’s giraffes How do those born after 1948 perceive Gan- note by stated. and died by the gun? As Kunal Sarkar, because of the way we looked. Sir Richard here, at least we can manage zebras. dhi? Is he still a Mahatma? In a world over- However, Rajkumar Hirani’s Lage Raho renowned cardiac surgeon and a keen did say that although he felt that Smita taken by terror and violence, is his crusade for Munna Bhai (2006) shows a don successfully debater, underscored during a panel discus- Patil was a wonderful actor, I looked more While filming, could you foresee that Gandhi non violence still relevant, or is it now a mere trade Dadagiri for . In Road to San- sion in the Gandhi Revisited film festival in provincial and suited the part. He said would become such a commercial success slogan for politicians? The philosophies of gam (2009), Hasmat Ullah, a devout Muslim Kolkata, “Post World War 2, and the closer we Smita is too beautiful to play Kasturba! and win critical acclaim? It fetched eight great leaders are not only for themselves but mechanic in post Partition India, is trans- came to Independence, Gandhi’s satyagraha and 130 million dollars at for society at large. This has prompted me to formed when he is entrusted the job of repair- had lost its bite.” Tell us about Ben Kingsley and the prepa- the box office. ing an old V8 Ford that had carried Gandhi’s That indeed was the real tragedy of the 20th ration you had to do to get into the skin of There was a private show for the crew, and ashes to Triveni Sangam. century. Gandhi’s character. it left me speechless. Raungte khade ho How do those born after 1948 perceive Gandhi? Is he Satyagraha, (uplift), ahimsa Ben and I had to learn to operate a rahe the mere (I had goosebumps). After still a ‘Mahatma’? In a world overtaken by terror and (non violence): the three big notions of Gandhi charkha. In addition, I was trained in elo- the release, people slowly started appreci- violence, is his crusade for non violence still relevant, or are revisited in our films repeatedly. But in National Award winner Ratnottama Sengupta is a cution because I needed to get rid of my ating the film. India came to be known in is it now a mere slogan for politicians? the 1930s, when the Mahatma walked among senior journalist, who has curated Gandhi film festivals in Maharashtrian accent, while Ben was the West because of Gandhi. Otherwise, us, films like Achhut Kanya, Balyogini, Thy- Delhi, Kolkata and Singapore. She recently turned director training in yoga, because he had to squat they still thought that tigers roam around agabhoomi, Mala Pilla were focusing on the with ‘And They Made Classics’ and because of a hip injury, he found it on the streets in India!