The Tale Of Gandhi Through The Lens: An Inter-Textual Analytical Study Of Three Major Films- Gandhi, The Making Of The Mahatma, And Gandhi, My Father C.S.H.N. MURTHY,
[email protected] OinamBedajit Meitei, Dapkupar TARIANG Volume 2.2 (2013) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2013.66 | http://cinej.pitt.edu Abstract For over half a century Gandhi has been one of the favored characters of a number of films – Nine hours to Rama (1963) to Gandhi, My Father (2007). Gandhian ethos, life and teachings are frequently represented in varied ways in different films. The portrayal of Gandhi in different films can be grouped into two broad categories: i. revolving around his life, percept and practice as one category and ii. involving his ideas, ideals and views either explicitly or implicitly. Using Bingham’s (2010) discursive analysis on biopic films, the study seeks to show how Gandhi is perceived and depicted through the lenses of these three eminent directors vis-à-vis others from the point of intertextuality both ideologically and politically. Further the study would elaborate how different personal and social events in Gandhi’s life are weaved together by these directors to bring out the character of Bapu or Mahatma from Gandhi. For all the above critique, Gandhi’s autobiography-The Story of My Experiments with Truth-has been taken as a base referent. Keywords: Comparative analysis, Inter-textuality, Gandhian Ethos, Portrayal, crisscross critiquing, Mahatma, etc. CINEJ Cinema Journal : The Tale of Gandhi through the lens New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United Volume 2.2 (2013) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2013.66 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 4 States License.