List of artistic depictions of Mahatma Gandhi: Difference between revisions

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, Devanāgarī: मोहन दास करमचन्द गान्धी, Romanized: mohandās karamcand gāndhī, IPA: [moːhənd̪aːs kərəmtʃənd̪ gaːnd̪ʱiː]) (October 2 1869 – January 30, 1948) was a major political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha — resistance through mass civil disobedience strongly founded upon ahimsa (non-violence) becoming one of the strongest philosophies of freedom struggles worldwide.

Gandhi is commonly known and spoken of worldwide as Mahatma Gandhi (Hindi: महात्मा, / məhatma /; from Sanskrit, Mahatma: Great Soul). In India, he is often referred to as Bapu (in Gujarati, Father). He has been portrayed in many films, works of literature, and dramatic productions as demonstrated by the list below.

Film, literature, and theater

Film

Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)

• 2007: Gandhi, My Father: An upcoming film based upon the play, Mahatma vs. Gandhi. This play explores Gandhi's troubled relationship with his eldest son Harilal Gandhi. [1], [2], [3]

• 2006: Gandhi is portrayed by Dilip Prabhavalkar in the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The film popularised Gandhism under the new term of Gandhigiri in India.

• 2005: Gandhi is portrayed by Mohan Jhangiani (actor) and Zul Vilani (voice) in the film Water. It was later turned into the novel,Water: A Novel, by Bapsi Sidhwa.

• 2005: Mangal Pandey: The Rising, ends with newsreel footage featuring Gandhi.

• 2005: Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, tells the story of a retired Hindi professor, who, as he falls victim to Alzheimer's disease, begins to believe that he was accused of being the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

• 2004: Swades, "epitomizes Gandhi's values" according to his great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi.

• 2001: Gandhi is portrayed by Surendra Rajan in the film Veer Savarkar, about the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

• 2000: Gandhi is portrayed by Mohan Gokhale in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, which is based upon the life of B. R. Ambedkar.

• 2000: Gandhi is portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah in Hey Ram. A film made by Kamal Hasan, it portrays a would-be assassin of Gandhi and the dilemma faced by the would-be assassins in the turmoil of post-partition India.

File:Gandhimovie.jpg

Gandhi (1982)

• 1998: Gandhi is portrayed by Sam Dastor in Jinnah, a biopic of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

• 1996: Gandhi is portrayed by Rajit Kapur in his award-winning role as a young Gandhi in The Making of the Mahatma, a Shyam Benegal film about Gandhi's 21 years in South Africa.

• 1993: Gandhi is portrayed by Annu Kapoor in the Ketan Mehta film Sardar which is about the life of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. [4]

• 1982: Gandhi is portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the title role of the award-winning film, Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Theater

• The opera Satyāgraha, composed by Philip Glass (in 1980), with a libretto by himself and Constance De Jong is based on Gandhi's experiences in South Africa.
• Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy (Marathi: This is Nathuram Godsé speaking) explores the rationale and circumstances in which Gandhi's murder was plotted and carried out.

Popular culture and parodies

Computer games

• Mahatma Gandhi has been featured in the video game series Civilization, as a civilization leader of the Indian Civilization. He has appeared through the first three Civilization games as a lone Civilization leader, but in Civilization IV, Gandhi is a civilization leader alongside Asoka, the famous Indian Emperor.
• In Celebrity Deathmatch, Gandhi is pitted against Gengis Khan.

Television

• The short-lived MTV cartoon Clone High featured the clone of Gandhi as one of the main characters.
• The Family Guy movie features a cutaway of a portrayed Gandhi unsuccessfully doing stand-up comedy at a club.
• The cartoon Time Squad on Cartoon Network has an episode where Gandhi is portrayed as wanting to do tap dancing as a career, instead of leading India to independence.
• A gun-toting Gandhi is shown briefly in a parody trailer for "Gandhi II" in the comedy movie UHF in which he is described as "No more Mr. Passive Resistance".
• In The Old Man (an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld), Elaine visits an old woman who claims to have had an "affair with Mohandas".
• In The Simpsons episode Mountain of Madness Montgomery Burns hullucinates seeing Homer Simpson conspiring against him with Mahatma Gandhi and other historical characters. Also the episode Homer and Apu reveals Apu has a unique prayer said prior to eating: Good rice, good curry, good Gandhi, let's hurry.
• In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, during the scene where Kenny goes to hell, Gandhi is one of the ghosts seen speaking to Kenny.

External links

• Hey Ram! So many films on Gandhi! -The Telegraph
• Rediscovering a Gandhi film