Gandhi Journal Article-III (May2016) - Gandhi on and in cinema

Gandhi Journal Article-III ( May 2016 ) 

Gandhi on and in cinema

By Akul Tripathi 

Today, 68 years after his death, what are the visuals that hit our mind when we hear the name Gandhi? How is it that we picture him? That very familiar figure with round spectacles and a smiling face at peace with himself and the world, clad in a loin cloth and a furious gait with the lathi (stick), trying hard to keep pace is an image well known through photographs, chromolithographs, his statues and the face on the bank note. Yet, in our moving world of colour, the picture of him and his mannerisms that most people would associate him with or picture him to be is that which one has seen on screen - in movies, in cinema. My personal mirage of Gandhi is undoubtedly that of the monumental 1982 biopic - Gandhi - where Ben Kingsley plays the role of a life time in a multiple Oscar winning movie directed by Richard Attenborough, that is perhaps the most comprehensive depiction of Gandhi's role in the Indian freedom movement.

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Gandhi Journal Article - II

Cinema, Satyagraha and Everyday Life

By Pranta Pratik Patnaik

One of the most significant phenomena of our time has been the development of the cinema from a mere art form to a potential subject for study in terms of the issues that it raises and the supposedly influences it has on the spectators. It is now conceived as a versatile art form. Cinema not only provides a site for entertainment, but also a platform to reinforce certain values and ideals. In the same vein, if we trace the history of Indian cinema, we would find that Gandhian values and ideals have made their presence felt, to some degree, in Hindi films. Any movie on the Indian independence theme or any biography on a real life historical character around the independence era is incomplete without the mention of Mahatma Gandhi. This is not to deny the fact that there has always been a shift in the themes of Hindi Cinema which has in turn kept the Gandhian principles out of focus. On the other hand, it should not imply the complete ignorance or disrespect for Gandhian values. The paper looks into one such film - Lage Raho Munna Bhai (LRMB), released in the year 2006, which locates Gandhian values in the contemporary setting. The film revolves around the virtues and values of Mahatma Gandhi, propagated through the narrative, without merely being reduced into didactic preaching. The Gandhian era is believed to have been evoked in the 21st century through this film. 

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