essay

Kavitha d/o Sathiamurthi

A0114311A

27 February, 2014

GEK 1048

MID TERM ASSIGNMENT

As we all know, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the well known Mahatma, the Father of the nation, in India who fought relentlessly for India’s independence from the British imperial rule. He is often compared with the other legends such as Stalin, Hitler and many more. Even Nelson Mandala had once referred to and looked up to Gandhi. Of course, Gandhi stands out from the other legends in one particular way. That is the method he used to solve the problems. Non violence. Yes, during those times, he was the only one who was so adamant in upholding his rule of non violence in the path to achieving victory despite the situations faced in the midst of the process.

Even Nehru and some of his other close disciples retorted to his thoughts of non-violence.

Despite all these that have been mentioned, is Gandhi really the good, saint man he seems to be? Is he really the Mahatma, which literally means Great Soul, as portrayed by Attenborough in the film Gandhi. He he worthy enough to be compared to other legends of his times. These are some questions one has to ponder over. It is not right to always look at only one side of the coin. I personally feel that this film is an exercise in myth-making in its portrayal of Gandhi, his ideas and the events in his life. No doubt, in this film Gandhi, Gandhi is pictured as an overly good man one should worship and look up to as an idol. There have been many instances in the film where the events were inaccurate or the portrayal of the characters were biased. In any case, lets now explore some of these issues. Throughout my essay, my main focus will be on whether Gandhi is really the good man he seems to be in the film ...

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...perial control of India as a very negative experience and in empowering and supporting Indian resistance. However, the film remains problematic in the way that it presents to the public only the most positive aspects of Gandhi. While it is undeniable that Gandhi did many great things, as the film emphasizes, it is still important to acknowledge his negative qualities. Furthermore, there are many problems associated with an English director appropriating Gandhi’s story, a story that Gandhi did not necessarily want told, and using it in an overarching narrative of anti-imperialism. Although Attenborough clearly had very good intentions with his film, the real Gandhi, not the idealized one so often depicted, has so many contradictions and complexities associated with him that it is nearly impossible to accurately capture who he was and everything he stood for in a film.