This story is from August 26, 2014

Man who brought Gandhi alive dead

Dreams die last. And British actor-director Sir Richard Attenborough, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 90, held on to his dream of making a biopic on Mahatma Gandhi for nearly two decades.
Man who brought Gandhi alive dead
Dreams die last. And British actor-director Sir Richard Attenborough, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 90, held on to his dream of making a biopic on Mahatma Gandhi for nearly two decades. He acted in many famous films and directed several, but in his own mind, he was absolutely clear about the one that counted. "Everything I did in life was a training for making 'Gandhi'," he once said.

Surely, though, he couldn't have prepared himself for the ordeal that followed. Senior Gandhians, politicians, filmmakers, intellectuals - almost everyone found a reason to oppose the movie during its making.
When 'Gandhi' was finally released in 1982, the sceptics fell silent. Like truth, the movie had touched something universal. Almost every global award, notably eight Oscars, including Best Film, followed. 'Gandhi' not only captured the man's essence but also re-introduced a new generation to the beauty and grace of his worldview. It wasn't just a movie but an influential philosophical argument.
Now, 31 years after its release, the film is like a textbook on ethics for children worldwide. In these polarised times, it's important to let them know the story of a frail old man with a walking stick who used truth and non-violence to bring down a mighty empire. Even for the political activist, laid low by cynicism and despondency, the movie works like a magic pill restoring hope and heart in three hours flat.
Without Sir Richard's movie, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would still have been one of the greatest human beings who walked the earth. But thanks to the film, his message of uncompromising humanism is globally accessible as an engaging visual document.
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