Review of Gandhi (1982) by Tj W — 20 Sep 2013

This movie is made on the life of the great leader Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was in South Africa, when he first realized that Hindus are being victim of racism. In 1893, when he was traveling in a train, he was thrown out of train because he was traveling in the first class. Soon after he realized that government is being biased against Indians, he decided to start a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of Indians. During his protest, he went to prison for many times and became center of attention. By looking at his struggle, government announced rights for Indians in South Africa. After this victory, he was called back to India. When he returned to his country, he was welcomed with dignity and Indians considered him as a national hero. Mr. Gandhi started his campaign against British while other leaders like Jinnah collaborated with him. Finally, Britain granted Indians independence, but religious tension begun between Hindus and Muslims. They started fighting with each other which made Gandhi disappointed and he declared hunger strike. He said I won't eat until the fighting stops. The fighting stopped but the country was divided in two parts. Muslims made up a new country named Pakistan based on their majority and Hindus claimed India with their majority. Mr. Gandhi did not want the separation, but he was left with no choice. Gandhi spent his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angered many protesters on both sides, one of whom finally got close enough to assassinate him because he thought Gandhi was too lenient with Muslims.

This movie shows the combination of both religions Islam and Hinduism. Mahatma Gandhi was a religious man who believed in non-violent according to his religious teachings as ashima (Brodd, 136). Throughout the movie he was saying that he believed in unity of all religions. Because he believed that all religions have same belief in God. He mentioned the holy books Quran, Bible and Bhagvad Gita for several times. The movies show strong relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his wife. My favorite dialogue of the movie was when Gandhi's wife said to a reporter that" My dignity is in following my husband". It is a really worth watch movie.