The Making of the Mahatma

The script and editing are not perfect -- at a few points the film seems a little bit choppy -- yet watching "The Making of the Mahatma is a moving and powerful experience. Unlike documentaries that offer a didactic perspective on Gandhi's experiences and political endeavors in South Africa, this film provides a dramatically compelling narrative of his personal transformation from a London-educated lawyer to a symbol of human dignity in the face of repression. You will see how his ideas, ideals, and methods of practice developed organically, in relation to real-life influences. You will gain a new understanding of Gandhi -- not as a saint or as a person who was somehow "different" from the rest of us, but as a person who responded with immense creativity and conviction to the challenges of his time. I recommend this film to anyone who is even remotely interested in Gandhi.

I saw this movie at a special screening in Bombay a few years ago and recently remembered it when the director has made another movie on a great Indian freedom fighter - Subhash Chandra Bose. This movie tried to capture a younger Gandhi without the halo around his head. I thought the scene where he is thrown out of the train for traveling in a first-class compartment in South Africa and his indignation at this slight is captured more beautifully than the more popular movie by Attenborough. This is more of a story of the Mahatma's journey toward greatness rather than about him. It's well worth a watch...and it's a shame I can't find it on DVD anywhere.

What worked: I think this movie is one of Benegal's finest works, not just for the execution but also for the mission that he took. Rajit Kapoor, a fine actor, brought a different shade of Gandhi's life through this movie , making us explore more about the legacy that he left behind. It's a very beautifully shot, written and directed piece of art, and the movie ended with a very powerful message that was carried throughout the movie. We have watched many interpretations of Gandhi through many art forms, this one stays as one of the important one. What did not work: The movie is acted, shot and edited as a movie as it should have been but at very few times, it felt a bit dramatic, considering the mood and climate of the movie; a bit glamorized. Final verdict: recommended

This is the story of how Gandhi became the "Mahatma" ("Great Soul") --- a very realistic portrayal of the incidents that led to a determined effort for the betterment of people of non-European origin in South Africa. The make-up and acting of Rajit Kapoor as Gandhi is commendable. Pallavi Joshi plays her part, as Kasturba Gandhi, almost to perfection. The other actors and actresses in the movie are good, too. A very good cinematography and excellent back-ground score make the movie a superior one. Plus, of course, Shyam Benegal proves once more that he is one of the greatest directors in Indian cinema. It is a shame that his movies do not get the attention they should in the world film scenario.

The movie chronicles Gandhi's life from his initial departure to South Africa in the 1890s till his return in the late teens. The movie is great for the most part. Instead of putting Gandhi on a pedestal like the Attenborough film does, it shows Gandhi more as a human being, and shows how an ordinary man came to become a hero to his people. The movie also shows how Gandhi sacrificed his family to ascend to become a leader of his people. The book faithfully follows incidents outlined in Gandhi's autobiography, and is perhaps for this reason a bit wooden. Wooden in the sense that the characters seem like caricatures rather than having the full depth of emotions that a person would normally have. This is a problem generally with many biopics in that they fashion a script from an official record and lose some of the human character in the process. Some of the statements made by Gandhi seem like grandstanding when Gandhi just utters them out of the blue in reaction to a complicated issue without any serious reflection (since some of this is a dramatization of things actually written by Gandhi, it appears funny when Gandhi out of the blue spurts out some language that seems awfully esoteric and philosophical) Some of the extras don't appear to act with genuine enthusiasm either. Getting beyond this, the movie does a good job of showing the fear and injustice which awaited Indians in South Africa in much more stark terms than other movies, and did a good job of showing realistically the creating of a social movement. Thumbs up to Mr. Benegal, a fine filmmaker for another fine movie.