It
all began in South Africa
A hundred years ago …
Resistance without violence
Confrontation without enemies
Victory without losers
The Making of the Mahatma
by
FATIMA MEER
Direction SHYAM BENEGAL
Gandhi – more relevant now than ever
before!
SYNOPSIS
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young
England-educated barrister-at-law then practising in Rajkot
in Kathiawad is invited by an Indian firm in South Africa
(originally from Probandar where Gandhi was born) to handle
their law-suit. His services are required for not more than
a year, and he would be paid “a first class return
fare and a sum of 105 Sterling Pounds, all found.”
M.K. Gandhi left India for South Africa in April 1893. He
went there on a purely professional visit and had no idea
of the previous history of the Indian emigrants. But during
the very first year he was a witness to and the victim of
unjust humiliation and racist hatred. The political and
social repression of all Indians in South Africa, and especially
the desperate condition of those who went as labourers on
a system equivalent to legalized slavery, had made a deep
and lasting impression on Gandhi. Indentured labourers were
called ‘coolies’ by the Europeans. Hundreds
of Europeans called Indian lawyers and Indian traders ‘coolie’
lawyers and ‘coolies’ traders.
As events developed, Gandhi had no option but to plunge
into a long drawn-out struggle against injustice. Barrister
M.K. Gandhi who had gone to South Africa for a year had
to eventually stay in South Africa for twenty one years
(1893-1914) from the age of twenty-four to the age of forty-five.
During this time, he led the great Satyagraha struggle which
closed after eight years (1906 –1914). The term satyagraha
was invented and employed by Gandhi, first in South Africa.
M.K. Gandhi went to South Africa as a shy, tongue-tied,
average little man whose past was full of failure. But almost
a decade later, called a saint even by those who opposed
him, he was a leader of 100,000 people in one of the most
remarkable experiments in history – satyagraha, a
war without violence. He returned to India not as M.K. Gandhi
but Mahatma, ‘great soul’ – the man who
was to free his country from foreign rule without firing
a shot.
As a family man, Gandhi had to experience some melancholic
events while in South Africa. When he landed at Durban in
January 1897 he had with him his wife Kastur and two sons,
nine and five years of age. For him Satyagraha began at
home, but that was easier said than done.
The Making of the Mahatma is M.K. Gandhi’s early story
of experiments with truth, which gave a mankind a new weapon
of liberty, the most civilized and humane. The process of
transformation from Gandhi, the man to Gandhi, the Mahatma
is an exciting as soul searching and that’s what The
Making of the Mahatma is all about.
| CAST |
CREDITS |
| Mahatma
Gandhi |
Kanjit
Kapur |
Director |
Shyam
Benegal |
| Kasturba
|
Pallavi
Joshi |
Screenplay |
Fatima
Meer, Shama Zaidi & Shyam Benegal |
| Rustomjee |
Keith
Stevenson |
Editor |
Avril
Beukes (S.A.G.E.) |
| Smut |
Paul
Slabolepszy |
Music |
Vanraj
Bhatia |
| Cachalia |
Himal
Devnarain |
Director
of Photography |
Ashok
Mehta |
| Dada
Abdullah |
Strini
Pillai |
Costume
Designers |
Pia
Benegal (India), Diana Cilliers (S.A.) |
| Thambi
Naidoo |
Charles
Pillai |
Production
Designers |
Mark
Wilby |
| Adult
Harilal |
Siraj
Khan |
Executive
Producers |
Ravi
Gupta (India ), Georgina Kriel (S.A.) |
| Seth
Tyeb |
Shafa’ath
Khan |
Associate
Producer |
Shan
Moodley |
| Mir
Alum |
Kacey
Padayachee |
|
|
| Mr.
Chamney |
Douglas
Bristow |
|
|
| Kallenbach |
Zane
Hannah |
|
|
| Harilal
(9) |
Bhavik
Ganda |
|
|
| Manilal
(5) |
Janesh
Ganda |
|
|
| Manilal
(12) |
Jatil
Kassanjee |
|
|
| Polak |
Bradley
Mart |
|
|
| Reverend
Dube |
Mac
Mathunjwa |
|
|
| Magistrate
Jordan |
Clive
Scott |
|
|
| Volksrust
Magistrate |
Peter
Ucko |
|
| Captain
Milne |
Len
Sparrowhawk |
| Pretora
Jail Superintendent |
Peter
Elliot |
| Boer
Coach Leader |
Lieb
Bester |
