Glad that the film was made by a non-Indian

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2010)

Like most Indians of the present generation, I grew up hating both Gandhi - the film and the great man. Like "sound of music" and "It's a wonderful Life" in the US, "Gandhi" is a routine in Indian Television. But, like a man who knows not the importance of water while sitting amidst plenty, I didn't care about it.
In India, Hindus hate him because he gave too much to the Muslims, Muslims hate him because he was a religious Hindu and overshadowed Jinnah, leaders of the downtrodden hate him because he overshadowed their leader Ambedkar, socialists hate him because he didn't attack capitalism enough... in short most Indians misunderstand and hate him, and I was filled with all their propaganda. But, I was shocked when I spent time at an Amsterdam youth hostel where non-Indian students took great interest in Gandhi. So, I revisited the movie and realized what I missed.
Gandhi brilliantly captures the life of a great soul. It has got some spectacularly great scenes - the salt satygraha, the resistance in South Africa against horse mounted cops and most importantly the court scene where even the judge rises up at the entry of the accused. Gandhi was relatively Western in his outlook (atleast initially) -he borrowed ideas from Thoreau, Tolstoy, Paine and others and the movie was quite faithful to it. The movie is pretty historically accurate and enthralls for the whole of 190 minutes. I don't know of any Indian director who could have done justice to this movie/character.
If you have not watched Gandhi due to a propaganda, you are missing one of the most beautiful movies and an experience of a lifetime.