Mohandas Gandhi (1869 - 1948)Known as 'Mahatma' (great soul), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his country. His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar in Gujarat. After university, he went to London to train as a barrister. He returned to India in 1891 and in 1893 accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them. During his 20 years in South Africa he was sent to prison many times. Influenced primarily by Hinduism, but also by elements of Jainism and Christianity as well as writers including Tolstoy and Thoreau, Gandhi developed the satyagraha ('devotion to truth'), a new non-violent way to redress wrongs. In 1914, the South African government conceded to many of Gandhi's demands. Gandhi returned to India shortly afterwards. In 1919, British plans to intern people suspected of sedition - the Rowlatt Acts - prompted Gandhi to announce a new satyagraha which attracted millions of followers. A demonstration against the acts resulted in the Amritsar Massacre by British troops. By 1920, Gandhi was a dominant figure in Indian politics. He transformed the Indian National Congress, and his programme of peaceful non-cooperation with the British included boycotts of British goods and institutions, leading to arrests of thousands. In 1922, Gandhi himself was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He was released after two years and withdrew from politics, devoting himself to trying to improve Hindu-Muslim relations, which had worsened. In 1930, Gandhi proclaimed a new campaign of civil disobedience in protest at a tax on salt, leading thousands on a 'March to the Sea' to symbolically make their own salt from seawater. In 1931, Gandhi attended the Round Table Conference in London, as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress, but resigned from the party in 1934 in protest at its use of non-violence as a political expedient. He was replaced as leader by Jawaharlal Nehru.In 1945, the British government began negotiations which culminated in the Mountbatten Plan of June 1947, and the formation of the two new independent states of India and Pakistan, divided along religious lines. Massive inter-communal violence marred the months before and after independence. Gandhi was opposed to partition, and now fasted in an attempt to bring calm in Calcutta and Delhi. On 30 January 1948, he was assassinated in Delhi by a Hindu fanatic.

The multi - projector audio visual show introduces the audience to today's India through current images and it gives an impression of the historic figure of Mahatma Gandhi by presenting rare historic images. The journey follows the course of Gandhi's life: Porbandar, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Wardha, Bombay and Delhi are the stations where the present life is shown alternately with those days when Gandhi lived and worked there. The 400 photographs of today's India were taken by Eduard Friedl, a professional photographer and director of the photo studio of the Technical University of Berlin. The historic images of Mahatma Gandhi and India's freedom movement derive from the photo archive of Gandhi's foremost biographer Vithalbhai K. Jhaveri. This collection is the best of its kind in terms of quality and quantity. For the first time slides have been prepared from selected 400 photographs of this unique collection. The images are supported by sounds of today's India as well as original sound-documents of historic events, such as speeches of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The multi-projector audio visual show introduces the audience to today's India through current images and it gives an impression of the historic figure of Mahatma Gandhi by presenting rare historic images. The journey follows the course of Gandhi's life: Porbandar, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Wardha, Bombay and Delhi are the stations where the present life is shown alternately with those days when Gandhi lived and worked there. The 400 photographs of today's India were taken by Eduard Friedl, a professional photographer and director of the photo studio of the Technical University of Berlin. The historic images of Mahatma Gandhi and India's freedom movement derive from the photo archive of Gandhi's foremost biographer Vithalbhai K. Jhaveri. This collection is the best of its kind in terms of quality and quantity. For the first time slides have been prepared from selected 400 photographs of this unique collection. The images are supported by sounds of today's India as well as original sound-documents of historic events, such as speeches of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.

This is the first complete audio-visual documentary biography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. All events and principles of Gandhi's life and thought are viewed as integrated parts of his truth-intoxicated life depicting permanent and universal values and not merely as stray events of history. The purpose of the film is to tell the present and the future generations "that such a man as Gandhi in flesh and blood walked upon this earth", to acquaint them with his life and work and to spread his message of peace and universal brotherhood to the war-weary and fear-stricken world - a message that is bound to endure and grow in the understanding of man. In accordance with this aim, it was tried to translate Gandhi's ideas in celluloid which involved many years of deep research and hard labour. The film brings together a mass of visual record not only of 78-year life of Gandhi but also of an important period of India's history. "No man can write a real life of Gandhi", wrote Jawaharlal Nehru, "unless he is as big as Gandhi". If it is difficult to write a biography of Gandhi, perhaps it is more difficult to prepare a biographical documentary film of his life - that too under all kinds of limitations. Every possible attempt is made to see that the film remains documentary in the full sense of the term. The aim of the film being education and not entertainment, there is no attempt at dramatization of those exciting times. The story is told with an eye to truthful documentation of the main events within the limits of available documentary visual material. It is hoped that though no attempt is made at embellishment, truth itself stated, as far as possible, in Gandhi's words in all its dignity and simplicity would convey the message to the audience with directness and precision characteristic of Gandhi's utterances and writings. It was tried to organise and give shape to the scattered film material on Gandhi. The earliest film-shot of Gandhi used in the film is of 1912 taken during Gopal Krishna Gokhale's visit to South Africa. The photographs, documents, hooks, maps and paintings used in the film are all authentic. The new coverage is based on historical and authentic facts. The voices of Gandhi and other leaders have been used wherever available and possible. A new generation is growing up to whom Gandhi is almost a name. It is fortunate that the film has been produced during the life-time of some of Gandhi's close associates and colleagues. This adds to its authenticity. The music of the film is composed in traditional Indian tunes by V. Shirali. It emerges spontaneously from the sequences of the film and is used only to produce the desired effect. Some of Gandhi's favourite hymns and devotional songs are adopted in their original form. At times complete silence is preferred. Effect sound also is created musically where necessary. This 30,000 feet documentary is divided logically into 33 reels. The first 6 reels deal with the first 45 years of Gandhi's life including his 21 years' stay in South Africa. This period is very important since it was during this period that the foundations of his life and work were laid. Great attention has been paid to those books read by Gandhi which influenced his thought and some of his important writings. The remaining 33 years of his life from 1915 to January 30, 1948 have been covered in the remaining 27 reels, which also depict important facets of the history of India's freedom struggle. Thus the film is perhaps one of the longest biographical documentaries of the world.

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