By Susan Molloy
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on March 8, 1983
Gandhi director’s obsession pays off after 21 years
Sir Richard Attenborough, so very English in his houndstooth trousers, blue and white striped shirt and pruned mutton-chop whiskers, was buoyant.
A buoyant Sir Richard Attenborough yesterday . . . “I have become the supreme Gandhi bore.”Credit: Staff photographer
His $22-million epic film on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, which opens in Sydney on Thursday, is a critical and commercial success. A 21-year obsession which started when he read Louis Fischer’s biography of Gandhi has paid off. Sir Richard almost hops about with enthusiasm.
“How have I kept up the enthusiasm, eh Hawkins?” he asks his secretary. Diana Hawkins, who twists at the string of pearls around her neck and remains noncommittal.
“Sheer unadulterated stubbornness,” he replies. “And bloodymindedness. It is an obsession. It is correct, yes, that I have become the supreme Gandhi bore.
“I do have a tremendous desire to communicate, I wanted to tell people about this man and what he did, more than anything else.
“I do not enjoy conventional drama. I am interested in biography, in semi-documentary subject matter. This story encapsulated for me everything I always wanted to do — a remarkable piece at drama.
“Everything about it was interesting. No one else agreed. No one was interested in a silly little man dressed in a sheet and carrying a bean pole.”
Richard Attenborough confers with Ben Kingsley who plays the Mahatma in the film.
The film Gandhi takes a stern view of colonialism, and Sir Richard responded aggrievedly to some English columnists who had criticised him for being anti-British.
“I do not see any shame in us saying in the 1980s, yes, that is what we did in India,” he said. “I wanted to condemn the concept of colonialism. It happens that we, the British, had no alternative in dealing with the objections to colonial rule, of the people who were oppressed. I did not make the film as a piece of objective reporting.”
Sir Richard & Lady Attenborough at the Gandhi premiere at Hoyts, March 8, 1983.Credit: Paul Murray
He does see the incongruity of an Englishman making a film about the man who helped achieve independence in 1947 from the British. Why did not India make the film?
“No Indian ever attempted to make the movie,” he said. “They make 700 movies a year. They have the largest industry in the world. They make the worst films in the world. Movies which carry any logical plot or character development are not made in India.”
He said it needed an outsider to cut through the undergrowth of State allegiances, of religious prejudices, of caste, moral and religious inhibitions to make such a film.
He was fascinated by the idea of the Australian bushranger Ben Hall for some time, and his current fascination is the American revolutionary patriot Tom Paine. But Sir Richard has no firm plans after careering round the world with Gandhi.
“Theoretically. I am going to have a rest,” he said. “Don’t smirk, Hawkins.”
And he would like Gandhi to win an Oscar or two in America, for the sake of the British film industry.