NECESSARY PREPARATION
Sincerity of Purpose
GANDHI is a famous biographical film, released in 1982. It is based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi. The character of Gandhiji has been played by the English actor Ben Kingsley.
It is said that Kingsley had to experience great rigour in the process of the preparations of moulding himself in Gandhiji’s character. For the proper portrayal of the role of Gandhiji, he observed partial starvation for a long time.
Kingsley had a plump body, while Gandhiji was a man with a thin frame who would often walk holding a stick in his hand for support. It was therefore important that when Kingsley came on screen, he should appear to the audience, slender in build just like the real Gandhi. For this reason, before the making of the movie Kingsley would often eat less or remain hungry in order that he could look slim. As a result, he was able to reduce his weight by seven kilograms. The Indian actress Rohini Hattangadi who starred in the movie as Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba Gandhi, also had to adhere to a similar demanding and harsh lifestyle prior to playing her role.
Those who shoulder the responsibility of guiding their community without equipping themselves adequately are committing a grave mistake.
To enact the role of a fictional character in a movie is much less difficult than to perform the task of a leader who has to guide his nation in real life. In spite of the enormity of this task, it is very strange that when it comes to the responsibility of guiding their community, people make haste to plunge into the field without any preparation at all.
Training and instructing of one’s people is undoubtedly one of the most challenging of duties. To portray himself as Gandhi in a film, Kingsley had to subject his body to hardship, but to play the role of a leader of a nation, one has to subject one’s own being to adversity. For the former role, an actor may have to reduce the size of his physical body, but for the latter role a person has to cut his real self down to size.
Those who shoulder the responsibility of guiding their community without equipping themselves adequately are committing a grave mistake.