"Gandhi": Diminutive Giant for Peace Quiz

Answer: Ben Kingsley

Sir Ben Kingsley gave perhaps the virtuoso performance of his distinguished career in this lead role. At times during filming, local witnesses from outlying areas were convinced they were seeing the real Gandhi or his reincarnated being. The other three actors all acted in "Lawrence of Arabia", but did not appear in "Gandhi". Kingsley was born with the name Krishna Bhanji in Yorkshire, England in 1943.

His father, although born in Kenya, was of Indian descent (his mother was British) so the role and the movie's subject were personally highly significant for him. Kingsley has received acclaim and awards for roles in multiple other films, including "Schindler's List" (1993), "Sexy Beast" (2000), "House of Sand and Fog" (2003), and "Hugo" (2011).

Answer: Gandhi's funeral

According to Guinness, this was a record for the most extras used in a movie, a record that will likely stand forever, as most huge crowd scenes are now enhanced by computer generated imaging. Film production aides had placed advertisements for 400,000 people. Of the over 300,000 who appeared, 200,000 were volunteers and the rest were paid a small amount, according to IMDB.

The directors shot the sequence on January 31st, 1981, exactly thirty three years after Gandhi's actual funeral. For security and crowd control, all the extras had to wear white, and turnstiles were installed around the scene area to ensure compliance (can you imagine the logistics?).

Answer: A white conductor threw him off a train in South Africa for riding in first class.

After opening with Gandhi's funeral, the film goes into flashback and chronicles his life beginning with this incident. Gandhi was from an upper middle class background (merchant caste) and was educated in the law at Inner Temple in England. As a full fledged English barrister, he took a position in South Africa as legal representative for the Muslim Traders Company, arriving there in 1893. On the train trip in question, he felt the personal sting of blatant bigotry and racist policy. Confronted with hostility by the conductor, he was told he was unwelcome in the whites only compartment.

He at first responded with disbelief and calm logic about his position and stature. He was shocked and stunned to have his words ignored, to be treated as an inferior, second-class, unclean person, and finally to be physically thrown off the train into the dirt.

The experience immediately opened his eyes to the scope of injustice in his present world of South Africa and the world at large. He became a social activist in South Africa, fighting for voting rights, women's rights, and against all forms of discrimination against people of color.

He stayed there 21 years and finally arrived back in India with fully raised consciousness.

Answer: embarked on a journey throughout India to discover his country

Gandhi correctly and with great humility realized he had little knowledge of the vast and varied tapestry which was India in the early 20th century. Already famous for his work in South Africa, he was hindered in his movements by the huge crowds he attracted, so he adopted simple native garb and took to the trains to discover the real India. Gandhi was married in 1883, at a mere thirteen years of age, to a girl of similar age.

This type of arranged marriage was the custom in India.

Answer: Candice Bergen/ Martin Sheen

White was a photo-journalist who worked for "Life" magazine and as an independent. She established a reputation as an intrepid and fearless chronicler of WWI, and was one of the first female war correspondents. She was best known for documenting the violence arising from the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.

She gained access to Gandhi and interviewed and photographed him just before his death. The Walker character in the film is a fictional composite, based loosely on American journalist Webb Miller. Miller became friends with Gandhi during an extensive trip through the Middle East and India in 1930.

His coverage of the civil disobedience and protest by increasing numbers of local citizens was instrumental in turning public opinion against the British colonialists, both in the UK and the rest of the world.

Answer: Gautama

Gautama is the Sanskrit form of the family name of the Buddha. The other three names refer to Gandhi. "Bapu" is a warm, familiar Hindu sobriquet akin to "father" or "papa" in English, which was used regularly by the adoring masses when speaking of Gandhi. "Mahatma" is a more formal honorific, in general use and roughly translatable as "great soul" or "Saint." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is Gandhi's full birth name.

Answer: salt

The Salt Satyagraha, also known as the Salt March or the March to Dandi, was a key event in the Indian independence movement. For generations, the local populace had engaged in harvesting salt from sea water using time honored practices. The British rulers created a money making monopoly for themselves by heavily taxing salt production, then declaring salt reclamation illegal, and ultimately using force to prohibit the activity. On March 12th, 1930, Gandhi led a 240 mile march from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi, arriving on April 6th with hundreds of others who joined along the way.

They immediately began making salt in defiance of the law, and continued to do so as they traveled down the coast. Gandhi was eventually arrested in May, but by then millions of inspired Indians were engaging in other acts of civil disobedience. Over 80,000 were arrested for breaking the salt laws.

While Gandhi was in jail, another non-violent march to the salt works at Dharasana went on as planned. British police indiscriminately clubbed marchers, including women, who all stuck to their principles and refused to even raise arms to protect themselves.

This sickening tableau was witnessed by Western journalists and images went around the world. The term "Satyagraha" is a combination of two Sanskrit words; "satya" (truth) and "agraha" (insistence).

Answer: whether to have a united India or create new Muslim country

The conflict between Hindus and Muslims and the question of partitioning off parts of India into West and East Pakistan was a hugely complex and volatile issue. Rooted in age old religious differences, it simmered, sometimes below the surface, during colonial rule, then burst into increasing violence as the British pulled out. Gandhi tried everything in his power to stop it, including fasting and making huge concessions to the Muslim minority leaders.

Some say his heart was broken by the failure to create an independent, unified India. What was formerly East Pakistan is now Bangladesh.

Answer: assassinated/shot in the chest at close range, by militant Hindu nationalist

Gandhi did die inside his home in New Delhi, but it was after being shot by Nathuram Godse, who plotted with a few other Hindu nationalists to end Gandhi's unparalleled influence over the Indian people. They felt Gandhi was appeasing the Muslim leaders he had worked with, who were now oppressing the minority Hindus and Sikhs in the new, Muslim controlled territory which was to become Pakistan. Gandhi was horrified by the religious violence tearing apart the new Indian state, and had recently gone on a fast to end it, which resulted in a temporary end to the fighting, but didn't solve the root problem.

The tipping point, according to the assassins at their trial, was Gandhi's refusal to sanction action against a Pakistani incursion into Kashmir.

Answer: Richard Attenborough

Attenborough directed the film, but it took him eighteen years to get it done. David Lean, another great British film director, also had a group interested in making a movie about Gandhi in the early 1960s. Unfortunately, getting approval from various factions in the government proved problematical for both groups.

It seemed many in India were touchy about entrusting the film legacy of their beloved national hero to an English director. While Lean moved on to other projects, most notably filming "Lawrence of Arabia", Attenborough continued to work on his vision of the story, earning approval from Prime Minister Jawaharwal Nehru in 1964.

However Nehru's death put him back to square one. Then a partnership between the two, where Lean agreed to direct and asked Attenborough to star in the film also fell apart.

After another decade of frustration, Attenborough finally got location permission and funding in 1980. The movie finally made it to the screen in 1982, well worth the wait.