64. The Gandhi Murder; movie review

THE GANDHI MURDER
Cert 12A
117 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, bloody images, scene of torture

This week, five years ago, Mrs W and I paid sombre respects to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial site, Raj Ghat, in Delhi.
Anyone with an interest in Indian history will have a fascination for Gandhi's methods of peaceful protest and have been dismayed by the fact that he was assassinated.
If we are honest, most of our information about him has come through film - initially Richard Attenborough's Oscar winner and then movies made on the sub-continent.
It transpires that conspiracies theories about the killing began to arise almost as soon as he had died.
But none that I can recall have proffered the notion that he was sacrificed to try to forge unity in a country which had been riven by violent conflict.
Karim Traïdia and Pankaj Sehgal's movie promises to be based on the facts and starts promisingly by contextualising the state of the nation in the 1940s through contemporaneous footage.
But then it loses its way.
I have often reported the mistake of film-makers in trying to shoehorn too much into a movie.
This is certainly true during The Gandhi Murder which jolts from one place to another with such incredible rapidity that it becomes difficult to follow.
Curiously and unusually, most of the film is in English and, therefore, it doesn't suffer as much as other Indian films from wooden presentation of Brits.
Indeed, one of them is Vinnie Jones who plays a strangely roughneck Sir Norman Smith, head of British intelligence in Delhi.
And then there is Stephen Lang, who plays the senior INDIAN intelligence officer, Sunil Raina. But hold on, Lang is an American with no obvious connection to India....
I digress. At least his counterpart in the Bombay version of special branch is Indian, isn't he?
Nope. Luke Pasqualino was born in Peterborough to Italian parents.
Is at least the fella who plays Gandhi from India? I honestly don't know. I've had a quick scan for Jesus Sans' details but couldn't find any.
Thank goodness for the sadly departed Om Puri, one of the country's most famous actors has a small part so there is some definite Indian representation in one of the country's most infamous stories.
Anyway, notwithstanding the speed of scenes and the bizarre casting, The Gandhi Murder throws up an interesting concept that extremists were allowed to continue with an assassination despite the knowledge of some establishment figures.
I wanted to know more but romantic asides, ludicrous dances and endless breakfasts distract.
In short, this is a movie which I should have enjoyed but didn't because of very odd casting and a lack of focus.

Reasons to watch: Interesting premise around Gandhi's death
Reasons to avoid: Odd casting ad clumsily put together

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? Gandhi's two sons, Manilal and Ramdas pleaded for communion from the death sentence for his assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse. They were turned down by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The final word. Pankaj Sehgal: "Gandhi was trying to bring people together but unfortunately many people didn’t believe in the concept of togetherness. At that time, some police officers knew about the assassination plot. They were aware of it, but chose not to act." Gulf News

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