From Ben Kingsley to our very own Balakrishnan, we list the actors, who have donned the role of the Mahatma.

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Remembering Gandhi: 12 times the Mahatma was brought alive on-screen

Team CE

Published:2nd Oct, 2019 at 2:53 PM

The first fictional portrayal of Gandhi was by a relatively-new Indian actor, JS Casshyap, in the 1963 Hollywood film Nine Hours To Rama, which was based on a novel by Stanley Wolpert.

The film, shot in CinemaScope, imagines Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, in the 9 hours leading up to the assassination. Indian characters are however played by Hollywood actors, with strange accents

Gandhi (1982) remains one of the most inspired bits of casting in film history: a little-known Shakespearean actor from England - Ben Kingsley - playing the Mahatma, and turing out to be iconic.

The movie covers Gandhi's life from a defining moment in 1893, as he is thrown off a SouthAfrican train, and concludes with his assassination in 1948.

The fact that Kingsley’s father was Gujarati was offered as justification for his casting. It’s a fascinating, nevertheless, to see seeing a white man transform himself into a fairly convincing Gandhi

Annu Kapoor plays Gandhi in the 1993 film on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, directed by Ketan Mehta, and written by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar.

Apart from playing the great Indian leader on the big screen, Annu also lent his voice as narrator to 'Khaar' - a docudrama on Gandhi's Dandi March

Rajit Kapur, popular for playing the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi on television, played Gandhi in Shyam Benegal's 'The Making of The Mahatma' (1996).

Rajit's perforamce in the film, which is about Gandhi's 21 years in South Africa, fetched him a National Film Award for Best Actor.

Gandhi is portrayed by Sam Dastor in Jinnah, a biopic of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Gandhi is portrayed by Marathi actor Mohan Gokhale in the 2000 film, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the biopic on the movie on BR Ambedkar, known mainly for helping the the downtrodden and oppressed classes.

While Gokhale brilliant as Gandhi, Mammootty aces the character of Ambedkar in the movie.

Naseeruddin Shah plays Gandhi in our very own Hey Ram (2000), written and directed by Kamal Haasan. The semi-biographical film revolves around India's partition & the assassination of Gandhi by Godse.

Interestingly, Naseeruddin had auditioned for the role of Gandhi in Attenborough's film. The role eventually went to Kingsley.

Naseeruddin's Gandhi's performance as Gandhi didn't receive the universal acclaim that Kingsley's effort did, but he was praised for nailing the act and getting the Gujarati accent right.

Darshan Jariwala plays the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2007 film - Gandhi, My Father - directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and produced by Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor.

The film explores the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi. The role of Bapu's son Harilal Gandhi was essayed by Akshaye Khanna.

The Indian Government honoured Darshan with a National Award for his terrific performance as Gandhi.

Dilip Prabhavalkar plays Gandhi in the 2006 sequel to Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

The Sanjay Dutt-starrer wasn't just about Gandhi but his teachings were highlighted well in the comedy-drama by filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani. It shows why Gandhi continues to be relevant even today.

Dilip was also honoured with a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his act in Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

Few know, but Surendra Rajan is the actor to have essayed the Mahatma the maximum number of times.

The Bollywood character actor may not be a known face in Hindi films, but his roles as Gandhi in 'The Legend Of Bhagat Singh', 'Veer Savarkar', and 'Bose' have become his calling cards

The 2009 Telugu film, Mahatma, which has Srikanth playing Gandhi, is about a hooligan whose life sees transformation after he gets to know of Gandhism by chance.

Mudhalvar Mahatma (2014), directed by Balakrishnan, explores how Gandhi might react if he was still alive and visited modern day India. The film, starring Kanagaraj as Gandhi, has music by Ilaiyaraja.