When Hollywood made Gandhi a villain

The portrayal of Gandhi as the chief villain highlighted the dichotomous perceptions of the two different audiences, western and Indian. For the western audience, the empire films confirmed the newsreel projection of Gandhi. These images of Gandhi were of `a peculiar Oriental who had outlandish ideas about independence and who wore loin cloth.’ Moreover, Gandhi `being odd in appearance, full of surprises and engaged in the strangest activities, such as fasting or marching for independence’, was a good subject for the news cameras. It was this image which was duplicated in the feature film. Hollywood’s heavy reliance upon the British India Office for co-operation in the making of the film, along with Katherine Mayo and other British writers as a source of information, resulted in the particular propaganda thrust of Gunga Din. In this film especially, Hollywood gave shape to the British propaganda in the USA which depicted the Congress as fascist with its dictatorial leadership, and domination by asingle race (Hindus), its standard uniform of dhoti and Gandhi cap (substituted by a turban in the film) and its veneration of Gandhi was projected to resemble that of Hilter. Yet, this film also allowed for alternative US perceptions. Ideologically, Gandhi had his following and admirers in the USA, which comprised a strong anti-imperialist lobby.

For the Indian audience therefore the resultant and essentially ambivalent cinematic portrayal provoked wide condemnatory comment in the media. The close resemblance of the villain in Gunga Din to Gandhi, also reinforced the contemporaneity of the film….

Such a reaction from the Indians was no surprise to the British. They were in fact aware of `the annoyance in India’ caused by a German broadcast in which a Germanophile Indian student `sneered at Mahatma Gandhi’ and other Indian leaders while denouncing the concept of non-violence. Gunga Din went far beyond this: British army officers are shown to abuse the guru, repeatedly denigrate him as `the dog’, the filthy scum’ and the `maniac’. This abuse and ridicule directed at the Mahatma, could hardly fail to provoke Indian audience.

Excerpted from `Colonial India and the Making of Empire Cinema: Image, Ideology and Identity’, by Prem Chowdhry; Manchester University Press