Gandhi Behind The Scenes

300,000 extras appeared in the funeral sequence. About 200,000 were volunteers and 94,560 were paid a small fee (under contract). The sequence was filmed on 31st Jan 1981, the 33rd anniversary of Gandhi's funeral. 11 crews shot over 20,000 feet of film, which was pared down to 125 seconds in the final release.

Interestingly, Lord Attenborough, of all people, agrees. In a recent interview with BBC Radio Five, he admits that E.T. was robbed, being an infinitely more creative and fundamental piece of cinema than his own winning film!

Attenborough continues:

"[Business partner] Diana and I went to see E.T. in Los Angeles shortly before all the awards and we used language, when we came out, to the extent of saying that we have no chance E.T. should and will walk away with it.

Without the initial premise of Mahatma Gandhi, the film (Gandhi) would be nothing. Therefore it's a narrative film but it's a piece of narration rather than a piece of cinema. As such. E.T. depended absolutely on the concept of cinema and I think that Steven Spielberg, who I'm very fond of, is a genius. I think E.T. is a quite extraordinary piece of cinema."

Both Alec Guinness and Anthony Hopkins were originally considered for the role.

Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim owned a share of the rights in Britain's longest-running play "The Mousetrap" which they sold to fund the production of this movie.

Ben Kingsley was recommended for the role by Harold Pinter, who had seen him in a play; Pinter made the suggestion to Sam Spiegel, an associate of Attenborough's.

Ben Kingsley was actually recommended to Richard Attenborough by his son, Michael Attenborough.

Trevor Howard shot his cameo as Judge Broomfield in two days.

Michael Denison was originally intended to play the Ian Charleson part.

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During Gandhi's 'Discover of India' train journey, there is a stop at a bridge where Gandhi refreshes himself by the river side with a damp cloth. He notices a poor woman with torn clothing (almost half naked) holding a child on the other side of the river. He immediately opens up his turban and lets it float across the river. The woman quickly grabs the cloth when it reaches her and wraps it around her with gratitude.
A touching moment of Gandhi's continued realization of poverty that later helped him devise the concept of swadeshi and homespun khadi.
Not sure why the dvd makers chose to cut that scene unless they resented the disposition of the destitute woman. The original Indian VHS version had that scene. The dvd version cuts to Charlie wading through the water right after Gandhi is refreshing himself with the damp cloth.