Kasturba remembers Richard Attenborough

Rohini Hattangadi

This is a great loss to the world of cinema. In Richard Attenborough, we had a great confluence of skills of cinema as a craft.

I am born post-Independence and my generation knows Gandhi only from history books. To be honest, there was cynicism about the prospect of a film on Gandhi. But Attenborough's conviction about Gandhi’s immense contribution to humanity and his ability to translate that into the grammar of cinema in a way has given us a film that generations to come will remember. I think he used his work to scotch out all talk about why a foreigner was making a film on the Mahatma.

When first approached, I knew that there were several big names in the race for the role. Attenborough had finally selected three combinations of the late Bhakti Barve with John Hurt , Smita Patil with Naseerudin Shah and me with Ben Kingsley. I think he was thinking of matching height and looks and how we'll look on camera together. I still remember Smita who was my senior in school in Pune, all giggly when she hugged me happily on finding out I'd got the role. “As long as the role stayed within our Bhave school, I'm happy,” she had told me.

Attenborough would never want to micro manage. He would let us explore the space available in a character with complete freedom. I think that came from the fact that he was himself such a fine actor. His mettle of getting into the skin of the characters that he portrayed even in the not-so-good films he did, stands out. His confidence in us was also expressed in way that wouldn't unnecessarily burden us with performance anxiety.

When I got the script, I bought the Mahatma’s autobiography and also watched the documentary by Vithalbhai Jhaveri. But I realised historians hadn't focussed on documenting Kasturba’s contribution. After all, what she did was no less significant than the Father of the Nation! Attenborough and me were on the same page on our views on Kasturba. And that helped a lot. Here was a woman without any formal education, yet she marched shoulder to shoulder with Gandhi. You never get the impression that she was being dragged unwillingly along.

Capturing that graph cinematically has been achieved beautifully by Attenborough. He wanted to bring in that nuance even in scenes like the one where I am massaging Bapu’s feet with ghee even as he talks to a visitor, where I scarcely had a word to utter.
My favourite is the scene where Kasturba refuses to clean the toilet. The conflict that her exposure, upbringing and values find themselves in, had to come out. Attenborough ensured it was filmed in a way that this point was made keeping her dignity as a human being intact. The scene where Bapu explains the meaning of the saat pheras in a Hindu wedding too was beautifully done.

I am often asked whether I regret doing Kasturba because it put a stamp on me of elderly roles. I don't think so. I know my looks and my strength. I can look graceful and dignified in any scene but would stick out in a glamorous role as odd. Its hasn't been easy acting so many years older than my age and playing parent to actors, some of who were much older than me. You know I have played mother to Amitabh Bachchan and Smita Patil? But as Basu Bhatacharya once told me, “It requires the prowess of a great actor to take on something as challenging as that.” A compliment like that came to me because of playing Kasturba And for that I will eternally grateful.

During the shooting of the bonfire of foreign clothes there couldn’t be retakes once the fire was lit . When the fire began growing as clothes were flung in, I remember becoming enthralled with what was happening. It was almost like I was watching the real thing. That was the power of Attenborough. Irrespective of which side of the screen/camera you were on; he could draw you into the subject like few others can. Its been a privilege to be Kasturba under his baton. RIP

—As told to Yogesh Pawar