This week saw the release of the trailer of police action thriller The Gandhi Murder. Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch of Avatar) plays a maverick DIG-CID hailing from the disputed state of Kashmir in the film.
This is the first time that a Hollywood ‘A lister’ shall be playing an Indian character in a major theatrical release. Unlike the ‘trigger happy’ character in Avatar, ‘Slang’ shall be playing a very different role this time, that of a mastermind behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Slang plays the intelligence officer who, despite having saved Gandhi’s life previously, now thinks differently. Smashing myths and restating history that led to the infamous assassination on 30th January, 1948, the movie contends that with the arrest of Nathuram Godse’s accomplice Madan Lal on 20th January, the police had uncovered the plot to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi.
Leading Judge ‘Atmacharan Agrawal,’ special judge, Gandhi murder, remarked, “Had the police acted on the intelligence available, the tragedy would probably have never happened.”
The film explores the friendship between the then DCP-Bombay, Jimmy Nagarwala (Luke Pasqualino) and DIG (CID) – Poona, U.H. Rana (Stephen Lang), and how their camaraderie and actions before and after the assassination might have been instrumental in one of the biggest cover-ups in Indian history.
In a communally divided India fast headed towards a civil war, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was the watershed moment that put an end to the Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence that had gripped the country. The movie demonstrates how such divisive policies very nearly led to the break-up of the world’s largest democracy, very nearly destroying it.
British actors Vinnie Jones, Late Om Puri, and veteran South Indian actor Nasser fill other key police officer roles in the action thriller on Indian police and politics in 1947-48. Spanish actor Jesus Sans plays Gandhi and veteran Indian actor Rajit Kapur plays the first Indian prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.
A record 34 nationalities got together to create the movie on the last days of the world’s most charismatic non-violent leader, who inspired millions of people, and whose non-violent practices were later adopted by world leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
A Nugen Media production, the movie will be released by Rising Star Entertainment worldwide on 30th January, 2019.
