Aditi Sharma (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 6, 2014)

Every day of my life turns into a memory, but this picture is special. It came to mind because Richard Attenborough has been unwell for a while and I’ve been thinking about the work we did together for Gandhi. This particular picture was taken in November 1979, after the mahurat of the film, which is why we are wearing garlands. There’s chief sound director Simon Kaye, co-producer Rani Dube, Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, Saeed Jafferi, Richard and I, standing by his side. The photograph is from so long ago, I can barely recognise myself in it.

 Rani had brought Richard to my house. In those days, the house was barely furnished, so we sat on the mattress and spoke about Richard’s plans. I had a collage of Alyque’s (Padamsee) pictures from his plays. Richard saw them, asked me if I’d like to be the casting director for his film and that was it. Once work began, Quasar (her son) and I moved to Delhi to stay with the crew from September to February.

 Most of the people I met then, have remained friends. Rohini is a very affectionate friend. Much after the film released, every time she performed in town, her husband, (the late theatre director) Jaidev and she would come over for dinner. I had seen Rohini in a play and I rang up Richard to tell him about her. He was to fly back to London from Delhi but he cancelled his ticket and re-routed the trip through Mumbai to meet Rohini. I booked a room at the Centaur for the meeting. Richard flew in from Delhi and Rohini made it after her performance. Richard walked in, he clutched my hand and said, “This is it, doll.” Rohini had to lose weight to play the part. I would go with her to the dietician because I knew she’d never do it on her own. Those were different times with their own considerations. Why else would a casting director accompany an actress for her weightloss programme. I learnt so much while casting for Gandhi. No other film I’ve worked on has given me the experience and freedom that I had on this one. You don’t get that kind of attention to detail these days. I remember Ben Kingsley would spend 4-5 hours on his make-up every day. When we’d shoot, all the villagers would touch his feet because they thought he really was Gandhi. Ben worked very hard for his part. He trained for two months, learned to sit cross-legged, sweep the floor, and even eat like Gandhi. He had to be particularly aware of not eating meat or drinking beer even though he was an actor playing the part of Gandhi. A few years after Gandhi released, some ‘junior actors’ came to Mumbai and started working in films. Om Puri, for instance, had only a two-minute role in the film but in those few minutes he displayed the unforgettable signs of a great actor. So many actors who played bit parts in the film went on to have glorious acting careers.