Actor Ben Kingsley’s performance in Richard Attenborough’s 1982 movie Gandhi won him an Academy Award for best actor. Kingsley later revealed that he had to lose 20 pounds and shave his head to fulfill the demands of playing one of India’s greatest leaders ever.

To understand the role, Kingsley watched more than five hours of newsreel footage of Gandhi, according to one of his interviews from 2019.

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” I watched five hours of newsreel footage in one sitting,” Kingsley said, “[and] decided that it was impossible, left the cinema and didn’t look at any more footage ever again. But Attenborough made the impossible, possible.” 

Although the film won eight Oscars, including Kingsley’s best actor, perhaps the best recognition for his work came during the shoot of the movie. Kingsley had worked hard to almost become Gandhi’s lookalike and it paid off when locals thought he was a ghost reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi.

The incident was revealed by Richard Attenborough in a 2012 interview with The Indian Express. Physical appearance was always an important criterion for the director, and he was always sure of Kingsley for the role. 

“I had Ben Kingsley in mind for five years,” the director told The Indian Express. “Physical resemblance was a prerequisite and I had Ben Kingsley in mind for five years, from the first time I saw him. Nobody struck me as Ben did.”

The director then said that while they were shooting at various locations in India, locals would gather to watch. People would often be scared of Ben Kingsley as they thought he was Gandhi’s ghost.

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Crowds were always an important aspect of the Gandhi shoot. Kingsley had earlier revealed how during the shoot of the final funereal scene, more than 4,00, 000 had gathered naturally, making it appear as real as it gets. 

“I think that the coincidence of loving (Gandhi) deeply as a man to portray, did empower me through those long demanding days in India. And people in India were enormously generous. You see, there was no CGI, can you believe that?”, he had said.