Written by John Briley and directed by Richard Attenborough, Gandhi has its world premiere in New Delhi, India. Beginning in South Africa in 1893, when the young Mahatma Gandhi is first exposed to the iniquities of colonial rule to his assassination in India in 1948, the film unfolds as a meticulously researched, grandly embroidered, politically astute, historical epic depicting how a simple, enigmatic man, pursuing a campaign of non-violent, non-cooperative resistance, galvanizes a nation to seek independence from British rule. The film wins eight Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Ben Kingsley, Best film and Best director. Martin Sheen, John Gielgud, Candice Bergen and Edward Fox lead the huge international cast. “Men honored him, women loved him, an empire feared him, a nation worshipped him.”