That historic shot of the film Gandhi, when the world was stunned to see the crowd of 3 lakh people, the record is recorded in the Guinness Book.

News India Live, Digital Desk: The film ‘Gandhi’ (1982), made in collaboration between Hollywood and Indian cinema, had raised the flag in the world of Oscars, but there is a truth hidden behind this film which is impossible to even imagine in today’s CGI (computer graphics) era. For a special scene of the film, director Richard Attenborough More than 3 lakh extra actors (Crowd) Was used. This is considered to be the largest ‘live shot’ in film history, which has also got a place in ‘Guinness World Records’.

Gandhiji’s funeral procession: The scene that created history

In the film, a scene of the last farewell of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi i.e. his funeral procession was to be shot. The director wanted this scene to look absolutely real. At that time, there was neither the technology to create digital crowds as there is today, nor did Attenborough want to compromise. This scene was shot at Rajpath in Delhi on 31 January 1981, just a day after Gandhiji’s actual death anniversary (30 January).

How did a crowd of 3 lakh people gather?

For this shot approx 3,00,000 (3 lakh) People had gathered. Of these:

2 lakh people: They came voluntarily and did not take any payment for it.

94,560 people: There were extra actors who worked on contract. The crowd was so huge that even the media of that time and the film crew itself were surprised to handle it. Attenborough later said that from Rajpath to India Gate, as far as the eye could see, only crowds of people were visible.

Name is recorded in Guinness World Records

This shot of the film ‘Gandhi’ created history. This ‘Most Extras in a Single Film Sequence’ Included in the Guinness Book of World Records for (Most Actors in a Single Film Scene). In today’s times, in films like ‘Baahubali’ or ‘Avengers’, the crowd of lakhs is shown through computers, whereas in ‘Gandhi’ every face was real.

People became emotional after seeing Ben Kingsley

It is said that when Ben Kingsley (who played Gandhiji) passed through the crowd lying on the bier, people actually started crying. Ben’s look was so similar to Mahatma Gandhi that many elders felt as if Gandhiji himself was present there. The entire scene was shot with the help of 11 cameras, and a total of 20,000 feet of film reels were used just for this one scene.

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The result of this dedication was that ‘Gandhi’ won the Oscar at the 55th Academy Awards. 8 oscars Created history by winning. These included awards for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley. Also, Bhanu Athaiya won India’s first Oscar (Costume Design) for this film.