On Tuesday, Sidewalk Cafe and the Indian Cultural Centre join in screening The Making of the Mahatma – a 1996 film which tells the story of the painfully shy Gandhi who is struggling with his ideas in South Africa before he becomes Mahatma.

This film is based on the book Apprenticeship of a Mahatma by Fatima Meer and directed by one of India’s most respected directors, Shyam Benegal. According to a review in Hinduism Today (February 1997) “Etching Gandhi with all his faults and foibles makes him more accessible as a role model than the haloed, saintly father of the nation who could do no wrong. This young Gandhi, who had failed many, many times before, struggles with his very human temptations and fears. It shows how an ordinary man rose to extraordinary heights, becoming the leader of 100,000 people in a South African satyagraha, a war without violence, the prelude to his emancipation of the subcontinent’s 350 million Indians.”

Admission is free and the film starts at 7 pm.