Oscar Alert
Oscar nominations: 11
Picture, produced by Richard Attenborough
Director: Attenborough
Actor: Ben Kingsley
Screenplay (Original): John Briley
Cinematography: Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor
Art direction-set decoration: Stuart Craig and Bob Laing; Michael Seirton
Editing: John Bloom
Costume design: John Mollo and Bhanu Athaiya
Sound: Gerry Humphreys, Robin O'Donoughue, Jonathan Bates, Simon Kaye
Originbnal Score: Ravi Shankar and George Fenton
Makeup: Tom Smith
Oscar awards: 8
All categories, but Sound, Score, and Makeup
Oscar Context
Artistically speaking, “Gandhi” was the weakest of the Best Picture nominees, which were: Spielberg's “E.T.,” Costa-Gavras' “Missing,” Sydney Pollack's “Tootsie,” and Sidney Lumet's “The Verdict.”
Director Alert
Unfortunately, winning the directing Oscar gives the recipient a carte blanche in choosing his next project, and Attenborough, unaware of his limitations, opted for a screen version of the Broadway hit musical, “A Chorus Line,” which turned out to be disastrous choice for him, for the studio, and for the viewers.