A friend from India remembers Sir Richard Attenborough
Excerpts from a conversation with Suresh Jindal
We first came in touch with each other because he acted in my film Shatranj ke khiladi. That’s when we first met and during the making of this film, he said that if he ever makes Gandhi he would like me to work with him on the film. Of course, that was the time he was already trying for eighteen years so there was no prospect of Gandhi coming over. And I kept my patience.
He was an incredible man. He was not only a man of enormous talent both as an actor and as a film maker but he was also an extremely good man. That is so rare anywhere in the world. He was a man of extreme compassion and consideration.
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He had time for everybody. He never refused help to anyone. If he found someone was in trouble, he would make sure to help out and even if that meant an extra effort for him, he would not hesitate. During the shooting of Gandhi, one of the team members, a lady, was going through a very bad phase of her life and when Richard came to know about it, he just called her over, made her work in the film and everyday he would ask about her health and her well being. You could see his generosity and compassion all around.
In all his movies like Gandhi and A bridge too far, he got the who’s who of acting to act for him and they all came just for the love of this man. We did not have huge budgets so we could not pay them but all the huge actors like John Gielgud and Candice Bergen and all, they came only because of Richard.
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His talent, the whole world knows, I want them to know about his enormous compassion, kindness and generosity. He touched hundreds and millions of lives. On Christmas, his was the first card that used to arrive and individually he used to write for all his friends, a full page note on the left side of the card. I used to wonder how he does it. He was so busy all the time yet he would have time for everyone. He was on the board for several colleges, communities, teams and charities all over the world and yet remembered to do something as amazing as writing a handwritten note to all his friends from all over the world. In fact from the highest order to the lowest, everyone who was a part of his film was in his list of friends. Once you worked with him, you were permanently in his black book!
And I used to wonder how this man does it!
The young people should learn from him that life is possible with ambition and kindness; ambition along with compassion for others around you and ambition with caring attitude. This man showed us that you are never too busy to care.
(Suresh Jindal is a filmmaker who has produced award winning legendary movies like Gandhi and Shatranj Ke Khiladi starring Richard Attenborough. The two shared a great bond over these years and have created magical celluloid for the world to savor. Watch out for this space for an exclusive interview with Suresh Jindal, who has produced and directed world class cinema, this September).
As told to Kiran Chopra
Sir Richard Attenborough
A good man never dies. He only physically disappears but stays in our heart forever. This also implies on the legendary actor Richard Attenborough. Richard Samuel Attenborough, the British film legend who was much loved and highly regarded by both the public and his fellow beings, passed away on Sunday, Aug 24, 2014, at the age of 90. H was an English actor, film director, film producer, and entrepreneur. He was also the President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
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Attenborough’s film career started with a role of directing the sailors and became one of the most successful actor and director of Britain. Attenborough was in front of the camera for over a quarter of a century before his directorial debut, at the age of 46.
As a director, his most appreciable work was Gandhi which won him two Oscar awards. But in total that movie collected eight Oscars for the Best picture, Best actor, Best director, Best original screenplay, Best cinematography, Best art direction, Best editing, and Best costume design.
He always used to find the time for the things he loved.
In 1952, Sheila (his wife) and Richard (as Detective Sergeant Trotter) led the first cast of a play which became a theatrical phenomenon. They stayed two years at the Ambassadors with The Mousetrap, of which its author Agatha Christie prophesied that “we should get a nice little run out of it”.
In 1960, Attenborough formed Beaver Films with the actor and director Bryan Forbes, and an independent distribution company, Allied Film Makers with Forbes, Guy Green, Michael Relph, Basil Dearden and Jack Hawkins. His first film as producer was The Angry Silence, an anti-trades union tract, in which Attenborough was a blackleg and yet a hero.
In 1960’s forayed into Hollywood yet continued his direction along with acting.
His role in Jurassic Park as a mad genius was liked by everyone and made him come into contact with the new generation of film goers. In his mid-80s, Attenborough was still active in film production. The last one he directed was Closing the Ring, which was released in December 2007.
Some of Richard’s famous screen involvement includes:
1.) In Which We Serve (1942)
A classic of British wartime cinema, the film contained many patriotic images and was designed to boost morale during World War II.
2.) Brighton Rock (1947)
Brighton Rock was based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Graham Greene. Its plot centers on a gang of assorted criminals, who are led by Attenborough’s psychopathic character, Pinkie. This character got quite famous.
3.) A Bridge Too Far (1977)
It was Attenborough’s third film as a director and he set out to re-create Operation Market-Garden, an infamous episode in World War II that was one of the biggest disasters in military history.
4.) Gandhi (1982)
It covers Gandhi’s life from 1893 till his assassination and funeral in 1948, and depicts his famous non-violent independence movement against the United Kingdom’s rule of India during the 20th century.
5.) Jurassic Park (1993)
Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park is an immensely popular movie that is often hailed as a landmark in visual effects.
6.) Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977)
A Munshi Premchand story set in the backdrop of the 1857 uprising, The film shows in parallel the historical drama of the Indian kingdom Awadh (whose capital is Lucknow) and its Muslim Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who is overthrown by the British, alongside the story of two shatranj (chess) obsessed noblemen. This was Richard’s one of the favorite film.
Compiled by Shalini Jha
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