Gandhi Page #14

Resume Gandhi. There is a little hesitation in the ranks as

the car approaches. In it we can see two uniformed policemen

and a civilian.

The car swings across the center of the road and stops right

in front of Gandhi.

CIVILIAN:

These men are contracted laborers.

They belong in the mines.

GANDHI:

You have put their comrades in jail.

When you free them they will go back

to work.

The civilian smiles slowly. He looks from Gandhi to the

miners.

CIVILIAN:

I've warned you.

GANDHI:

We have warned each other.

The civilian looks at him sharply, then smiles derisively,

signaling the car off. As it pulls away, Tyeb Mohammed and

Singh come up to Gandhi, both made wary by the man's evident

satisfaction with what has transpired.

SINGH:

I don't think that is very good.

Gandhi watches the disappearing car worriedly, then turns

and signals the miners on. They start forward.

Their point of view. The car rides on past the factory

building out of which it turned, and suddenly mounted police

come swinging out from the buildings and face the procession.

Tracking back before Gandhi, Singh and Tyeb Mohammed as they

move forward, fear suddenly making their pace more labored.

Tracking back before the mounted police.

SERGEANT:

At the canter -- for-ward!

They come on fast, batons at the ready. Gandhi screws up his

courage, marching on. Tyeb Mohammed sets his jaw in defiance.

Singh forces himself along at Gandhi's side. The mounted

police riding on, batons at the ready.

Featuring an Indian miner. He is in the front rank of the

procession, watching the horses approach. He has a blunt

farmer's face.

MINER:

(half to Gandhi)

We should lie down -- the horses

won't tramp on us.

(Then shouting out)

Down! Down! Everyone lie down!

He starts to go down, and others around him, convinced by

the authority of his voice.

The sense of the idea seizes Gandhi, and as the sound of the

galloping horses nears, he turns and shouts too.

GANDHI:

Lie down! Lie down!

And the miners begin to go down, some face up, shielding

their faces with their hands, some burying their faces in

the earth and covering their heads with their hands.

Close fast traveling, the sergeant's point of view. We arrive

at the prone miners.

Close on Gandhi, his arms crossed in front of his face,

staring up, frightened, but determined to bear it.

Wide angle. The horses cannot bring themselves to gallop

over the human carpet; they rear, plunge, swerve.

Close shot -- miner who shouted "down." He is peering through

his crossed hands, a tight smile of satisfaction at knowledge

confirmed. He turns to see:

The sergeant thrown off his horse. He lands heavily, scrambles

up, furious, darts after it. Mounting, he is enraged to hear

laughter.

Close shot. Singh and the miner who shouted "Down" kneeling,

grinning at the chaos.

MINER:

The horses have more mercy than the

men.

Singh smiles, but suddenly looks up fearfully. The sergeant

looms over them.

SERGEANT:

You're right!

And without taking his booted foot from the stirrup he swings

it into the miner's face. The man goes down, bleeding.

An angry roar from the miners. Several stand and shake their

fists. "Bastard!," "God damn you, Englishman!," "Jackal!"

The wounded miner himself starts to stagger up.

The sergeant sweeps them, his eyes glittering -- this he can

deal with. But --

GANDHI:

Lie down! Lie down!

It is a command, and angry in its own way, but it carries

all the weight of his influence on them. They begin to go

down again and the sergeant wheels his horse and rides at

Gandhi.

With deliberate, almost fatalistic pace, Gandhi goes first

to his knees and then sprawls down flat, his hands over the

top of his head, awaiting the blow of the horse's hoof.

Close shot, the horse's head, its eyes rolling as it swerves

again.

Close shot, the sergeant controlling it, cursing, but unable

to make it plunge down on the man.

Full shot, the sergeant wheeling his horse, angrily --

surveying the whole of the procession as they lie sprawled

on the ground, his mounted police circling in front of them,

not knowing what to do.

SERGEANT:

Follow me!

He turns his horse angrily and gallops back toward the

factories.

Gandhi, Singh and Tyeb Mohammed are looking off at the

retreating horses. The car with the civilian has returned in

the distance.

Gandhi looks at the miner who first shouted "Down" -- a smile,

a nod of recognition and thanks. The miner grins, rubbing at

the blood on his face, shrugging off Gandhi's implied praise.

Featuring the police. The sergeant wheels by the car with

the civilian; his police turn their horses, lining up across

the road again.

Their point of view. Gandhi and the miners coming on once

more, chanting forcefully. "One King! One Law! One King! One

Law!"

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