Gandhi Page #29

GANDHI:

I have to be sure -- they have to be

sure -- that what we do can be done

by Indians... alone.

And now Charlie understands. Gandhi smiles; warmth, and

sadness. Then he speaks with a determined purposefulness, a

friend's trust.

GANDHI:

But you know the strategy. The world

is full of people who will despise

what's happening here. It is their

strength we need. Before you go, you

could start us in the right direction.

He has taken some scratched notes from under the bedding and

handed them to Charlie. Charlie nods. He sighs, and rises

slowly.

CHARLIE:

I must leave from Calcutta, and soon.

You'll have to say goodbye to Ba for

me.

Gandhi rises, glancing wryly at the prison walls. He nods.

GANDHI:

When I get the chance.

And now he faces Charlie; this is the moment of farewell.

CHARLIE:

Well, I --

He doesn't know what to say, how to say it. Gandhi meets his

eyes -- a smile that shelters Charlie's vulnerability, returns

his love.

GANDHI:

There are no goodbyes for us, Charlie.

Wherever you are, you will always be

in my heart...

The very English, very steadfast Charlie fights to contain

his emotions.

THE COURTROOM - MOTIHARI - INTERIOR - DAY

It is packed to overflowing; restless. Gandhi sits in the

dock. One or two sergeants-at-arms are trying to keep order,

but it the uneven and menacing chanting of "Gandhi... Gandhi"

coming from the mobs outside the courtroom that fills the

atmosphere with threat.

The magistrate (English) is surveying the courtroom; he

signals his clerk (English) to him.

MAGISTRATE:

(whispered conference)

I am going to clear the courtroom.

CLERK:

(politely)

I'm not sure we'd be able to. And it

is a first hearing, it's supposed to

be public. And he's a lawyer.

The magistrate frowns.

MAGISTRATE:

(worried, angry)

I don't know where they found the

nerve for all this.

CLERK:

I'm sure I don't either, but the

troops won't be here until tomorrow.

MAGISTRATE:

How the press get here before the

military?

We see the front row from his point of view. Two or three

Indian journalists and one European.

CLERK:

That English clergyman sent a number

of telegrams yesterday afternoon. I

understand one of them even went to

the Viceroy.

The magistrate receives that news with some alarm. He

indicates that the clerk take his place.

Gandhi stands. The courtroom is silent, but we can still

hear the sound of the chanting outside.

MAGISTRATE:

You have been ordered out of the

province on the grounds of disturbing

the peace.

GANDHI:

(defiantly)

With respect, I refuse to go.

The magistrate stares. The journalists write. The clerk

swallows.

The magistrate looks around the courtroom and is only too

aware of the mob outside.

MAGISTRATE:

(sternly)

Do you want to go to jail?

GANDHI:

(not giving him an

inch)

As you wish.

The clerk lowers his eyes to his pad. The magistrate searches

the distant wall, the top of his desk, his twitching hands

for an answer. Finally

MAGISTRATE:

(as much sternness as

he can muster)

All right. I will release you on

bail of one hundred rupees until I

reach a sentence.

GANDHI:

I refuse to pay one hundred rupees.

Again the magistrate stares. And so do the journalists. The

magistrate wets his lips --

MAGISTRATE:

Then I -- I will grant release without

bail -- until I reach a decision.

And now the court explodes. In the chaos of cheering and

delight, the magistrate rises, looks around the room and

heads for his chambers.

The journalists are scribbling furiously.

Gandhi turns and starts out of the courtroom. We hear cries

of "Gandhi! -- Gandhi! -- Bapu!"

THE COURTHOUSE BALCONY

Gandhi steps down from the courtroom to the balcony. A huge

cheer comes up from the massed peasants below. As he smiles

down at them, he is turned by

A VOICE:

Gandhiji! -- Gandhiji! Mr. Gandhi!

Four young Indians -- elegantly dressed in English clothes --

are following him, having plunged through the crowd in the

courtroom. A beat -- and the first young man addresses him

over the chaos.

FIRST YOUNG MAN:

(his accent is as

refined as his clothes)

Gandhiji -- we are from Bihar. We

received a cable this morning from

an old friend who was at Cambridge

with us.

(A smile.)

His name is Nehru and I believe you

know him.

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