Gandhi Page #61

Featuring Gandhi. It is a comment too grave for glibness,

and Gandhi is obviously struck by the pain of it. He pauses

for a moment, staring down at the youth:

GANDHI:

Because forgiveness is the gift of

the brave.

He makes it mean the youth. For a second it makes an impact,

but then the youth shouts his defiance at him and his message.

YOUTH:

To hell with you, Gandhi!!

An angry chorus of acclamation; when it dies

GANDHI:

(to the youth)

Go -- do as your mother and father

would wish you to do.

It is ambiguous, open-ended, meaning anything your mother

and father would wish you to do. Tears flush from the boy's

eyes and he stares at Gandhi with a kind of hopeless anguish

and rage. But the impact is on the youth alone; around him

the others begin to take up the chant "Death to Muslims!,"

"Death to Muslims!"

Gandhi turns from the street. He looks at the police

commissioner -- at his fatigue, his concern, his manifest

respect. Gandhi musters a weary smile.

GANDHI:

I have lived a lifetime. If I had

shunned death -- or feared it -- I

would not be here. Nor would you be

concerned for me.

(He lets it sink in

then he takes the

commissioner's arm

and moves back toward

the center of the

roof.)

Leave me -- and take your men.

(An understanding

touch of the arm.)

You have more important things to

worry about.

The commissioner looks at him, uncertain, not knowing what

to do, as the angry chanting continues above the sound of

rioting.

HOSPITAL - INTERIOR - DAY

An old, inadequate hospital -- dark cavernous. Margaret Bourke-

White is moving among the densely packed litter of wounded

women. She is positioning herself to photograph Gandhi, who

is speaking to a woman who cradles a small baby. The corridors

behind him are even more packed. The few doctors and nurses

hardly have room to move.

Featuring Gandhi. Azad and Mirabehn are behind him as he

moves on, and behind them, like a giant guardian, Abdul

Ghaffar Khan. We hear "Bapu, Bapu" muttered quietly here and

there. Gandhi bends to a woman whose face is bandaged and a

cruel wound is half-exposed between her mouth and eye.

WOMAN:

Bapu... Allah be with you...

There are tears in Gandhi's eyes now.

GANDHI:

And with you.

(He touches her

wrinkled hand.)

Pray... I cannot help you -- pray...

pray.

And the weight of his helplessness hangs on him.

CALCUTTA STREET - EXTERIOR - DAY

A streetcar (tram) crashes into a barricade of carts,

rickshaws, a couple of old cars, smashing through to breach

the barricade, but stopped in the end by the mass of debris.

The streetcar is loaded with Indian troops and they break

from the stalled vehicle to chase A gang of Hindus --

organized -- runs down the street from the troops, some

dragging the bodies of victims with them. We see several

Hindu black flags.

NEHRU'S OFFICE - INTERIOR - NIGHT

He speaks across his desk to a senior police commissioner.

The same activity going on in the background.

NEHRU:

(angrily)

No! There will not be a Hindu Police

and a Muslim Police. There is one

police!

An aide slips a newspaper on his desk in front of him. He

doesn't look at it till the senior commissioner lowers his

head and turns, accepting defeat. Then Nehru glances at the

paper.

In thick headlines: GANDHI: A FAST UNTO DEATH!

Nehru doesn't move for a moment. Then he lifts his face slowly

to his aide.

NEHRU:

Why must I read news like this in

the paper?

The aide shakes his head -- there's no answer. Nehru lowers

his head again; it is like another burden on a man who already

has too many. He grips his temples... a terrible sigh.

NEHRU:

Tell Patel. Arrange a plane. We will

go -- Friday.

THE AIDE:

Four days?

Nehru thinks on it solemnly, then nods yes.

TAHIB'S HOUSE - EXTERIOR - DAY

The sounds of rioting and looting on nearby streets, but

here a mass of people are gathered. Many youths with black

flags. Two black government limousines. Motorcycles. Police

and soldiers. They are looking off to

AN OUTSIDE STAIRCASE - TAHIB'S HOUSE

It runs up the side of the building and is lined with waiting

people. Nehru and Patel are climbing the stairs, moving past

them almost irritably as they mutter "Nehru, Nehru," "Patel,"

and make the pranam to the eminent men.

In the heat of the city Tahib's rooftop is still Gandhi's

"home" and has become a center of activity. Azad clears

someone aside and ushers Nehru and Patel under the canopy

awning.

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