With an aim to instil the principles of the Mahatma in its students while ensuring they inculcate the correct values, Delhi University is screening documentaries on the Father of the Nation during a festival, which will go on for four days.
According to Nisha Tyagi, Deputy Dean (Academics) at the university’s Gandhi Bhawan, students have been reading books on Gandhi and now need to see how cinema acknowledges him. “Students have read much about Mahatma Gandhi in books as well as part of their academic curriculum. We wanted them to be updated on the cinema which acknowledges Gandhi’s contribution to the nation,” she said. A complete schedule has been made for this festival, which started on Monday. Much to the expectations of many, the famous Gandhi by Sir Richard Attenborough was the first film to be screened. Other films being screened at the festival are The Path Of Non-Violence by American Institute of Education, The Making of the Mahatma by Shyam Benegal and Gandhi: Ek Jivani produced by Gandhi National Museum. The documentaries are being screened at Gandhi Bhawan from 2 pm onwards and the festival is open to outsiders as well.
However, this festival is not happening for the first time in the university. This is the second edition of the Gandhi Documentary Week, which was observed by the university in July this year. Fifteen documentaries were screened during the week-long festival in July. Some of those were Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara; The Making of the Mahatma; Gandhi, My Father; Prarthana Pravachan: Mahatma Gandhi Ke Swar Mein and The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
The Gandhian message is imparted by the Delhi University in several ways to students as the university also has a free certificate course in charkha spinning.