Free screenings of the 1982 movie Gandhi began in cinema halls in Telangana on Tuesday, IANS reported.
The state government made arrangements for the screening of the Oscar-winning movie in 543 theatres across the state. The film will be screened from 10 am to 1.15 pm every day from August 9 to 22.
The Telangana government arranged for the screenings as part of its two-week long celebrations to mark 75 years of Indian independence.
The film depicts the role of Mahatma Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle. It was directed by Richard Attenborough and was a co-production between India and the United Kingdom.
The film was nominated for 11 Academy awards and won eight of them.
The initiative by the Telangana government came in the backdrop of the “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign that the Centre and state governments ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party are running.
The “Har Ghar Tiranga” campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisages the hoisting of at least 20 crore flags on homes across the country from August 13 to August 15.
Other state governments and political parties have also made elaborate preparations to mark the country’s 75th Independence Day.
On August 9, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi unfurled the 500th high-mast tricolour in the national capital as part of a campaign to hoist the national flag across the city, The Indian Express reported.
“On the 75th Independence Day, we all must pledge to make India the number one country in the world,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on the occasion. He said that there was a need to eradicate “pariwarwaad” (dynastic politics) and “dostwaad” (politics favouring select friends), in criticism apparently aimed at the Congress and the BJP.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also launched a five-day “Tiranga Yatra” from the state’s Tarn Taran district on Tuesday. He said that the Congress, “unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party or any other political party in the country, had a great and glorious history of sacrifice for the national Tricolour”, according to The Indian Express.
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