Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the technical specs and special features for the upcoming Blu-ray release of the 25th Anniversary release of 'Gandhi
', which is due to hit store shelves on February 17th. For this two disc set, video will be presented in 2.40:1 1080p AVC accompanied by a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.
Extras for this release include:
Disc One
Gandhi's Legacy – A Picture-in-Picture Graphics Track (BD Exclusive)
Introduction by Sir Richard Attenborough
Director's Commentary
Disc Two
Vintage Newsreel Footage
Sir Ben Kingsley Talks about Gandhi
In Search of Gandhi Featurette - Lord Attenborough discusses the various hurdles he faced in getting the film made, from the genesis of the project in the '60s through to the start of production
Reflections on Ben Featurette - Cast and crew reflect on Ben Kinsley as he prepared for the role and memories of him during production
Madeleine Slade: An Englishwoman Abroad Featurette - Lord Richard Attenborough and Geraldine James discuss Madeleine Slade (Meerabahen), who became one of Gandhi's most committed followers
The Funeral Featurette - Cast and crew discuss the recreation and filming of Gandhi's Funeral. This scene holds the record for containing more extras than any other in film history (in excess of 250,000 people!)
Shooting an Epic in India Featurette - Cast and crew discuss working in India and the challenges they faced as the production progressed
Looking Back Featurette - Cast and crew look back at the film. This featurette includes material about the success of the film, the impact it had on release and the Academy Award ceremony
Designing Gandhi - 3 mini featurettes - Stuart Craig talks about three different elements of Set & Design:
Building the Ashram
The Tent
Finding Trains
From the Director's Chair - 2 mini featurettes - Lord Attenborough shares his views on two areas of the production:
On Casting
On Music
The Words of Muhatma Gandhi
The Making of Gandhi – A photo montage of behind-the-scenes stills
Just remember what kind of competition this movie had at the Oscars that year: "E.T. The Extraterrestrial", "The Verdict" and the brilliant Dustin Hoffman comedy "Tootsie"! After 26 years I can grudgingly admit that "Gandhi" deserved to win over all of these modern-day classics...
That is a lot of extras, but you'd think they could throw in a a feature about Ghandi himself, and little less about the film...even an A&E Biography on Ghandi would be nice
