‘Gandhi’: Hansal Mehta & Applause Entertainment’s Expansive Biopic Series Begins Production In India

Jesse Whittock
·2-min read

The upcoming Gandhi streaming series has gone into production in Gujarat, India.

The series is being helmed by director Hansal Mehta, who was pictured on set in an Instagram from the account of series producer Applause Entertainment.

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The series will tell the story of Mahatma Gandhi’s life and times, in the same vein The Crown told the story of the British royals. Pratik Gandhi stars as his namesake.

The Insta post noted it’s being filmed as an “international production shot across various Indian and foreign locations.” In an interview with Applause CEO Sameer Nair when we first told you about the show back in May 2022, he location scouting was taking place in India, South Africa and the UK — countries in which Gandhi lived and that are covered by the non-fiction books on which the show is based.

Further production details were not forthcoming this morning, but Applause previously told us the series follow Gandhi’s earliest days to his actions as a lawyer in South Africa through to the independence struggle in India, telling the lesser known stories of his life that played an important role in shaping him into a Mahatma (a revered person in South East Asia).

It will also tell the stories of all his compatriots and contemporaries of the freedom movement, who played integral parts in shaping what became free and modern India. However, no further casting details have been revealed.

Applause Entertainment, which is producing in association with its Applause Productions division, began developing the show after acquiring rights to Indian historian and journalist Ramachandra Guha’s Gandhi Before India and Gandhi – The Years that Changed the World — a pair of biographies that are among the most complete ever written about the iconic political figure.

Currently no buyer is attached, but this isn’t unusual for an Applause project. The Indian studio’s business model sees it develop and produce high-end scripted series and films before selling the finished product to Indian streamers. No word yet on where this one will end up, but we recently picked it as one of our 15 International TV Dramas to Watch in 2024.

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