Ben Kingsley, Star of the Movie "Gandhi"

[Pratyatosa Dasa]

Interesting stuff:

 

"Ben Kingsley's birth name is Krishna Banji." (http://film.guardian.co.uk/Column/0,4541,426593,00.html)

 

"Ben Kingsley's paternal family was from the Indian state of Gujarat, the same state Mahatma Gandhi was from." (http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Kingsley,%20Ben)

[Sudama]

I thought Ben Kingsley did a good job playing Gandhi in the movie.

 

This may be off topic, but another actor I like is Sir Alec Guinness. Most younger folks know him as Obi-Wan Kenobi but he also played a brahmin priest in the movie "A Passage to India" (terrible movie, but Alec was good in it). He also played Pope Innocent in "Brother Sun, Sister Moon". That was a better movie, because at least St. Francis was vegetarian!

[Guest guest]

Just the other day, I saw an interview of Ben Kingsley with James Lipton of the Actors Studio. He stated that his real first name was "Krishna", but when he described who Krishna is, I was extremely disappointed. He described Him as a warrior and a "sexual athlete". He made absolutely no mention of Krishna's divinity. I found this description of Krishna, without explaining His divinity, to be quite offensive. Ben Kingsley is a fine actor, but he fails to acknowledge where his abilities have come from, even when he shares a first name with the Source of those abilities. By not distinguishing Krishna from the ordinary man, he has committed an offense.