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Gandhi (1982)
Gandhi (1982) poster

Gandhi (1982)

Drama, History • 3h 11m

Director: Richard Attenborough

Cast: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Rohini Hattangadi, Martin Sheen, Ian Charleson, Harsh Nayyar, Athol Fugard, Günther Maria Halmer, Saeed Jaffrey, Geraldine James, Alyque Padamsee, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Ian Bannen, Michael Bryant, John Clements, Richard Griffiths, Nigel Hawthorne, Bernard Hepton, Michael Hordern, Shreeram Lagoo, Virendra Razdan, Richard Vernon, Prabhakar Patankar, Vijay Kashyap, Nigam Prakash, Supriya Pathak, Neena Gupta, Shane Rimmer, Peter Harlowe, Anang Desai, Winston Ntshona, Peter Cartwright, Marius Weyers, Richard Mayes, Alok Nath, Dean Gasper, Ken Hutchison, Norman Chancer, Gulshan Kapoor, Charu Bala Chokshi, Raj Chaturvedi, Avpar Jhita, Anthony Sagger, Om Puri, David Gant, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray Burdis, Daniel Peacock, Avis Bunnage, Caroline Hutchison, Mohan Agashe, Sudhanshu Mishra, Dina Nath, John Savident, Michael Godley, Stewart Harwood, Stanley McGeagh, Christopher Good, David Markham, Jyoti Sarup, John Naylor, Wilson George, Hanshu Mehta, Sudarshan Sethi, Sunila Pradhan, Moti Makan, Jalal Agha, Rupert Frazer, Manohar Pitale, Homi Daruvala, K.K. Raina, Vivek Swaroop, Raja Biswas, Dominic Guard, Bernard Hill, Rama Kant Jha, Nana Palsikar, Alpna Gupta, Chandrakant Thakkar, John Quentin, Graham Seed, Keith Drinkel, Bob Barbenia, Gerald Sim, Sanjeev Puri, Gareth Forwood, Vijay Crishna, Sankalp Dubey, James Cossins, Gurcharan Singh, John Vine, Geoffrey Chater, Ernest Clark, Habib Tanvir, Pankaj Mohan, Subhash Gupta, Aadil, Rajeshwar Nath, S.S. Thakur, Rahul Gupta, Barry John, Brian Oulton, James Snell, John Boxer, Gerard Norman, Bernard Horsfall, Richard Leech, Pankaj Kapur, Tarla Mehta, David Sibley, Dalip Tahil, Stanley Lebor, Terrence Hardiman, Monica Gupta, Jon Croft, William Hoyland, John Ratzenberger, Jack McKenzie, Tom Alter, Jane Myerson, Roop Kumar Razdan, Bani Sharad Joshi, Vagish Kumar Singh, Dilsher Singh, Sudhir Dalvi, Tilak Raj, Irpinder Puri, Pren Kapoor, Vinay Apte, Aswini Kumar, Avinash Dogra, Shreedhar Joshi, Suhas Palshikar, Karkirat Singh, Shekhar Chattopadhyay, Amarjeet, Pratap Desai, Bhatawadekar Prakash, Sunil Shende, Rovil Sinha, Derek Lyons, Fred Wood, Nassar Abdulla, Gito Santana

Best English-friendly release

2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Updated 1 year ago

Best video release

2025 Sony Steelbook

UHD Blu-ray

2025 Sony Steelbook > 2020 Columbia Classics boxset.


Best audio release

1994 Columbia LaserDisc

UHD tiers

Excellent
Sony:

Only available in Columbia Classics Vol 1 for now


About the film

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

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Alternative Titles
Richard Attenborough's Film: Gandhi

Featured in Oscar Best Pictures

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Director: Jonathan Demme

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Audio Notes:

(transfer of the 1989 MGM LaserDisc, without problems plaguing Kino Lorber's release)

Additional Info:

Arrow UHD is an update of the original 4K scan done for their BD. It is also visually far superior to the Kino version and adds Dolby Vision HDR. The Arrow UHD uses a new LD mono capture and has none of the issues or processing found in the Kino UHD which also used an LD mono capture and somehow mucked it up. Short of a brand new scan, the Arrow UHD is as good as it possibly can be.

Director: Robert Zemeckis

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Cimino

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2020 Shout! Factory 4K

Video Notes:

2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV

Best Audio:

35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc

70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.

70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.

Director: David Lean

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 2024 Ultimate Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray/ Warner Bros 2023 Knockout Collection 4K Blu-ray (replacement disc)

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc

Audio Notes:

Original Mono: Ultimate Knockout Collection/Knockout Collection replacement disc > Knockout collection original.

The Mono mix on the initial release of the Knockout Collection is a stereo fold-down of the 5.1, it also has a missing piano cue. The replacement disc and the ultimate knockout version fixed the error. 

Additional Info:

The Steelbook and UK standard edition is the same disc as the 2023 knockout collection.

Director: Bong Joon Ho

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027

Best Video:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)

Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.

Director: John Schlesinger

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Included Imprint Blu-Ray also has markedly better image compression than the Criterion Blu-Ray, though do note the Imprint has some adjusted color grading within roughly the first five minutes of the film

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=16775595&postcount=450

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24237074&postcount=73

Director: Barry Jenkins

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Lionsgate 4k

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray announced by director Barry Jenkins

Director: Sian Heder

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Has full and forced English subtitles

See caps comparing Italy vs US release

Best Audio:

Apple TV 4K Blu-ray with Atmos

Audio Notes:

(Eagle Pictures is 5.1)

More from Richard Attenborough

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Director: Richard Attenborough

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray > US Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

See caps for Kino: caps. Here’s a particularly egregious example.

Additional Info:

Kino Lorber has a exclusive commentary

Director: Richard Attenborough

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

More from Sony

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Director: Frank Oz

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Roland Emmerich

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

Director: John G. Avildsen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray 

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray 

Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray 

Director: Satoshi Kon

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Sony 4K Blu-ray is very smeary with the upscaling but has correct aspect ratio and very good HDR grade.
UK Blu-ray has wrong colors, and Sony 2007 Blu-ray is the worst (encoding and AR)
See professorwho's review

Director: Ben Stiller

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Comparisons

Audio Notes:

Spectrograms

Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.

  • StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.

  • 2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.

  • 2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps

Audio Notes:

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.

Director: Frank Capra

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Frank Capra Boxset Blu-ray

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Best English-Friendly:

Taiwan Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Blu-ray, HD transfer, also available in a set

Best Audio:

2006 Japan Kinokuniya DVD

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Researched and maintained by

M_Avanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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