Gandhi Bhavan’s mega project to bring Bapu closer to people

BENGALURU: A project to bring Mahatma Gandhi — the father of the nation — closer to visitors at the Gandhi Bhavan in the city, is in the works. If all goes as planned, it will be unveiled on October 2, 2019. The ‘Mahatma Gandhi Multimedia Project’, planned by the Karnataka Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, is waiting for a budgetary approval to start the construction.

The project promises to be a visual treat for those who will visit Gandhi Bhavan. Visitors will get to go through a 4-hour-long introduction to Gandhi’s life, split into two parts. While the first part of the experience will include visuals from Gandhi’s life, narrated in the first person, the second part will focus on his contributions to India and the relevance of his teachings today. With over 1,000 photos of Gandhi collected for the project, the quality of the presentations is expected to be quite high, officials said. Children will be taught in the form of cartoons and animated movies.

Prepared by a team involving A Annamalai, Director of National Gandhi Museum and others, the project was led by RDPR Minister H K Patil, said V N Tippanna Gowda, vice president of Gandhi Bhavan.
The only thing remaining to be done is allocation of funds in the upcoming budget by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. For this, Patil put up a note for sanction of `10 crore and it was approved by the Chief Minister.

The proposal was sent to Kannada and Culture Department to place it before the authorities to include it in the budget. Expecting a positive response from the government, Tippanna Gowda, who is also in charge of the project, said that the project would enlighten the next generation about Gandhi, right from his birth to death. “Around 30 to 40 frequently asked questions are prepared. It includes Gandhiji’s messages on alcoholism, non-violence, grama swaraj, untouchability, religion, economy and other topics. If anyone asks questions on these topics, they will get answers as if it’s being narrated by Gandhi himself. This is a first of its kind effort in South India.”

Of `10 crore funds sought from government, `4.5 crore will go for civil work and remaining will be incurred for multimedia. Taking into consideration the huge worldwide following of Gandhi, the voice of the programme will also be in English in addition to Kannada. The visitors can choose in which language they want to listen about Gandhi.

Features of the multimedia Project
First of its kind in South India
Gandhi will be known through visual media
His literature can be accessed through a touch screen
Gandhi’s life and teachings will reach children through cartoons/animated movies.
Visitors can choose English and Kannada to know about Gandhi