15 Facts About Kanu Gandhi

Kanu Gandhi was a grandnephew of Mahatma Gandhi who lived with him in several of his ashrams and was a member of his personal staff.

Kanu Gandhi is best remembered as Gandhi's photographer, recording many moments of Gandhi's life on film from 1938 until his assassination in 1948.

Kanu Gandhi received his education at the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.

Kanu Gandhi was nicknamed "Bapu's Hanuman" and was close to the Mahatma.

When Kanu approached Gandhi with the request, Gandhi turned him down due to paucity of funds.

From 1938 until Gandhi's death ten years later, Kanu took many personal photographs of the Mahatma.

Kanu Gandhi sold some of his photographs to newspapers and over time he began to produce images on a daily basis.

Kanu made films of Gandhi including one of his march in Noakhali in 1947.

Kanu however was forbidden by Gandhi from capturing Kasturba's last moments as she lay dying on his lap during his incarceration at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.

Years later as Gandhi breathed his last in Abha's lap at Birla House, Delhi, Kanu was away at Noakhali where Gandhi had ordered him to stay.

The attempts to auction off Kanu Gandhi memorabilia generated much controversy in India.

Kanu Gandhi ran the centre of behalf of his father to whom the government had entrusted its operations and developed it to function as a centre for small scale industries and into a secondary school.

Kanu Gandhi died of a heart attack on 20 February 1986 while on a pilgrimage in Madhya Pradesh.

Kanu Gandhi's photographs were acquired by Ruhe from Abha following Kanu's death in 1986 and she had planned to dispose them off seeing no use for them.

Several scenes from Richard Attenborough's biopic Gandhi were shot on the basis of Kanu's photographs.