D.C. CFO Gandhi Makes His Acting Debut

D.C.'s chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi has tackled some tough challenges over the years as the city's top number cruncher. Gandhi is taking on a new role, this time as the lead actor in a play about Mahatma Gandhi.

This is Dr. Gandhi's first-ever acting role and the idea to play Mahatma Gandhi, who has no relation, came when his friend, the playwright Dr. Amita Jha, asked him to read the play and realized Gandhi would be perfect.

"Because in many respects, I look like the other Gandhi," says Gandhi. "I have a bald head, and I wear round glasses, and my name is Gandhi, so why not? Let's try it out."

The play is called  "A Tryst with Destiny." It follows the Indian independence movement and the partition of the country in 1947.

"One of the great virtues of Gandhi is that he wanted to work with other people, no matter how different they are," says Gandhi. "I think when I look to Washington, it's the same philosophy that you can work on. No matter how different a person is from you, he or she has a different viewpoint. Let us try and understand. Only by trying to understand can learn to live with each other."

The play is this Saturday at 6 p.m., at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Northwest D.C.