Movie makes British Mad Again

[Guest guest]

Mangal makes British mad again

 

Vijay Dutt

 

London, August 15, 2005

It is three days since the British release of The Rising and the critics

have risen. These aren't, however, professional film critics feeling let

down by the latest production. It's the historians.

 

The government-backed UK Film Council has been slammed by Tory

politicians and British military historian Saul David for investing

£150,000 of lottery funds in a film that "savages British rule in India".

 

Historians quoted in the Telegraph say The Rising is littered with

historical inaccuracies. They say the film accuses the company of

murdering civilians to further its interests and of flouting the Empire-wide

ban on slavery.

 

In one scene an officer is shown bidding for a slave girl who is sent to a

brothel for the exclusive use of British officers. Later, a fellow officer

orders the destruction of a village and its inhabitants after they refuse to

set aside land for opium production.

 

David attacks the depictions as fabrication. He is also scathing about

the film's claim that 1857 events were sparked by the company's

insistence that Muslim and Hindu sepoys use bullet casings covered in

beef and pork fat. In reality, he insists, the cartridges were withdrawn in

the light of the concerns.

 

Farrukh Dhondy, who scripted The Rising, however, says, "The Rising is

based on historical facts, broad historical occurrences… There was an

issue about the grease in cartridges and the rest - which is openly

fictional -- comes from my imagination."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_1462024,00430004.htm