The intellectual level of HT City, the no-brain supplement of a rather no brain paper, the Hindustan Times, went up many notches yesterday. They actually had a sort of debate on Empire, history, myth and representation on their front page (instead of a model saying that s/he loves reading ñ s/he just couldnít put down the Da Vinci codeÖ)
The debaters ñ
Aamir Khan, star and producer of the forthcoming ëhistoricalí Mangal Pandey:The Rising .
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, historian, particularly of Avadh in Revolt.
AK ñ It is relevant, alrightÖ The events might have happened in 1857 but we see similar things happening even today in Afghanistan and Vietnam ñ where a superpower takes over an alien society, ruling, robbing and claiming it for its own benefit. The film questions the right of anyone to do thatÖ
q. ..Rudrangshu Mukherjee is of the view that nationalism creates its own myths, and Mangal Pandey is part of the imagination of historians. Do you agree?
AK ñ That is a valid point of view but it does not take away the fact that Mangal Pandey became an inspiration in the fight for freedomÖ
But beyond the debate, I have heard rumours that Ketan Mehtaís film actually shows Mangal Pandey as the leader of the revolt, who also leads the Sepoys from Meerut to Delhi.
Mangal Pandey in Delhi? Mangal Pandey as the leader of the rebellion of 1857? Is Ketan Mehta, like Mangal Pandey is said to have been when he famously shot the angrez sergeant, on bhang?
If this is true, this takes artistic liberties with historical veracity to another level altogether. Mangal Pandey was hanged on the 8th of April, 1857 in Barrackpore, Bengal Рover a month before the Sepoys in Meerut revolted, on the 10th of May, took Delhi the next day, and started ëThe Risingí. Mangal Pandeyís attack on his British sergeant was just one among many incidents of individual and collective defiance which stoked the embers of resentment into the full-blown ghadar of 1857-58. (It wasnít the first, either ñ there was a sepoy mutiny in Berhampore, Bengal that February. ) To glorify one person, and that too, ahistorically, is to do disservice to the memory all the other acts of courage, desperation (and letís not forget) cruelty that were part of the rebellion. And though conspiracy theorists abound, there was no one leader to the rebellion, which unleashed a whole range of democratic and anarchic actions Рlike the Gujjar pastoralists outside of Delhi burning down Metcalfe House (Matka Kothi) because it had swallowed up their grazing lands. Something Iím sure the film leaves out!
But maybe there is some justification for Mangal Pandey in Delhi. Pandey, after all, did outlive his death as a symbol of the revolt. The British soldiers fighting the mutineers saw him everywhere. All mutineers were derogatorily called ëPandysí by the Brits, and the death struggle of a captured rebel on the gallows was a dance to ëPandyís hornpipes.í
I eagerly await the movie..
August 12, people…
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We shall dedicate the rest of August to The Rising! Man, I cannot wait. How come AK hasn’t answered any of my calls for qs. where is that fearless nadia when u need her.
Well, the Wiki entry on the movie suggests that a whole lot of liberties will be taken, but I’m not sure that it’s entirely a “disservice.”
I’m interested in The Rising now mostly out of the political engagement of Lagaan, a movie the first review of which I read took it to task for being startlingly anachronistic and ahistorical in terms of cricket. In my imagination, the anachronism of Lagaan serves to make a (heavy-handed) allegorical point about contemporary India/Pakistan and national unity. Perhaps The Rising will work similarly.
The Week has a cover story on AK and The Rising.
Quick. Name the person who was hanged along with Mangal Pandey.
morcy,
i’m not quite sure if heavy handed historical allegory is necessarily a bad thing. it works in lagaan, and in mughal-e-azam. but mangal pandey is already such a heavy handed allegory, with so much nationalist chauvinist politics imbricatedinto the mythic figure…
quizman,
i don’t know the name, but the guy was the jemadar who refused to bring m. pandey to book.
Ishwari Prasad.
Now why isn’t he famous? [Why aren't Sukhdev and Rajguru as famous as BS?] How do these things work?
I suppose “heavy-handed” has some negative connotations. My point in adding it was that it was rather obvious to me, and I’m completely tone deaf when it comes to cultural markers from non-US parts of the world, or something like that.
I think it works in Lagaan much like it works in Sholay–the overriding theme is of unity against oppression, be it the British or bandits or whatever either signifies, perhaps separating forces, as in both movies are rather explicitly anti-chauvinist, after a fashion. I think even in Lagaan there is direct reference to a fist as being stronger when the fingers are united into one.
Only via imagination can I see the cultural backstory value of mangal pandey, but from what little I’ve read about him, nothing mentions anything about having an English soldier as a best friend (or however The Rising is going to make this work out). As a result, I imagine the politics might end up being very similar to Lagaan‘s, even if that means revising the chauvinist story that’s already well-known.
But this is just my speculation.
Now why isn’t he famous?.
As a historian, I contend that it was the lack of the upward curling ‘stache.
ah quizman, you got me…
now why wasn’t ishwari prasad famous?
maybe becuase the dude savarkar never wrote about him?
maybe because ishwari prasad is not as obviously a brahmin name as mangal pandey?
maybe becuase, as sepoy says, the moustache (always an important caste marker) didn’t curl upwards…
one of the coolest, in my estimation, rebels of 1857 was Bakht Khan, the soldier who wrested control of Delhi’s rebel forces away from the folhardy mughal princes by threatening to cut their ears off… but no one talks about him, do they?
mangal pandy is very magniefecent film and amir was interested the film will go to the national award and amir khan will win the best actor
award this year thank you
your,s:anna balooch