08-15-2005, 02:40 AM
Mangal makes British mad again
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is three days since the British release of The Rising and the critics have risen.
Mangal makes British mad again
These aren't, however, professional film critics feeling let down by the latest production. Itâs 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 In reality, he insists, the cartridges were withdrawn in the light of the concerns.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_...430004.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is three days since the British release of The Rising and the critics have risen.
Mangal makes British mad again
These aren't, however, professional film critics feeling let down by the latest production. Itâs 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_...430004.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->