[vandy]

Just watced the movie Mangal Pandey - The Rising.

Pretty good show about the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.

Iv'e got to be wary about watching Movies such as these as I end up Angry & Disgusted on how the Indians were treated by
those Bombastic, Arrogant English Swines.  

The Mutiny was responsible for the Fall of the British East India Company which Ruled India for 100 years before the
eventual Rule of the British Raj.It was to be another 90 years when India gained Full Independence.  

vandy  

[WonderWomanUSA]

Mangal Pandey is still not available through my DVD service; I've been waiting for it for quite a while.

[cyberhippie]

Great film I watch it often in fact I might just watch it again tomorrow

[Hyderabadi]

This one was not  a big hit in my house, to be honest. Did not connect... too much make up on the actors, is one way to to put it. I guess.

Mangal Paandey:

I liked the theme song.

[jyotirmoy]

This is one of the biggest myths.

[cyberhippie]

Which part Jyot Da, the hero the mutiny or the cow & pig grease.

I just like the film for it's entertainment value but there are some historical truths within nah.

[jyotirmoy]

Dear cyber bhai, the newly introduced Enfield fire arms did use ammunition with plenty of grease and the loading procedure was to tear off the seal by teeth. The grease was intially of animal origin. This thing did give rise to resentment. But mind it that this alone wasn't what gave rise to the mutiny or should I say uprising? We Indians have a habit of propping up heros and Mangal Pandey was one. To have a better understanding one should turn ones attention to what was happening inside the red fort in Delhi. A clueless monarch with a near empty treasury, regional adminstrative heads in Lucknow, Bengal and Deccan trying to become independent, non-payment of tax arrears mounting. Our society had been divided on caste lines for long which the Brits didn't much understand or rather wanted to get rid off by promoting people belonging to the so called lower caste to higher positions to command platoons consisting of soldiers belonging to the upper castes. The socio-economic-political situation prevailing at that time was like dry powder. I tend to compare the 1857 uprising to the Naxalite movement of the late sixties & early seventies. A movement where ruffians and opurtunists soon infiltered the cadres. A toothless Mughal badsha was fooled and tricked, he was propped up. What happened to Delhi after the sepoys arrived goes well to prove my theory that by that time the spirit of uprising had been hijacked to a great extent. The very badsha Bahadur Shah who was propped up as the supreme leader was by that time reduced to nothing. There was no Mangal Pandey and high patriotism to lead the "mob"....
This "mob" fed on false hopes of the riches of the Mughal coffers, abundant food and ammunition found out after reaching Delhi that there was nothing for them. There was no money, no food, no ammunition and above all no leaders. Delhi had been plundered in the past by foreign invaders but this time it was plundered by Indians. Was it finally an uprising? I can understand what Mirza Ghalib felt and wrote staying trapped in his haveli. It was a dream that turned in to a nightmare.
We may well try to romanticise and make films that attempts to put glory on things that wasn't in reality a glorious thing.

Dear readers,  I normally avoid writting about controversial topics but my fond relation with cyber bhai made me reply to his question, feathers will be ruffled but I am retreating and won't come out comment any further.

[jyotirmoy]

Dear cyber bhai, the newly introduced Enfield fire arms did use ammunition with plenty of grease and the loading procedure was to tear off the seal by teeth. The grease was intially of animal origin. This thing did give rise to resentment. But mind it that this alone wasn't what gave rise to the mutiny or should I say uprising? We Indians have a habit of propping up heros and Mangal Pandey was one. To have a better understanding one should turn ones attention to what was happening inside the red fort in Delhi. A clueless monarch with a near empty treasury, regional adminstrative heads in Lucknow, Bengal and Deccan trying to become independent, non-payment of tax arrears mounting. Our society had been divided on caste lines for long which the Brits didn't much understand or rather wanted to get rid off by promoting people belonging to the so called lower caste to higher positions to command platoons consisting of soldiers belonging to the upper castes. The socio-economic-political situation prevailing at that time was like dry powder. I tend to compare the 1857 uprising to the Naxalite movement of the late sixties & early seventies. A movement where ruffians and opurtunists soon infiltered the cadres. A toothless Mughal badsha was fooled and tricked, he was propped up. What happened to Delhi after the sepoys arrived goes well to prove my theory that by that time the spirit of uprising had been hijacked to a great extent. The very badsha Bahadur Shah who was propped up as the supreme leader was by that time reduced to nothing. There was no Mangal Pandey and high patriotism to lead the "mob"....
This "mob" fed on false hopes of the riches of the Mughal coffers, abundant food and ammunition found out after reaching Delhi that there was nothing for them. There was no money, no food, no ammunition and above all no leaders. Delhi had been plundered in the past by foreign invaders but this time it was plundered by Indians. Was it finally an uprising? I can understand what Mirza Ghalib felt and wrote staying trapped in his haveli. It was a dream that turned in to a nightmare.
We may well try to romanticise and make films that attempts to put glory on things that wasn't in reality a glorious thing.

Dear readers,  I normally avoid writting about controversial topics but my fond relation with cyber bhai made me reply to his question, feathers will be ruffled but I am retreating and won't come out comment any further.

[cyberhippie]

Sounds a lot like Scotlands story, treachery at the highest levels, thanks for the explanation Jyoti Da.

[cyberhippie]

And thus a convenient excuse for the Brits to exile Bahadur Shah II to Burma.

[jyotirmoy]

It all fits well isn't it cyber bhai? A weakling, a poet and a betrayed Bahadur Sha was exiled... to remove all traces of the mughal dynasty this poor badsha was burried in secret, grave filled with immense quantity of lime to disntegrate the frail body as quickly as possible.... grasses planted on the grave so that the spot gets lost in the grassy surroundings.....

[WonderWomanUSA]

Now all that is very interesting, but I like those films for the mustachios!

[WonderWomanUSA]

Okay, I watched this film last night -- and although they simplified matters very much, I did enjoy it.

Like Vandy, I hated most of the British, cheered for the Indian side.