ksp@ulysses.UUCP (Krishna Prasad) (01/27/86)
Starting yesterday (Sunday Jan 26 -- India's Republic Day!) PBS is showing a mini-series titled "Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy", dealing with the last few months of British rule in India. In the NY area, it will be on for the next five Sundays at 9PM on Channel 13. Check local listings for show times, as they say.
mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) (02/04/86)
++ Yesterday, I saw about a half hour (all I could stand) of the PBS series, "Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy". It seemed to me just an episode of Dallas starring people with darker skin! Jinnah (sp?) and several of the characters 'on his side' were portrayed as conniving, ruthless men; Ghandiji was made to be a fool -- like he was a popular puppet put up by the ones with the real power for the people to adore. There was a scene where Mountbatten confronts a mob of thousands of angry Moslems, demanding an independent Pakistan, who he befriends simply because he is wearing green (by chance) which is their color! This really seemed like the way African natives were treated in Tarzan movies. Are we to beleive that after so many years of British rule, the Moslem Indians were so backward and naive about their governor? My opinion is based on watching only 20-30 minutes of that trash; seeing the movie, "Ghandi" three years ago; and traveling for 6 weeks in Bombay, Madras, Kerela, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and Agra (two years ago). I visited cities and villages, and everywhere people asked me, "Did you see the movie about Ghandiji?" They all seemed very proud of it. If "Ghandi" has a grain of truth to it, this "Mountbatten" thing doesn't. PBS should be ashamed. -Mark Garrett
mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) (02/04/86)
++ Sorry, I misspelled Gandhi (Ghandi). -Mark
raghu@rlgvax.UUCP (Raghu Raghunathan) (02/04/86)
> ++ > Yesterday, I saw about a half hour (all I could stand) of the PBS series, > "Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy". It seemed to me just an episode > of Dallas starring people with darker skin! Jinnah (sp?) and several of > the characters 'on his side' were portrayed as conniving, ruthless men; > Ghandiji was made to be a fool -- like he was a popular puppet put up > by the ones with the real power for the people to adore. There was a > > -Mark Garrett I came to the same conclusion after the second episode. The personalities were oversimplified to the point of being inaccurate and somewhat ludicrous. The producers obviously had the Western audience in mind and to make the situation clear they tried to make things too black and white with clearly defined heros and villains. Jinnah and his supporters were portrayed as scheming villains, Lord and Lady Mountbatten and some Congress leaders as heroes and Gandhi as an idealistic fool being humored by the Mountbattens. What the show failed to show was that Gandhi was an extremely shrewd lawyer who knew how to negotiate deals. I was happy to find that Churchill was finally portrayed in the right colors - a bigot and an imperialist who was bent on keep the colonies regardless of the injustice done to the Indians. BTW, anybody know of the alleged romance between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten? Is it a twist thrown in by the producers to make the plot a little more juicy or did it really exist? - Raghu.
paturi@harvard.UUCP (Ramamohan Paturi) (02/04/86)
In article <19@petrus.UUCP>, mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) writes: > ++ > Yesterday, I saw about a half hour (all I could stand) of the PBS series, > "Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy". It seemed to me just an episode > of Dallas starring people with darker skin! Jinnah (sp?) and several of > the characters 'on his side' were portrayed as conniving, ruthless men; > Ghandiji was made to be a fool -- like he was a popular puppet put up > by the ones with the real power for the people to adore. There was a > scene where Mountbatten confronts a mob of thousands of angry Moslems, > demanding an independent Pakistan, who he befriends simply because he > is wearing green (by chance) which is their color! This really seemed > like the way African natives were treated in Tarzan movies. Are we > to beleive that after so many years of British rule, the Moslem Indians > were so backward and naive about their governor? > > My opinion is based on watching only 20-30 minutes of that trash; seeing > the movie, "Ghandi" three years ago; and traveling for 6 weeks in Bombay, > Madras, Kerela, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and Agra (two years ago). > I visited cities and villages, and everywhere people asked me, "Did you > see the movie about Ghandiji?" They all seemed very proud of it. If > "Ghandi" has a grain of truth to it, this "Mountbatten" thing doesn't. > PBS should be ashamed. > > -Mark Garrett Any self-respecting Indian (or Pakistani or Bangladeshi) should protest this idiotic series on Mountbatten. I ask some basic questions regarding the greatness of Mountbatten in relation to India. Where does his greatness lie? Did he prevent partition? Did he atleast prevent massacres with so much police powers in his hands? What does it mean by Mountbatten is responsible for an "orderly" transfer of power? Any credit for reducing the Hindu-Moslem animosity goes to Gandhi. Credit for unifying India goes to Sardar Vallabhabai Patel. Perhaps, Mountbatten played an understanding role rather than exacerbating the situation. Hope others can enlighten my attitude. -Ramamohan paturi@harvard
mathur@alberta.UUCP (Ambrish Mathur) (02/08/86)
In article <911@rlgvax.UUCP> raghu@rlgvax.UUCP writes: > > BTW, anybody know of the alleged romance between Nehru and Edwina > Mountbatten? Is it a twist thrown in by the producers to make the > plot a little more juicy or did it really exist? > > - Raghu. The "alleged romance" has been if I can remember correctly quite spicily referred to by M.O.Mathai (Nehru's private secretary when he was PM) in his masala book on Nehru. I don't recall the name of the book. It was published in the 70's and caused quite a controversy. The affair also finds mention in Mountbatten's biography published after his death. --- Ambrish Mathur ...ihnp4!alberta!mathur