Rohit keeps getting better and better as Alexander

Today's face off with Darius was just awesome! Rohit became Alexander - every cell in his body showing the confidence, arrogance, and sheer determination to conquer. I am not even going to get started on his dialogue delivery and piercing gaze... 😃

Wow wow wow! 👏

The seeti maar lines were marvellous - the sort of thing that the young Amitabh Bachchan thrived on the in 1970s- and Rohit delivered them with terrific panache, the rockhard self confidence seeping thru every word, and the body language, especially at the very end, as he listed out all that Darius would be deprived of that day after the battle, was superb. I watched that segment three times, and still did not tire of it. It was full on paisa vasool stuff, and in a single screen movie theatre, the hall would have been rocked with loud cheering and whistles.

Still, my favourites among Rohit's Alexander moments are the one that showcased his ability to tackle despair and regret, after his blow up with Philip in the open court, as he is going to his mother's rooms, and his ability to convey nuances, as recently, at Halicarnassus, when the whole crowd is cheering Sikandar!! Sikandar!!!, and Queen Ada is smiling at him with tender delight in her eyes.

Alexander looks around as he soaks in the applause, his tawny green eyes light up, but he neither smiles openly nor does he given any other overt sign of delight. He does not want to seem overly excited at the new title conferred on him; it is his right after all! Still, deep inside him is the little boy who seeks praise, and that is the aspect of his psyche that peeps out at that moment. It was a wonderful piece of emoting by Rohit, using his eyes alone.

Before his Alexander, I had seen Rohit only in a small part in a crime series called Arjun, and I was taken aback by this new avatar. So I wrote elsewhere in this forum:

The choice of this boy is a remarkable casting coup, and it is one of the very few clever things the producers have done.

Alexander the Great was a superstar not only of his time but down the millennia. Neither of the other two military genuises of the last 3 millennia, Julius Caesar and Napoleon, came close to Alexander in sheer charisma and lasting fame. I wanted to name my son after him, but had to compromise by settling on Sasha - the Russian dimunitive for Alexander- as his pet name.

To revert, Rohit has the presence which is vital for a successful Alexander. Now presence is either there or not there, it cannot be taught or acquired. His Alexander looks every inch a very young world conqueror: the insouciance of youth, the effortless dominance, the unshakeable confidence, the innate shrewdness, the subtle grasp of human psychology. Plus he is very handsome - which too Alexander was, judging from the statues and busts - and he has the sleek grace of a panther when he moves.

I have not yet seen a single scene where Rohit failed to convey what was intended. The very best sequence, which drew him into hitherto uncharted territory, was after the blow up with Philip in the open court, which leaves Alexander crushed and deeply distressed at his naivete in trusting such a man. His face, as he walks to his mother's rooms. was a study in conflicting emotions, and he pulled it off to perfection. Again, when he was caressing the hair of the comatose Philip, the tenderness in his face was remarkable.

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The 5:46 minutes of Alexander (which is par for the course for him, for as I noted in my last thread, he gets only about 20% of the telecast time, less that is given to Puru's wavy locks and slo mo strides) that rounded off the episode (the one of Alexander's coronation) were manna from Heaven!

As those who read my post A hatchet job on Alexander? , would remember, I was afraid that with the baby killing scene, the demonization of Porus' antagonist had begun. It now seems that I was wrong, at least for now.

Alexander's revulsion at Olympias having used black magic to fuddle Arridaeus's brains was instant and strong, and he had made this quite plain to his mother in a manner that I had then felt was too harsh. It did not matter then to Alexander that Arridaeus had made an attempt on his life; he would not stoop to such underhand methods.

Innate nobility

The Friday closing segment made it clear that this display of an innate nobility was no flash in the pan. It is an integral part of Alexander's mental make up. He still feels guilty about what had been done to Arridaeus. Pehle hi Arridaeus ki zindagi barbad ho chuki, jiski wajah main hoon. Which other king would make such a confession?

His sharp warning that there should not, in the future, be even a kharonch (scratch) on Arridaeus, could not have been more blunt: Sab gaur se sunein...Agar kisi ne bhi...- and his eyes rake the assemblage, lingering just an instant longer on Olympias aur kisi ka matlab kisi ne bhi, mere hukum ki nafarmani ki, to use mere sile (?) ka saamna karna padega.

At one stroke, he makes it abundantly clear who is master, and Olympias stands warned against attempts at backseat driving. More to the point, all those present too realise that this young man is no pushover, that he can neither be manipulated nor conned into doing anything against his will, and that he will brook no flouting of his orders.

And yet all this is done with a silken deftness that would have made a seasoned diplomat proud. Alexander does not give any indication that he realises it was his mother who had ordered Arridaeus killed, and he sweeps the whole issue aside with a self-assured skill that exposes no faultlines that outsiders could exploit.

The high priestess of the Delphic Oracle seems disturbed when the sunlight fades after Alexander announces his intention to conquer Bharat, but not he, now raring to teach rebellious Thebes and Athens the lesson of their lives. As the episode ends on a close up shot of Alexander, his golden hair slicked back and confined by his coronet, the sharp planes of his face making it look narrower than usual, the eyes glowing at the prospect of the battles ahead, he looks for all the world like a noble bird of prey, a king eagle about to take flight.

The casting director should get a solid round of applause, for he or she has found the perfect Alexander in Rohit Purohit.

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I am afraid this has become rather a long post, but I am sure you will not mind it!

Shyamala Cowsik

PS: The gap in the post is a software glitch. I can't get rid of it.